Archive for February, 2010
Generic Drug Wars… Is Dr. Reddy’s The Answer? (RDY, TEVA, GSK)
Submitted by BioHealth Investor Blog
Generic drugs are just one of the many combined issues that are coming front and center in the world of healthcare reform. Frankly this is not a new notion. Not all. This weekend came a feature in Barron’s “Asian Trader: Pill Maker That’s Set To Pop” calling Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. [...]
Making sure pills go down, and money flows
Submitted by PharmaGossip
When drugs maker Wyeth Australia wanted its arthritis drug Enbrel listed on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme (PBS) it hired political lobby group Parker & Partners to wheel out sick kids in its meetings with politicians.
The image of arthritic 10-year-olds, together with the threat of a bleeding heart media campaign, was so potent that [...]
Sackler Brothers Ties to Purdue Pharma and Profits
Submitted by PharmaGossip
via salem-news.com
Pic - Richard Sackler, co-chairman of Stamford, Connecticut based Purdue Pharma and adjunct professor of genetics at Rockefeller University.
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Drug ad claims - Ben Goldacre takes a sniff
Submitted by PharmaGossip
How closely do the great and the good, for example, scrutinise the promotional material for medical drugs? The latest paper looking at this question is published this month.
Researchers in Holland went through the world’s biggest medical journals – the Journal of the American Medical Association, Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, and [...]
PharmedOut Conference: June 25th 2010
Submitted by PharmaGossip
PharmedOut is pleased to announce a conference. “Prescription for Conflict: Should Industry Fund Continuing Medical Education?” will be held on Friday, June 25, 2010, on the Georgetown campus in Washington DC.
We intend to address the questions: Does drug industry funding of CME adversely affect the educational content of CME? If so, can commercial [...]
Pfizer - Rapamune: DOJ conducts criminal probe
Submitted by PharmaGossip
Federal prosecutors in Oklahoma are conducting a criminal investigation of a Pfizer unit’s promotional practices for organ-transplant drug Rapamune, the drug maker disclosed Friday.
New York-based Pfizer said in a regulatory filing the U.S. Attorney’s office for the western district of Oklahoma was conducting the probe. There were no further details in the regulatory [...]
Judge Declines to Upset $22.5 Million Jury Award in Polio Case
Submitted by PharmaGossip
A New York state judge has refused to throw out the $22.5 million verdict awarded by a Staten Island jury in a 28-year-old polio vaccine suit. Last year, the jury found Pfizer Inc., as successor to Lederle Laboratories, liable for negligent manufacture of the oral polio vaccine from which plaintiff Dominick Tenuto allegedly [...]
Celebrating US Whistleblowers
Submitted by PharmaGossip
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GSK - Avandia: Harlan Krumholz MD writes in Forbes
Submitted by PharmaGossip
I want to believe in America’s pharmaceutical companies. I want to believe that people in these companies believe that the best strategy for success is to do what is best for patients. I want to believe that they are interested in scientific truth and eager to know of any safety issues and ready [...]
Cost of Cancer
Submitted by Health Economics
Dear All,
please find below link of an interesting piece of work on the cost of cancer in the UK.
best
Ulf
http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/pdfs/The_Cost_of_Cancer_-_Feb__10.pdf
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InterMune Volatility Compression (ITMN)
Submitted by BioHealth Investor Blog
InterMune Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) has shown some very interesting options trading, and the trading looks to be a bet against all that huge volatility we have seen.
Joe Kunkle of OptionsHawk.com noted:
ITMN with a 2,000X4,000X2,000 contract butterfly call spreads at the March $25/$30/$35 strikes. This trade bets on volatility to collapse, which [...]
Two key Analyst Call in BioHealth Space (DNDN, HGSI)
Submitted by BioHealth Investor Blog
We have seen two very key biotech analyst calls this morning, and shares of both are responding. Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) and Human Genome Sciences (NASDAQ: HGSI) were both given positive brokerage initiations this morning.
Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) is seeing gains this morning after the stock was started as “Overweight” and [...]
Buyout Rumors Resurface in Biotech, Maybe (DNDN, MYGN)
Submitted by BioHealth Investor Blog
Sometimes it is the action seen in stock options gets traders moving more than the action in the stock. With more commentators on CNBC and other media outlets talking about ‘elevated options trading seen in…’ it gets even more on alert. From our best read today, that seems to be the [...]
THE HEALTH ECONOMICS BLOG - Trends, Politics, Opinions etc. in biotech & pharma industry
Submitted by THE HEALTH ECONOMICS BLOG
… am sure that will be very welcomed news by the consultants among the readers
Cheers
Ulf
Pharmacoeconomics to Get Bigger Budgets, According to Preliminary Survey Results
Marketwire News Releases
Published: 02/15/10 12:12 PM EST
Cutting Edge Information Reports Findings From Ongoing Study
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC — (Marketwire) — 02/15/10 — This year, drug makers’ [...]
Rigel Attacks Rheumatoid Arthritis with AstraZeneca (RIGL, AZN)
Submitted by BioHealth Investor Blog
Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RIGL) may be the biotech winner this Tuesday. The company has signed a pact with AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) which could ultimately bring in about $1.25 billion if all targets are met. This pact is a licensing agreement for Rigel’s rheumatoid arthritis drug R788 or fostamatinib disodium.
Rigel said last [...]
Dividends Coming In Biotech & Pharma? (WCRX, AMGN, MRK, PFE, PPH, BBH)
Submitted by BioHealth Investor Blog
Many investors have been focusing on the number of dividend raises we have so far seen since the end of December. It is the perfect vote of confidence issued by a company, much more so than a share buyback plan. The dividend means “we will be able to this rate over [...]
New Restless Leg Syndrome Review for XenoPort (XNPT, GSK)
Submitted by BioHealth Investor Blog
XenoPort, Inc. (NASDAQ: XNPT) has a big day coming for its GSK1838262/XP13512 (gabapentin enacarbil) next week. The company has a date of February 9 for an FDA Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) decision on its Horizant. This is the dated goal for the company’s New Drug Application for Horizant for [...]
AMAG Fights Back (AMAG)
Submitted by BioHealth Investor Blog
AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAG) has had a very tough week, whether it was a market with a bad trading tape or not. The stock’s weakness was after an analyst from a relatively unknown firm called Summer Street downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy over concerns that Feraheme patients are [...]
Human Genome Sciences… When Insiders Sell Stock (HGSI)
Submitted by BioHealth Investor Blog
Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) has been one of the great biotech success stories, with returns far dwarfing the 10-bagger or 1,000%. This went from a small genomics company to a company with what seems to be or likely to be the newest lupus treatment in a generation after (and [...]
Oncology Innovative Pricing deal with NICE on lung cancer drug
Submitted by THE HEALTH ECONOMICS BLOG
new oncology patient access scheme is currently being proposed to NICE by Astra Zeneca in the UK. This is an interesting proposal of a flat fee coupled with a registry.
Key points:
- NICE is minded not to recommend gefitinib due to the lack of information provided in order to assess the [...]
The NHS and the cost-benefit dilemma
Submitted by THE HEALTH ECONOMICS BLOG
New research by health economists at the University of York has raised concerns over any move to broaden the range of costs and economic benefits considered in the analysis of new NHS treatments. A study by the University’s Centre for Health Economics suggests that widening the perspective used by the [...]
10-Bagger Hunt Heads Back to Repros (RPRX)
Submitted by BioHealth Investor Blog
Repros Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: RPRX) is soaring in the quest for the next ten-bagger…. This is a micro-cap stock that had a $19.1 million market cap before this morning’s news. The company reported that it has received verbal confirmation from the FDA’s Division of Metabolic and Endocrine Drug Products. According to [...]
UK and Denmark are dropped from the reference country basket for price revisions in Spain
Submitted by THE HEALTH ECONOMICS BLOG
It´s good to see that some countries health authorities finally wake up to the issues caused by the declining British pound and other non Euro currencies on pharmaceutical prices through international reference pricing, at launch or during regular revisions. In a public meeting last week a member of the pricing [...]
InterMune Volatility Bets Through the Roof (ITMN)
Submitted by BioHealth Investor Blog
We noted last week that there had been some extra options activity over in InterMune, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) ahead of a date-review decision. Today saw excess trading in the stock, and explosive trading volume in both the put and call options as traders made their volatility bets for a binary trading [...]
InterMune Volatility Bets Through the Roof (ITMN)
Submitted by BioHealth Investor Blog
We noted last week that there had been some extra options activity over in InterMune, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) ahead of a date-review decision. Today saw excess trading in the stock, and explosive trading volume in both the put and call options as traders made their volatility bets for a binary trading [...]
