The U.S. Justice Dept. said yesterday that Shire (NSDQ:SHPG) and its subsidiaries will cough up $350 million to settle allegations that Shire and the company it acquired in 2011, Advanced BioHealing, gave kickbacks to clinics and physicians in exchange for using its bioengineered human skin substitute, Dermagraft. “This settlement represents the largest False Claims Act recovery by the […]
Diabetes
DexCom gains on Q4 prelims
DexCom Inc. (NSDQ:DXCM) posted its preliminary financial results for the 4th quarter, meeting analysts’ expectations on Wall Street and sending its shares upwards. The San Diego, Calif.-based company said it expects a total revenue of $168 million for Q4, a 28% increase from the same period in 2015, while analysts on The Street were looking for […]
Intarcia, Calibr collaborate to develop peptide therapeutic for Medici pump
Intarcia Therapeutics and the California Institute for Biomedical Research said today that the 2 groups will collaborate to develop a peptide therapeutic for patients with type II diabetes and obesity. The drug will be derived from Calibr’s stapled-peptide technology platform, combined with Intarcia’s late stage investigational GLP-1 therapy and delivered using the match-sized Medici osmotic […]
University of Virginia has a smartphone-controlled artificial pancreas
Danielle Kirsh, MDO Assistant Editor University of Virginia researchers are making strides when it comes to developing an artificial pancreas that can be controlled using a smartphone. The FDA approved the UVA-developed artificial pancreas for testing in 2012, and UVA received a $3.4M grant from the National Institutes of Health in 2013. The device is currently […]
Sanofi sues Nordisk over Tresiba marketing claims in U.S.
Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) said yesterday that it is suing competitor Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) for “misleading” marketing materials that claim Sanofi’s insulin drugs Lantus and Toujeo will be “blocked” by U.S. pharmacy benefit manager CVS Caremark in January and that patients should switch to Nordisk’s Tresiba. CVS is replacing both Sanofi’s and Nordisk’s drugs with Eli Lilly’s Basaglar on […]
Fluor to build Novo Nordisk’s $2b manufacturing facility in North Carolina
Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) said yesterday that it landed a contract to build Novo Nordisk‘s (NYSE:NVO) $2 billion diabetes active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facility in Clayton, North Carolina. Since Denmark-based Novo Nordisk announced plans for the facility in August 2015, Fluor has been providing basic design services for the project. The manufacturing facility will measure 830,000 […]
Researchers’ bionic pancreas outperforms standard insulin pump therapy
Researchers from Boston University have developed a bionic pancreas system that outperformed conventional insulin pump therapy for patients with type 1 diabetes, according to a trial conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital. The team’s work was published in The Lancet. This device is the latest development in the race to make an entirely closed loop insulin pump system, […]
Lilly, Boehringer’s Basaglar long-acting insulin now available in the U.S.
Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals said today that its insulin glargine injection, Basaglar, is available by prescription in the U.S. Basaglar is a long-acting insulin with the same amino acid sequence as Sanofi‘s (NYSE:SNY) Lantus. The companies also offer resources for patients beginning insulin treatment, including an app for smartphones and tablets which provides […]
Eli Lilly, Express Scripts offer insulin discount program
Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) said it is teaming up with pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts (NSDQ:ESRX) to offer discounts on the US pharma giant’s insulin products for uninsured patients and people with high-deductible insurance plans. The program will begin January 1, 2017 and will cover Lilly’s insulins Humalog, Humulin, and the biologic Basaglar. Lilly said it anticipates the program […]
BioDelivery’s topical gel for diabetic neuropathy fails in phase IIb trial
BioDelivery Sciences International (NSDQ:BDSI) said today that its clonidine topical gel for pain relief in patients with diabetic neuropathy failed in a phase IIb clinical trial. Raleigh, N.C.-based BioDelivery will halt any further development of the painkiller. In the phase IIb clinical trial, BioDelivery’s topical gel did not demonstrate a statistically significant difference in pain relief […]