News

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the second vaccine in three months for the prevention of serogroup B meningococcal disease – Novartis’ Bexsero.

Patients with diabetes are now likely to get access to Boehringer Ingelheim’s Jardiance (empagliflozin) on the National Health Service in England after a u-turn saw regulators deem the drug value for money.

A second Turkish man has been sentenced in a US court for smuggling fake versions of Roche’s cancer blockbuster Avastin into the country.__

NPS Pharmaceuticals, which is in the process of being acquired by Shire, has been boosted by the news that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Natpara for hypoparathyroidism.

The latest set of opinions from advisors to the European Medicines Agency include recommendations for three therapies from The Medicines Company, a HIV combination from Merck & Co and label extensions for key offerings from Novartis and Celgene.

Problems in hospitals are now spreading beyond A&E to other key areas of performance, increasing the risk of a crisis in the NHS, health policy think tank The King’s Fund has warned.

As Lord Saatchi’s Medical Innovation Bill has its third reading in the House of Lords later today (January 23), the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has again questioned the sense of such of a law.

Details of the severance package for ousted Sanofi chief executive Chris Viehbacher have been published which show that he received a pay-off of 2.96 million euros.

GlaxoSmithKline says the first batch of its investigational Ebola vaccine, developed with the US National Institutes of Health, should arrive in Liberia today (January 23).

Biogen Idec has come first out of over 4,600 companies with a market cap of over $2 billion in a report assessing the  most sustainable corporations in the world.

In an unprecedented move, three GP surgeries in England have been placed into special measures by the Care Quality Commission and face closure if they continue to fail to meet normal quality standards.

Patients with Gaucher disease in Europe will welcome news this morning that regulators have given marketing clearance to Genzyme’s Cerdelga (eliglustat), offering an oral first-line treatment for the rare genetic disorder.

Samsung Bioepis, the joint venture set up between the South Korean electronics giant and Biogen Idec, says a marketing authorisation application for SB4, its biosimilar of Amgen and Pfizer’s anti-TNF blockbuster Enbrel (etanercept) has been accepted by the European Medicines Agency.

AstaZeneca says the European Medicines Agency has accepted a marketing authorisation application for its gout treatment lesinurad.

Astellas and Basilea have been boosted by the news that advisors to the US Food and Drug Administration have recommended their antifungal Cresemba.