Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., maker of the world’s best-selling diabetes drug Actos, posted first-half profit that more than doubled on lower expenses, while cutting its revenue outlook because of weaker sales and the stronger yen.
Net income rose to 189.6 billion yen ($2.1 billion) in the six months to Sept. 30, from 71.8 billion yen a year [...]

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Gen-Probe has been granted an EUA (emergency use authorization) for the Prodesse ProFlu-ST™ to be used in CLIA high-complexity laboratories for detection of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. The test is aided by an algorithm that relies on seasonal influenza A/H1 and A/H3 virus results from a single sample in individuals who are diagnosed with [...]

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Hey guys, thanks for the great work on that merger. Here’s a million bucks!
Pfizer is giving an extra $1.2 million to Frank D’Amelio, the company’s CFO, and $1 million to Ian Read, who runs Pfizer’s biopharmaceutical business.
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The board’s compensation committee decided the men “devoted extraordinary efforts and made extraordinary contributions” to the Pfizer-Wyeth merger, according [...]

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Virdante Pharmaceuticals has received a fresh injection of capital, raising its total Series A to $47.75 million. That money will be used to further its work on boosting the effectiveness of antibodies in reducing inflammation while keeping the immune system in shape to ward off infectious invaders. Virdante plans to use the technology to fine [...]

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What is it with bone-growth products? Over the past year, we’ve seen the federal probe into Medtronic’s Infuse implant, and allegations of faked research on the product by an Army doc.
Then, yesterday, the feds said that Stryker’s biotech unit, along with the unit’s former president and current sales managers, had been indicted on charges of [...]

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AstraZeneca posted strong third-quarter numbers and boosted its full-year forecast by a whopping 40 cents per share. But one of the biggest pieces of news to come out of the company’s Q3 report is a $520 million tentative agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia. Like several other drugmakers who’ve announced big settlements this [...]

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In a big endorsement of Micromet’s approach to developing antibodies for cancer, Sanofi-Aventis has signed off on a $475 million deal that starts small but can lead to a series of rich prices for the developer.
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In the new pact Micromet will be responsible for developing an antibody that targets an antigen on the surface of [...]

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Should pharma-watchers be worried about Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb? After all, they both launched blockbuster hopefuls–the clot-buster Effient for Lilly, the diabetes remedy Onglyza for Bristol–but haven’t racked up the kind of early numbers that the drugs-that-would-be-blockbusters did in the past.
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But as In Vivo points out, times are changing. With insurers steering patients toward [...]

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In just the latest sign of just how hot new cancer drugs have become, San Francisco-based Medivation garnered a $110 million upfront payment and a milestone package of $655 million from Astellas for global rights to its experimental prostate cancer drug. The therapy, MDV3100, is currently being evaluated in the Phase III AFFIRM clinical trial in men [...]

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For a clue to where GlaxoSmithKline is cutting back on sales reps, and where the company is staffing up, take a look at the company’s third-quarter earnings announcement, out this morning: Sales were up 25% in emerging markets and 19% in Japan — and down 8% in the U.S.
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Now that you know what the answer’s [...]

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