News

Sanofi chief executive Christopher Viehbacher has officially begun his two-year term as president of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, saying that the old continent needs a different approach to healthcare.

Pfizer’s patent on Viagra has expired in the UK and other states in Europe, paving the way for the erectile dysfunction dysfunction market to be flooded with generics of the  blockbuster.

The US Food and Drug Administration has granted breakthrough therapy designation to Novartis’ serelaxin as a treatment for patients with acute heart failure.

Sanofi has presented promising late-stage data on U300, an improved version of its blockbuster insulin Lantus.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co has submitted its gut-selective monoclonal antibody vedolizumab for approval in the USA for moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, the two most common forms of inflammatory bowel disease.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has sprung swiftly out of the blocks and launched its generic version of Viagra immediately after Pfizer’s patent on the erectile dysfunction blockbuster expired in nine key European markets.

Regulators in European have given the green light to Astellas Pharma and Medivation’s oral prostate cancer drug Xtandi.

Belgium’s Cardio3 BioSciences has launched an initial public offering in Brussels and Paris to help finance its late-stage stem cell treatment for heart failure.

Celgene Corp has presented mid-stage data from a pair of trials which demonstrate the promise of using its myeloma blockbuster Revlimid in combination with Roche and Biogen Idec’s big-selling monoclonal antibody Rituxan for various non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas.

In the UK, the Department of Health has laid out plans confirming that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence will be responsible for assessing new drugs as part of value-based pricing in six months’ time.

Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and engineering giant Siemens have signed on as founding members of a new consortium set up by Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) to address challenges such as costs, regulatory compliance and processes to bring drugs from trials to markets.

South Korea has topped a 15-nation league table in terms of improvements made to its healthcare system over the last five years, while Spain’s health service is the least-improved, according to new consumer research.

There have been significant improvements over the last eight years in public perceptions of clinical-trial safety as well as trust in the motives of clinical research professionals, a new international study has found.

Danish drugmaker Lundbeck has been handed a 93-million-euro fine in Europe for paying companies to delay market entry for their generic versions of the antidepressant citalopram, signalling a much tougher stance on such agreements.

Ahead of next week’s Spending Review, a leading think tank has urged Ministers to lift the ring-fence on the health budget in order to accelerate progress on NHS reform, which it says is currently “flatlining.”