Latest Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare News from Forbes

Glaxo Alleges Errors In Nissen’s Critique Of FDA’s Handling Of Avandia

This morning, I published a guest post from Steven Nissen, Chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, alleging that the most likely rationale for an upcoming panel meeting being held by the Food and Drug Administra...

The FDA Responds To Steve Nissen’s Criticism Of Upcoming Avandia Meeting

This morning, I published a guest post from Steven Nissen, Chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, alleging that the most likely rationale for an upcoming panel meeting being held by the Food and Drug Administra...

Johnson & Johnson Is Reinventing The Party Drug Ketamine To Treat Depression

Until joining the company a few years ago, J&J neuroscience R&D head Husseini Manji led the mood and anxiety disorders program at the National Institutes of . While there, he helped run a program that led to one of the greatest breakthroughs...

J&J: We’re Creaming Medivation, Boehringer, Bristol And Pfizer

I’m at Johnson & Johnson‘s Pharmaceutical Review today. Most of the day is dedicated to geeky drug R&D stuff, but Joaquin Duato started of the morning with a run-down of how J&J’s pharmaceutical division is doing in term...

Steven Nissen: The Hidden Agenda Behind The FDA’s New Avandia Hearings

Is the FDA holding a two-day panel with the goal of making its leadership look better with regard to the withdrawn diabetes drug? The cardiologist who blew the whistle on Avandia wants to know.

Will Ranbaxy Labs Be Excluded From Medicare And Medicaid?

The Ranbaxy Labs scandal is far from over. The Indian government wants to review documents. Daiichi Sankyo, which bought Ranbaxy a few years ago, is pursuing legal action against former shareholders. And in the US, the drugmaker might just face exclu...

Why Baby Boomers Need To Get Real About Health And Long-Term Care Costs In Retirement

Baby Boomers are in serious denial when it comes to their medical and long-term care costs in retirement. Yes, Medicare provides excellent health insurance (subsidized in large part by taxpayers). But it doesn’t come close to paying for a senior’...

New Asthma Drug Generates Excitement For Patients — And Its Maker

  An experimental asthma drug could give new hope to patients for whom existing medicines are not enough and give yet another boost to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, the company developing it, which has seen its shares rise 376% in the past two year...

Actavis Execs May Love NJ, But Ireland Has Lower Taxes

With its acquisition of Warner-Chilcott, which has significant R&D and manufacturing operations in Ireland, Actavis will switch headquarters there from New Jersey. The move lowers its tax rate, which helps cash flow and its ability to do deals, b...

The Best- And Worst- Performing Biotech Stocks, May 10 To May 17

These are the best and worst-performing medical and biotech stocks from May 10 to May 17, 2013. This screen includes biotechnology and medical companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq or the American Stock Exchange that had market...

What You Need To Know About Assisted Living Facilities

What do consumers want to know about assisted living facilities? I was recently asked to participate in a project aimed at answering that question. So, I asked some residents of facilities and their families, as well as people who are considering whe...

With ‘Cell Death’ Drugs, Bristol-Myers May Win No Matter What

A new class of anti-cancer drugs that allow the immune system to attack cancer cells are generating considerable excitement among patients, doctors, and investors. New results being released ahead of the annual meeting of the American Society of Clin...

Homeopathic Pain Medicine Contains Poison

Topricin is a homeopathic "medicine" that claims to treat pain. It doesn't do anything at all, luckily, because if its ingredients weren't so diluted, it would be a deadly poison.

Did Elan Just Overpay On Theravance To Spurn Its Hostile Suitor?

There is a long-standing argument that many biotechnology companies that succeed in getting a product to market should stop paying for more research and development and just return the cash they make to shareholders via dividends. It’s a pretty...

The Best- And Worst-Performing Biotech Stocks, May 3 To May 10

These are the best and worst-performing medical and biotech stocks from May 3 to May 10, 2013. This screen includes biotechnology and medical companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq or the American Stock Exchange that had market c...

FDA Rejects Endo Petition To Protect Its Opana Painkiller

The FDA rejected a citizen petition filed by Endo Pharmaceuticals which hoped to protect its Opana painkiller franchise by convincing the agency to require generics to be similarly abuse deterrent as a newer version of Opana. The decision means both...

Three New Health Reform Plans Ignore the Long-Term Care Needs of Seniors and People with Disabilities

In the past few weeks, no fewer than three highly respected groups have proposed major health care reforms. They all promise greater use of patient-centered integrated care, but none include supports and services for frail elders or younger people w...

Great News: HPV Vaccine Prices Drop To Reach Girls In The Developing World

Of the 270,000 annual deaths from cervical cancer, 85% happen in the developing world, where Pap smears and viral DNA testing are not available to catch cancer or pre-cancer early. Cervical cancer is caused by a virus — certain strains  of the...

Big Drug Companies Are Selling Fewer Pills, But Charging More

One thing that you may not realize about big drug companies is that, in terms of the number of pills they sell, they are much less big than they were just five years ago. As many popular drugs have gone generic, Big Pharma is selling branded medicine...

The Next Billionaire: A Statistician Who Changed Medicine

After Quintiles goes public, founder Dennis Gillings is likely to be a billionaire.

Will The Prescription Diet Pill Market Finally Bulk Up?

Two developments may finall yield a battle in the prescription diet pill market. Arena was given clearance by the US DEA to proceed with sales of its Belviq pill next month and Vivus succumbed to investor pressure and will seek a big pharma marketing...

Why Psychiatry’s Seismic Shift Will Happen Slowly

Changing how patients with mental illness are diagnosed is going to take a lot longer than many people seem to think.

This Contradiction In Baxter’s Data Will Make Alzheimer’s Researchers Nervous

This morning, announced that its immunoglobulin(IG), a purified collection of antibodies from human plasma, failed to reduce cognitive decline and preserve functional abilities in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. (See Bruce Japsen’s pie...

The Best- And Worst-Performing Biotech Stocks, April 26 to May 3

These are the best and worst-performing medical and biotech stocks from April 26 to May 3, 2013. This screen includes biotechnology and medical companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq or the American Stock Exchange that had market...

Merck’s Cholesterol Pill Win Is Already Drawing Fire

The Food and Drug Administration just approved Liptruzet, a new cholesterol-lowering pill that combines the generically available ingredient available in Pfizer’s Lipitor with Merck’s Zetia. Merck has been working to get the combination p...