Currently browsing category

News, Page 28

CVS: ‘all bets are off’ for new cholesterol drug contracts

CVS Health Corp, the No 2 manager of drug benefit plans for U.S. employers and insurers, will wait until a second new cholesterol-lowering drug is approved by regulators before negotiating for price discounts or adding either of the much pricer new drugs to its list of covered medications. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July approved Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Sanofi SA’s Praluent, which works by blocking a protein called PCSK9 that helps “bad” LDL cholesterol stay in the bloodstream. An FDA decision on a second PCSK9 inhibitor, Amgen Inc’s Repatha, is expected later this month.

Victims speak out after Colorado massacre trial ends in life

Over whisky, wine and sandwiches, families of the murder victims of James Holmes reflected on the Colorado movie massacre trial and said about half of them had opposed the prosecution’s decision to seek a death penalty for the 27-year-old.

New York cooling towers to be tested as Legionnaires’ deaths hit 10

Owners of cooling towers have 14 days to comply with the order, which comes as 100 people have been reported sick with the disease, according to city health department figures. The disease, a severe kind of pneumonia, is contracted by breathing in mist from cooling towers containing the bacteria Legionella. The incubation period for Legionnaires’ disease is 10 days.

China’s foreign minister to visit Ebola-affected countries

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi leaves this week on a visit to three of the African nations hardest hit by an outbreak of the Ebola virus, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. Ebola has killed more than 11,200 people in West Africa since it broke out in December 2013. China, Africa's biggest trading partner, has sent hundreds of medical workers to Africa and contributed aid of more than $120 million to the anti-Ebola effort, after initially facing criticism for not doing enough.

Germany’s Merkel has chance of absolute majority, poll shows

Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel's leadership during the Greece crisis has given her conservatives a chance of winning an absolute majority if an election were held next week, an opinion poll on Sunday showed. The chancellor has ruled Germany since 2005 and now governs in coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD). Not since Konrad Adenauer's third term as chancellor ended in 1961 has the CDU/CSU ruled with an absolute majority.

Breakthrough in quest for Ebola vaccine

An Ebola test vaccine provided blanket protection in a field trial in Guinea, researchers said, possibly heralding “the beginning of the end” for the devastating West African outbreak that has killed thousands. The serum was 100 percent effective after a week in more than 7,600 people inoculated, according to results published in The Lancet medical journal and hailed as “extremely promising” by World Health Organization (WHO) chief Margaret Chan. The world was “on the verge of an effective Ebola vaccine,” the UN's health agency said in a statement.

Outbreak of Legionnaire’s Disease Sickens 31 in NYC

An outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease has infected at least 31 in New York City and health officials are racing to figure out the cause. The deaths of two patients who also had Legionnaire's disease are being investigated by health officials. Officials from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene are combing the center of the outbreak in the South Bronx to search for the source of the dangerous outbreak.

Sanofi’s combination diabetes drug hits goal in late-stage trial

Sanofi said on Wednesday a first late-stage Phase III study of its LixiLan diabetes drug had met its main target, while another would be completed at the end of the third quarter. LixiLan consists of a single-injection combination of Lyxumia, a drug developed with Danish drugmaker Zealand Pharma, and Sanofi's Lantus. It targets patients suffering from type 2 diabetes.

Allergan CEO, fresh off one deal, sets sights on others

Allergan CEO Brent Saunders said on Monday the company will use the $36 billion it nets from the sale of its generics business to Teva for more deals, including large, “transformational” merger opportunities. Saunders, who led the $66 billion combination of Actavis and Allergan that closed only a few months ago, told investors that it would use the proceeds from its $40.5 billion sale to Teva to increase the size of existing drug businesses, expand into new therapy areas, and pursue larger deals. “We can accelerate our timing on transformational M&A,” Saunders said during the conference call, describing the sale to Teva as “reloading” its balance sheet.