Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) plans to absorb Mylan (NSDQ:MYL) as part of the spinout of its Upjohn off-patent drugs business in an all-stock deal. The deal, structured to avoid taxes on any gains from the spinout, would see each Mylan share converted into a share of the as-yet-unnamed new company. Pfizer stockholders would then own 57% of […]
Pfizer Inc.
Teva launches generic for Pfizer’s Flector pain patch
Teva (NYSE:TEVA) said last week that it launched a generic version of Pfizer‘s (NYSE:PFE) Flector diclofenac epolamine patch. Using a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, the topical patch is designed to treat acute pain due to minor strains, sprains and contusions. Pfizer’s Flector patch garnered annual sales of $123 million in the U.S. as of Dec. 2018, according […]
Report: Pharma companies kick off new year with price hikes
Major pharmaceutical firms started the new year by hiking the prices of hundreds of drugs, according to a new study published by Rx Savings Solutions. First reported in The Wall Street Journal, the study found that the average price increase taken by more than three dozen companies was roughly 6.3%. Allergan (NYSE:AGN) topped the list, raising the […]
FDA warns of flesh-eating genital infection linked to diabetes drug
The FDA this week warned of serious flesh-eating bacterial infections, or necrotizing fasciitis, reported by patients taking sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors intended for treating type 2 diabetes. The federal watchdog said that between March 2013 and May 2018, 12 cases of Fournier’s gangrene, a rare but life-threatening bacterial infection of the tissue under the skin […]
Sage Therapeutics’ chief scientist on discovering drugs and taking risks
When Al Robichaud got his start as a medicinal chemist in 1991, he knew that discovering and developing drugs meant shouldering some level of risk. But around 2011, it became clear that the process for developing brain drugs was too costly and risky for major pharmaceutical companies to justify pursuing, as companies including Novartis (NYSE:NVS), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK), […]
Hospira issues nationwide recall for opioid overdose reversal drug
Pfizer‘s (NYSE:PFE) Hospira unit this week voluntarily recalled two lots of a drug used to reverse the course of an opioid overdose. The company’s naloxone injection, sold in its Carpuject single-use cartridge syringe, was recalled due to the potential presence of embedded and loose particulate matter in the plunger. Hospira specifically warned that products from lots 72680LL and 76510LL […]
Report: Pharma companies ask Supremes to take eye-dropper case
A group of pharmaceutical companies, including Allergan (NYSE:AGN) and Merck (NYSE:MRK), have asked the Supreme Court to review a case between the industry players and patients regarding the design of the companies’ eye-droppers, according to a report from the AP. In the on-going legal debate, patient groups have claimed that the companies’ devices dispense large drops of medication […]
Verily, Sanofi and other industry players team up with NIH to advance Parkinson’s therapies
The National Institutes of Health is joining forces with the tech and pharmaceutical industries to speed the development of new drugs for Parkinson’s disease and identify biomarkers for the debilitating condition. Companies participating in the public-private partnership include Celgene (NSDQ:CELG), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK), The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) and Verily. Combined the […]
EpiPen shortage in Canada to last until March
Pfizer Canada (NYSE:PFE) has warned Health Canada that there is a shortage of 0.3 mg EpiPen auto-injectors due to a manufacturing disruption. The company, which licenses the emergency allergy treatment from Mylan (NSDQ:MYL), reported that the problem should be resolved by March 2. There are no alternative auto-injectors available on the market in Canada for patients at […]
How this biotech plans to go up against big pharma with its eye disease products
Shankar Musunuri has spent time in both the pharmaceutical world and the biotech arena – after 15 years at Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), he went on to launch several biotech start-ups. As co-founder, chairman & chief executive of Ocugen, he is looking to bring eye disease products to the patients that big pharma’s drugs have left out. “There’s […]
