News

Californian biopharmaceutical company Affymax could be up for grabs after the firm has been forced to fire 75% of its workforce following the recall of its only drug.

The US Food and Drug Administration has rejected Pharmaxis’ cystic fibrosis drug Bronchitol because of inadequate trial data.

Merck KGaA has been busy this week, signing a pact with Bristol-Myers Squibb for the promotion of Glucophage in China, and entering a strategic alliance with Nordic Bioscience for the development of sprifermin for osteoarthritis of the knee.

The Health Select Committee has heard about the bullying culture by a former NHS manager who was gagged by his former Strategic Health Authority. 

Firms reliant on the life science sectors have established a new ‘Science Industry Partnership’ to help develop new skills in the UK.

Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly have started a Phase III trial designed to show their diabetes drug Trajenta is safe and effective in patients with signs of kidney damage.

Figures from the Grattan Institute Health think-tank has found Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme pays at least $1.3 billion a year too much for prescription drugs.

AstraZeneca is shelling out £330 million to establish a new R&D hub and global headquarters in Cambridge, UK, but the news marks the end of its 40-year research stint at Alderley Park, Cheshire, as well as a cull of around 700 jobs.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has published its first clinical guideline on the management of hyperphosphataemia in late-stage kidney disease, which aims to standardise treatment of the condition and achieve better outcomes for patients. 

inVentiv Health, the US-based provider of clinical development, commercialisation and consulting services, is tapping into new tools to streamline the set-up and execution of clinical trials by taking a “significant” equity stake in clinical technology and services specialist Mytrus.

Care provided by the NHS health and social care system will break down if quicker progress is not made to develop more integrated services which focus on meeting the needs of individual patients, MPs have warned.

New research has found that 44% of US parents will not allow their children to be vaccinated with GlaxoSmithKline’s Cervarix or Sanofi Pasteur/Merck & Co’s Gardasil.

The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme in the UK has awarded £2.6 million to a research team at the University of Nottingham to lead an international study of tranexamic acid as a potential treatment for intracerebral haemorrhage, a form of stroke caused by bleeding in the brain.

Novo Nordisk saw its shares slip 4% after its stock was downgraded and a higher dose of its insulin drug liraglutide failed to greatly impress on weight loss scores in a late-stage clinical trial.

The Canadian province of Quebec’s decision to set a maximum price for an entire class of medicines has been attacked as “dangerous.”