Pharmaceutical companies including Novartis and Roche have teamed up with global cancer organizations in an alliance aimed at getting more oncology medications to poorer countries.
On May 17, the U.S. FDA authorized a booster of Pfizer’s vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11 years. The action comes as major cities are announcing a rise in cases. Additionally, COVID-19 would have claimed over 110,000 more lives in 2021 if not for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to a Pfizer-sponsored report on the first year of the U.S. vaccination program.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided not to authorize the antidepressant fluvoxamine to treat COVID-19, saying the data has not shown the drug to be an effective therapeutic for fighting the virus.
ReutersSeveral generic drugmakers that will produce versions of Pfizer’s COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid agreed to sell the medicine in low-income and middle-income countries for $25 a course or less, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) said on May 12.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries believes the company would have to pay around $2.6 billion in cash and medicine to settle thousands of lawsuits alleging the world’s largest generic firm and other drug manufacturers fueled the U.S. opioid epidemic.
Novartis’ Sandoz business unit saw a strong financial performance in the first quarter of 2022, with overall sales growth of 8 percent, mostly outside of the United States. Sales for the generics and biosimilar unit benefited from what the company called a normalization of the impacts of COVID-19.
Apotex Corp. announced April 12 the company’s release of Paclitaxel protein-bound particles for injection (albumin-bound), a generic version of Abraxane in the United States.
On Thursday, members of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate introduced legislation that targets efforts that have limited competition, which keeps the price of prescription drugs high.
Fresenius Kabi agreed to buy a majority stake in the mAbxience division of Spain’s Insud Pharma to expand the generic drug unit’s business making cheaper versions of biotechnology products that have lost patent protection. Fresenius said Kabi also agreed to acquire Ivenix Inc., a maker of infusion therapies.
New Jersey-based Eagle Pharmaceuticals, a company geared towards pharmaceutical hospital sales, finalized terms to acquire Acacia Pharma.