Pharmalot... Pharmalittle... Good Morning

Hello, everyone, and how are you today? Another shiny morning is unfolding here on the Pharmalot corporate campus, where the birds are chirping, the official mascots are fertilizing the weeds and the kettle is brewing in the official cafeteria. This means, of course, we are about to fortify ourselves with a delicious cup or two of stimuation - Cinnamon Cream Swirl is our choice today - and invite you to join us. There is much to do, after all. So here are some tidbits to begin the process. Hope your day goes well and do stay in touch...

Pfizer Plans To Sell Part Of Animal Health Unit Soon (Bloomberg News)

Glaxo Ejects Some Human Genome Execs (Washington Post)

Dendreon Closes NJ Plant & Cuts 600 Jobs (Bloomberg News)

FDA Clears 'Smart Pill' That Senses When Its Taken (MedCity News)

EU Charges Servier, Teva And Others For Blocking Generics (Reuters)

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center To Study Cost Effectiveness (Xconomy)

FDA Rejects Expanded Use Of Regeneron Drug For Gout (Reuters)

FDA Accepts Exelixis Thyroid Treatment For Priority Review (Associated Press)

Arena Transfers Diet Pill Marketing Rights To Eisai (Associated Press)

Outcomes-Based Payments The Future For CROs? (Outsourcing Pharma)

Merck Serono Unveils Parkinson's Spin-Off (Pharma Times)

US Issues Warrant For Canadian Over Internet Pharmacies (Montreal Gazette)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Please check this post for updates during the day

morning coffee pic thx to chichacha on flickr

3 Comments

Jul 31, 2012 - 8:19am
The smart pill wearable velcro sensor is almost as attractive as Pfizer's two foot long bong for inhaled insulin, Exubra.
In regards to Fred Hutchinson researchers studying cancer cost effectiveness, doctors are being asked to consider whether very expensive cancer drugs - some of which offer only small gains in survival - are worth prescribing. But the data on cost-effectiveness comes without guidelines for determining appropriate financial value in cancer care. Let's hope the researchers at ICORE can tackle this.

British NHS bases drug approval and drug use not only on effectiveness (US FDA criterion), but also on cost-effectiveness (something which the US FDA and health insurance companies are currently not permitted to use as a criterion). As a result, the number of cancer drugs used in the UK is less than in the US and the amount of money spent on cancer chemotherapy is much, much less.

A key factor in cost-effectiveness could be pre-tests to predict whether certain drugs won't work - sparing patients potentially unnecessary treatment and making things more cost-effective. Identifying drugs and drug combinations which have the best chance of working and putting them together in complex combinations.