Novartis To Eliminate Another 2,000 Jobs
n a bid to grapple with its pipeline and pricing pressures, Novartis is going to cut 1,100 from Switzerland, where its operations are headquartered, and another 900 jobs from the US. The move extends a round of layoffs that began a year ago with the elimination of 1,400 US sales reps and another 550 jobs […]
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Shocking! Lilly Pulls Xigris Drug After Study Fails
In the latest setback for Eli Lilly, the drugmaker is withdrawing its 10-year-old Xigris treatment for septic shock after a study found the medication failed to help patients live longer in a clinical trial. Specifically, the study did not find a statistically significant reduction in 28-day all-cause mortality in patients with septic shock. The study, […]
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FDA Updates Warnings on Methylene Blue, Linezolid, and Serotonergics
FDA has fine-tuned a warning issued in July to avoid prescribing either methylene blue or linezolid (Zyvox, Pfizer) in combination with serotonergic agents because of the potential to cause serotonin syndrome. Today, the FDA announced that the risk for this harmful interaction appears to be confined, in general, to 2 specific types of serotonergic drugs: […]
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Actavis Opiate Shipment Hit By US Cargo Thieves
Generic drugmaker Actavis suffered a full truckload (FTL) cargo theft on October 19, losing more than 30 pallets of opioid analgesics, benzodiazepines and epilepsy drugs. The thieves made off with 14 pallets of oxycodone HCl tablets (around 70,000 units), six pallets of anxiety drug alprazolam (around 24,000 units) and nine pallets of the epilepsy drug […]
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France Tightens Conflict Of Interest Rules
As promised, the French National Assembly recently passed a law that imposes fines of up to $40,000 on scientists who advise the government on pharmaceutical coverage decisions, but fail to disclose any conflicts of interest. However, the Senate must still vote and a reading is expected next week, according to Nature. The move follows a […]
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EU Probes J&J And Novartis Over Generic Deals
The European Union is investigating agreements between Johnson & Johnson and Novartis to determine whether they illegally conspired to delay the entry of a generic version of the Fentanyl painkiller from entering the Netherlands. If the drugmakers had ‘contractual arrangements’ that hindered a generic, this could breach EU antitrust rules. The probe is only the […]
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Corden Pharma Colorado lays off 60
Drug manufacturer Corden Pharma Colorado Inc. said Friday it would lay off 60 of its 260 workers as the company focuses on its new roles in contract manufacturing and development. Corden Pharma Colorado in Boulder is the former Roche Colorado Corp., which was renamed after Frankfurt, Germany-based International Chemical Investors Group acquired the manufacturer of […]
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FDA plans QbD for clinical trials to cut industry & regulatory monitoring costs
The FDA is working on quality-by-design (QbD) for clinical trials to cut oversight costs for industry and regulators.
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Amgen To Lay Off Nearly 400 Employees
A short while ago we wrote how Amgen hired away an exec from Bristol-Myers Squibb as part of its reorganization. Well, some additional news is now coming in and the biotech is eliminating several hundreds of jobs from its workforce, which currently number about 17,600 worldwide. As noted last week, the biotech indicated to its […]
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CRO Employees Plead Guilty To Falsifying Data
A doctor and a clinical research coordinator who worked for a contract research organization hired by the former Schering-Plough have pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the drugmaker by falsifying study data. They also pleaded guilty to failing to maintain records as required by the FDA. The clinical trial, by the way, was designed to […]
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