News

The UK’s Health Research Authority (HRA) is pressing ahead with an action plan to promote transparency in research after securing “comprehensive” support for the proposals it put out for consultation last May.

As GlaxoSmithKline’s problems in China continue, the drugs major has confirmed that its finance director in the country, Steve Nechelput, had been banned from foreign travel.

By March 31 this year, the NHS reform programme had cost £1.1 billion, or 15% more than expected by that point, says the National Audit Office.

Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez has outlined the firm’s determination to be the major force in biosimilars.

Cost regulators in England and Wales have backed the use of peginterferon alfa on the National Health Service to treat children with hepatitis C.

Novartis’ financials for the second quarter show that net profit slipped 5% to $2.55 billion, while sales inched up 1% at $14.49 billion.

Johnson & Johnson has kicked off the reporting season by posting an 8.5% increase in sales for the second quarter, helped by a strong showing of its prostate cancer Zytiga.

US regulators have assigned Elan’s early-stage Alzheimer’s candidate fast-track designation, which could give the drug a faster route through the review process. 

Pfizer has outlicensed exclusive worldwide rights to sutezolid, a mid-stage oxazolidinone antibiotic currently in development for tuberculosis, to Sequella.

The government has rejected calls for people in England who suffer from long-term conditions (LTCs) to be eligible for free prescriptions.

More accusations have emerged about GlaxoSmithKline’s operations in China, with allegations of millions of dollars being paid to doctors being aired and talk of “sex bribes”.

Although the country is the world’s largest generic medicines exporter, 400-600 million Indian citizens live in severe poverty and lack of free access to drugs is going to have a devastating effect both globally and locally.

Things are not looking good for Pfizer’s Bosulif on the NHS, after cost regulators said they were minded not to approve its use in patients with a certain form of leukaemia.

Novartis is maintaining its distance over claims of data manipulation in a Japanese post-marketing trial of the company’s antihypertensive valsartan (Diovan) in angina and stroke.

It looks like Merck & Co will have to wait a little longer for US approval of its sugammadex, after US regulators said they need more time to assess the results of a recently completed inspection of a clinical trial site.