Author Archives: Oriana Schwindt

Takeda Changes Dexlansoprazole Brand Name From Kapidex to Dexilant

By Oriana Schwindt | Published: March 5, 2010
Takeda’s US subsidiary launched its proton pump inhibitor dexlansoprazole last February under the name Kapidex. No one thought they’d have to find a new name a year later. But shortly after the launch, the company began getting reports of dispensing errors. Some were due to prescription misreading, others to simple, honest mistakes. The two drugs causing [...]
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Merck, Lilly, Pfizer: One for All and All for One

By Oriana Schwindt | Published: February 24, 2010
Just a month after Andrew Witty’s announcement that GSK will make more than 13,500 of its malaria compounds available to all, Pfizer, Merck, and Eli Lilly have thrown their do-gooder hats into the ring as well. Together, the three drug giants will pull together an undisclosed dollar amount in seed funding and create the independent, non-profit [...]
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HBA Names Woman of the Year

By Oriana Schwindt | Published: February 16, 2010
GSK’s Deirdre Connelly has been named the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association’s Woman of the Year for 2010. Connelly, who just passed the one-year mark as president of GSK’s North American pharmaceuticals unit, is the 21st woman to win the organization’s “WOTY” award, which comes on the heels of another honor: She was ranked #37 in Fortune’s [...]
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Tweeting to Your Facebook: Why Pharma Is So Bad With Social Media

By Oriana Schwindt | Published: February 4, 2010
For those of you who didn’t know, it’s Social Media Week. Granted, the week is almost over, but the panel that you all care about didn’t take place until yesterday afternoon here in NYC. The panel’s mouthful of a name—“Navigating Social Media & New Technology in Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Industries”—is nevertheless an accurate description of the [...]
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AstraZeneca to Slash 8,000 More Jobs (Updated 2/3/10)

By Oriana Schwindt | Published: January 28, 2010
Last year, AstraZeneca announced the elimination of some 15,000 jobs. Last Thursday, the London-based company revealed that it plans to lay off another 8,000 by 2014—this despite global revenue growth of 4 percent for 2009. Much of the drive for this addition labor sculpting stems from AZ’s desire to streamline its R&D; the company will focus [...]
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