News

Men are three times more likely to get oesophageal cancer than women and cases of the disease are steadily on the rise, according to new data from Cancer Research UK.

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.”

A first glimpse at the work of Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWB) has concluded that “significant advances” have been made, albeit with a mixed picture of progress.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has slammed “unacceptable” failings at the Care Quality Commission and an alleged ‘cover-up’ of its botched handling of complaints at Furness General Hospital, involving a number of infant deaths.

US-based clinical research organisation (CRO) TKL Research is adding to its cluster of research clinics in northern New Jersey with the construction of a new facility in Fair Lawn, which will include a 30-bed unit for Phase I trials.

A new report has laid out the need for drugmakers to participate in creating clearer pathways to achieve better outcomes in the face of “changing perceptions of what offers value to health systems”.

Avoidable costs of more than $200 million are incurred each year in the US healthcare system as a result of medicines not being used responsibly by patients and healthcare professionals, according to new research from IMS.

Astellas Pharma is weighing up the possibility of selling its dermatology portfolio, which could be worth between $500 million and $1 billion, according to a report published by Reuters.

GlaxoSmithKline says it has received an offer for its thrombosis drugs Arixtra and Fraxiparine from South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare, which is also looking to buy the facility in France where the treatments are produced.

Royalty Pharma has finally abandoned its $8 billion bid for Elan Corp, leaving observers to wonder who will make an offer for the Irish drugmaker which put itself up for sale last week.

As part of plans to expand its respiratory franchise, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is to acquire the USA’s MicroDose Therapeutx in a deal that could be worth $165 billion.

In its second landmark pharma case in the last few days, the US Supreme Court has decreed that pay-for-delay agreements between brand and generic drugmakers should indeed be subject to antitrust scrutiny.

A new polypill designed to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes in healthy patients has gone on sale in the UK over the internet this week, despite not being specifically licensed for this use.