Author: PharmaTimes

Acambis’ smallpox vaccine, ACAM2000, has been granted US Food and Drug Administration fast track designation. Investors sent the company’s share price up by more than 2% during trading on the London Stock Exchange yesterday on the news, which will speed up the product’s approval process.

Schering-Plough is making “good progress” in complying with the US Food and Drug Administration’s consent decree, chief executive, Fred Hassan, told investors at a Morgan Stanley conference yesterday.

A potential link between the use of two schizophrenia treatments – namely Novartis’ Clozaril (clozapine) and Zyprexa (olanzapine) from Eli Lilly – and an increased risk of developing diabetes has resurfaced in a study published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry (2005;62:19-28).

Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim were celebrating this morning after winning European clearance for Cymbalta (duloxetine) for the treatment of major depressive episodes.

Teva has won its first approval for Azilect (rasagiline) in Israel both as initial monotherapy in patients with early Parkinson’s disease, and as an adjunct treatment in the moderate-to-advanced stage of the disease. The company is hoping to launch the drug in this market in March this year.