Author: PharmaTimes

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.

Andrx Corporation says that it will be selling its loss-making branded pharmaceuticals business as part of a bid to focus its efforts on development and distribution. The US company also said it would be terminating a supply and distribution agreement with Pfizer for a sustained-release version of its alpha-blocker, Cardura XL (doxazosin), after the product failed to win US Food and Drug Administration approval by the end of last year.

Shire Pharmaceuticals says that it has signed a non-binding initial agreement to globally develop and commercialise a new ADHD compound from New River Pharmaceuticals. The market welcomed the deal and the news that the product in question is expected to reach the US market by 2006, and sent the UK company’s share price up during afternoon trading in London yesterday.

The US Food and Drug Administration has given the green light to two new pain drugs – Elan’s Prialt (ziconotide) and Pfizer’s Lyrica (pregabalin) – both of which are expected to be big earners for the companies concerned.