Geneva, Switzerland, September 30, 2009 – Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (“ANAVEX” or the “Company”) (OTCBB: AVXL) has selected FORENAP Pharma EURL (“FORENAP”) as the contract research organization (CRO) for Phase I clinical trials of ANAVEX 2-73, the company’s lead Alzheimer’s drug candidate.  FORENAP has been involved in pre-clinical and clinical research for 20 years and [...]

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The swine flu vaccine will be available in this country in the next few weeks. Pregnant women, who are at higher risk of suffering serious complications from H1N1, will be given high priority. But will they get the vaccine?
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Pregnant women are also supposed to get the regular flu vaccine each year, but only about one [...]

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After years of bitter legal fights, peace could be rearing its ugly head in the stent world.
Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson today announced a $716 million settlement involving more than a dozen stent-related patent lawsuits.
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In July, Medtronic said it would pay Abbott $400 million to settle their patent battles over stents. Medtronic also reached [...]

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A British schoolgirl died yesterday, a few hours after getting a shot of a vaccine designed to prevent cervical cancer. It’s still unclear whether the vaccine, GlaxoSmithKline’s Cervarix, contributed to the girl’s death.
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More than 1.4 million people have been given the vaccine in the U.K. since an immunization program launched last year, and there have [...]

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Remember the quick furor over the safety of Sanofi-Aventis’ insulin drug Lantus? As you’ll recall, the company quickly fought back against a couple of studies that appeared to link Lantus to an increased risk of cancer. One of its weapons was a promise to undertake a major study of the possible links between insulin use [...]

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Sequenom has axed a group of its top executives, including its CEO, after concluding an internal investigation into a scandal revolving around their handling of data on a prenatal test the biotech company was developing. The San Diego-based company, a prominent provider of genetic analysis equipment, saw its shares tank 46 percent when the news [...]

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In one of several deals that energized markets yesterday, Abbott Laboratories said it would pay $6.6 billion for the pharmaceutical business of Belgian chemicals maker Solvay. The deal is the latest in a string of drug mergers and acquisitions, and one of three announcements yesterday that involved the fast-growing vaccines business.
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Also yesterday, Johnson & Johnson [...]

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Actavis Group, the international generic pharmaceuticals company, today announced the launch of the antiepileptic drug Topiramate in the UK, Germany, France and Switzerland. The product was launched on day one as the originator’s patent expired on 25 September. Actavis was first to market in all four countries.
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Topiramate is used to treat epilepsy and will be [...]

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More emerging-markets action for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The drugmaker has inked a $2.2 billion deal to supply its Synflorix vaccine to Brazil, one of the hottest drug markets in the developing world. But the agreement isn’t a simple buy-sell deal. It includes a price that falls from €11.50 to €5 per dose over time. And it [...]

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Whatever last-minute flurry of Solvay Pharmaceuticals (SVYSY) bidding there was–or wasn’t–it’s over now. The winner? Abbott Laboratories, which has agreed to buy the drugs unit of the Belgian company Solvay. Price: about $7.6 billion, or €5.2 billion.
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Talking heads are hailing the Abbott buy for a variety of reasons. It will beef up Abbott’s (ABT [4]) [...]

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