Monthly Archives: August 2011

NICE Ads Deserve a Double Take

By Ben Comer | Published: August 10, 2011
Industry may disagree with the cost effectiveness methodologies NICE uses to decide which products the UK’s National Health Services (NHS) should reimburse, but that isn’t stopping at least one US-based company from touting a NICE recommendation in its marketing materials.
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Pharma Leads the Pack in July Job Losses

By Ben Comer | Published: August 3, 2011
Springtime optimism and the gentle steam of a perceived economic recovery in the US has all but dissipated, with the blanketing heat of deficit politics and a job situation that’s anything but august. In July, the US pharmaceutical industry shed 13,493 jobs, more than any other sector, according to an updated Challenger, Gray & Christmas [...]
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First Orphan Launch a Challenge for AstraZeneca

By Ben Comer | Published: August 2, 2011
Four months after AstraZeneca received FDA approval for vandetanib, a treatment for inoperable medullary thyroid cancer, the company announced the drug’s trade name: Caprelsa. FDA said other proposed names – Zactima, for example – too closely resembled other currently marketed proprietary names. Getting FDA approval on a brand name for vandetanib, AstraZeneca’s very first orphan drug, isn’t [...]
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