Hello, everyone, and welcome to a brand new day. Here on the Pharmalot corporate campus we are getting our start by hustling our short people off to the local school houses. And you? No doubt, you are readying for another round of meetings and deadlines. To help you along, we have gathered some tidbits. Meanwhile, please join us for a cup of stimulation. Hope your day goes well and stay in touch...
Merck-Serono Opens R&D Site, Adding 100 Jobs (Boston Business Journal)
Roche's Avastin Works In Late-Stage Trial For Ovarian Cancer (Reuters)
Teva Earnings Miss Analyst Estimates (Bloomberg News)
Has RNAi Fever Cooled? (The New York Times)
Black Box Warnings Are Applied Inconsistently (Health Day)
Glaxo To Move Philadelphia Offices, Denies Job Cuts (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Schizophrenia Drugs May Exacerbate Brain Tissue Loss (Bloomberg News)
Actelion Insists On Independence Amid Shareholder Complaints (Pharma Times)
Elan Posts First Operating Profit In A Decade (Reuters)
Salix Buys Rights To Constipation Drug (The News & Observer)
Risperdal Pricing Trial Begins Next Week (The Street)
2 Comments
Roche is saying that a phase III study found that women who were treated with Avastin in combination with chemotherapy followed by the continued use of single-agent Avastin lived longer without their disease progressing compared to women who only received chemotherapy. In other words, the trial demonstrated a significant improvement in progression-free survival. It's unclear if Avastin can help increase the overall survival rate in this indication.
What they are saying is that Avastin helped women suffering from ovarian cancer live longer without their disease worsening, raising the odds that it will win approval. Roche said no new safety findings were observed and adverse events were consistent with those seen in previous trials of Avastin. Details of the study are scheduled to be published later in 2011.
Roche's chief executive feels what is all the talk of Avastin being a problem. It's a product with over six billion in Swiss francs in sales. Other companies would long for a problem like this. This is how we judge the effectiveness of a cancer drug, by its sales?
It is said that regulators, governments and insurance companies have turned stricter when it comes to the approval and reimbursement for drugs whose efficacy is doubted, especially when compared to the price of the drug (monthly treatments around $8,000). What will win out? Sales or effaciousness?
GSK could save much of that $81 million by relocating everyone to RTP, North Carolina.