Pharmalot... Pharmalittle... Good Morning
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend was relaxing, despite the crush of news coming from the big oncology meeting, which dominates the menu of tidbits seen below. As always, we are coping with the return of meetings and deadlines by fortifying ourselves with a cup or three of stimulation and invite you to join us. Our flavor today, by the way, is French Toast. And now, on to the next big thing. Hope your day goes well and do stay in touch...
Merck Melanoma Drug Shrinks Tumors In 38 Percent Of Patients: Study (Reuters)
Vinegar Test For Cervical Cancer Reduced Mortality Rates (Pha...
Source: Pharmalot - June 3, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Ophthalmologists Balk At Senate Compounding Bill Over Avastin Restrictions
As the US Senate considers legislation to toughen oversight of compounding pharmacies, one group of physicians is lobbying the Senate to create an exception for biologics. The American Academy of Ophthalmology is concerned about a provision in the Senate bill that requires patients to have specific prescriptions for each medicine that is ordered from a compounding pharmacy (here is the bill).
The language is designed to prevent compounding pharmacies from expanding into large-scale production, which is what the New England Compounding Center had been doing before producing medicines that led to a nationwide outbreak of fun...
Source: Pharmalot - May 22, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Best Post of September 2012: DecisionDx-GBM: Should every glioblastoma patient be getting this test?
The next in our Best of the Month Series is from September 12, 2012. It's worth revisiting the question of whether or not genetic testing of brain tumors is appropriate in patients who are not on research studies: What does the neuropathology community think of DecisionDx-GBM? This is a product offered by Castle Biosciences, based in Phoenix, AZ. DecisionDx-GBM is a gene expression profile test developed at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center for the purpose of increasing the accuracy of the prognosis and predicted responsiveness of glioblastoma multiforme to first line radiation plus temozolomide. Th...
Source: neuropathology blog - April 9, 2013 Category: Pathologists Source Type: blogs
Happy 8th birthday to the Health Business Blog!
The Health Business Blog turns eight years old today. Continuing a tradition I established with birthdays one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven I have picked out a favorite post from each month. Thanks for continuing to read the blog!
March 2012: Should medical debt count against your credit rating?
As far as I’m concerned, a lot of medical debt isn’t real debt. Real debt is borrowing money from a bank to buy a car or using a credit card to finance a vacation or taking out a student loan to pay for college. Borrowers know ahead of time that they are incurring a financial obligation for a known amount of mone...
Source: Health Business Blog - March 1, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: David E. Williams of the Health business blog Tags: Announcements Blogs Source Type: blogs
Winners And Losers From The Zaltrap Price Discount: Unintended Consequences?
Soon after Sanofi Pharmaceuticals’ Inc. August 2012 launch of the biologic drug ziv-aflibercept (brand name Zaltrap) into the U.S. market, its price triggered an unusual act of defiance on the part of oncolAogists. Physicians from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center stated in a New York Times op-ed piece that they wouldn’t prescribe the drug because it cost twice as much as Genentech’s Avastin (bevacizumab), a competing biologic drug with similar expected clinical outcomes for colorectal cancer patients. In response, Sanofi said they would reduce the price of the drug by 50 percent.
Doctors and prescribing hosp...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - February 20, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Rena Conti Tags: All Categories Consumers Health Care Costs Hospitals Insurance Medicaid Medicare Payment Pharma Physicians Policy Source Type: blogs
Italy Probes Roche & Novartis For Forming A ‘Cartel’
The latest chapter in the controversy over the use of over two Roche drugs for treating wet macular degeneration – Avastin and Lucentis – is being written in Italy, where antitrust regulators opened a probe into whether the drugmaker and Novartis, which markets one of the medicines in Europe, formed a cartel.
Specifically, the Italian Competition authority is investigating whether the drugmakers may have struck an “illicit agreement” to exclude ophthalmic use of Avastin and favor the sales of Lucentis. Roche’s Genentech unit developed both drugs, although Lucentis is marketed in Europe by Nova...
Source: Pharmalot - February 20, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Ed Silverman Tags: Uncategorized Antitrust Avastin Lucentis Novartis Roche Wet Macular Degeneraiton Source Type: blogs
Industry, Academic, Foundation and Government Alliances Continue in Early 2013
As promised, we are continuing to provide coverage of newly announced or recently discovered collaborations between industry, academia, and other entities to highlight the importance of such relationships in furthering medical progress and improving patient care.
Michael J. Fox Foundation and Parkinson’s
A recent opinion article published in Nature Medicine discussed how “Money without collaboration won’t bring cures.” The piece, written by Todd B. Sherer, chief executive officer of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, maintained that “It's up to stakeholders at every stage of therape...
Source: Policy and Medicine - February 15, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
“Adoptive T-Cell” Immunotherapy Shows Activity Against Advanced Ovarian Cancer in Phase I Study
In a new study, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine show that a two-step personalized immunotherapy treatment — a dendritic cell vaccine using the patient’s own tumor followed by adoptive T cell therapy — triggers anti-tumor immune responses in advanced ovarian cancer patients. Most ovarian cancer [...] (Source: Libby's H*O*P*E*)
Source: Libby's H*O*P*E* - February 9, 2013 Category: Cancer Authors: Paul Cacciatore Tags: Clinical Trial Results Immunotherapy Novel Therapies Vaccines adoptive T cell bevacizumab Carl H. June M.D. cyclophosphamide Daniel J. Powell Jr. Ph.D. dendritic cell vaccine George Coukos M.D. Ph.D. Janos Tanyi MD Phd Lana Kandala Source Type: blogs
“Adoptive T-Cell” Immunotherapy Shows Activity Against Advanced Ovarian Cancer in Phase I Study
In a new study, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine show that a two-step personalized immunotherapy treatment — a dendritic cell vaccine using the patient’s own tumor followed by adoptive T cell therapy — triggers anti-tumor immune responses in advanced ovarian cancer patients. Most ovarian cancer […] (Source: Libby's H*O*P*E*)
Source: Libby's H*O*P*E* - February 9, 2013 Category: Cancer Authors: Paul Cacciatore Tags: Clinical Trial Results Immunotherapy Novel Therapies Vaccines adoptive T cell bevacizumab Carl H. June M.D. cyclophosphamide Daniel J. Powell Jr. Ph.D. dendritic cell vaccine George Coukos M.D. Ph.D. Janos Tanyi MD Phd Lana Kandala Source Type: blogs
One Down, 13 To Go: A Biosimilar Bill Falls Flat
As more than a dozen state legislatures mull over bills that would make it more difficult to allow substitution of biosimilars, at least one effort appears to have gone nowhere. Despite identical bills that were introduced in the state Senate and House in Mississippi, the twin pieces of legislation failed to proceed to committee votes and, as a result, cannot be reintroduced in the current legislative session.
This apparently marks the first such defeat for a closely watched effort by such big biotechs as Genentech and Amgen to thwart rivals from having easy entre to their lucrative markets. Over the past few weeks, you ma...
Source: Pharmalot - February 8, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Ed Silverman Tags: Uncategorized Amgen Avastin Biologics Biosimilars Eli Lilly FDA Genentech Herceptin Roche Source Type: blogs
Pharmalot… Pharmalittle… The Weekend Nears
And so, another working week is about to draw to a close. Not a moment too soon, yes? This is, as you know, our treasured signal to daydream about weekend plans. Our agenda is filled with chores and paperwork, but we do hope to spend time with the short people and catch up on some napping. As for you, anything special planned? You could do something novel, pun intended, and visit your local library, while it still exists. Or hang with a favorite person. And of course, there is always that big football game. Whatever you do, have a grand time, but be safe. See you soon…
Merck Delays Filing Of Osteoperosis Drug (Reuter...
Source: Pharmalot - February 1, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Ed Silverman Tags: Uncategorized Amgen Avastin Bristol-Myres Squibb Celsion Dialysis IPO Liver Cancer Medicare Merck Overian Cancer Pfizer Roche TB Tuberculosis Vaccines Zoetis Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, January 30, 2013
This series is brought to you by MedPage Today.1. Some SSRIs Tied to Heart Rhythm Problems. Citalopram and two other antidepressants were associated with prolongation of corrected QT interval — a marker of increased ventricular arrhythmia risk.2. RUC Targeted at Senate Hearing on Primary Care. The nation’s primary care physician (PCP) shortage might be eased by requiring more transparency from the group that helps set Medicare pay rates.3. Combo Therapy Shines in Colon Cancer. First-line combination bevacizumab and capecitabine therapy may be an optimal first-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer in t...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 30, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Meds Cancer Heart Psychiatry Source Type: blogs
In a Pre-emptive Strike, Amgen & Genentech (Roche) Lobby States to Block Biosimilars
No doubt you've heard of how Amgen essentially paid off U.S. Senators to sneak a provision in the "fiscal cliff" bill that delays price restraints on a class of drugs used by kidney dialysis patients, including Sensipar, a drug made by Amgen (see "Big Pharma buys off the Senate"). That "richly embroidered loophole" will cost taxpayers a half a billion dollars.Although a bill was proposed to close the Amgen loophole in federal law, Amgen and Genentech, which is owned by Roche, are lobbying (i.e., paying) state lawmakers to block generic versions of their products according to the New York Times (see here). Specifically, the...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - January 29, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Amgen Genentech Roche Lobbying generics biosimilar Source Type: blogs
Time to Refill Your Prescription For Zxygjfb
The brand names of drugs are famously odd. But they seem to be getting odder. That's the conclusion of a longtime reader, who sent this along:
I was recently perusing through the recent drug approval list and was struck by how strange the trade names have become. Perhaps it is a request from the FDA so that there are fewer prescription errors, but some of these are really bizarre and don't quite roll off the tongue. USAN names I can understand, but trade names, to me anyway, used to be much more polished (Viagra, Lipitor etc). Could it have to do with the fact that most of these are for cancer? I have a list below compar...
Source: In the Pipeline - January 28, 2013 Category: Chemists Tags: Business and Markets Source Type: blogs
