| Sanofi Takes Issue With Canada's Bias for Generics The Burrill Report submits: By Marie Daghlian Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) Canada said it is shedding nearly 70 jobs in its Canadian operations as part of a reorganization aimed at addressing challenges from the loss of patent exclusivity. But the company took the occaision to take issue with Canada’s intellectual property protections as it blamed government policies for declining access to innovative medicines. Contrary to the generic drug industry, Canadian innovative pharmaceutical companies have no effective right of appeal when facing intellectual property challenges. Decisions made by Canada’s health authority cannot be appealed. Sanofi claims this is leading to genericization of branded medicines even while they are still under patent protection and that this threatens the company's ability to maintain its R&D investments, capital expenditures and job creation opportunities. Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Skilled Healthcare Faces Over $671 Million in Damages Skilled Healthcare faces payments of over $671 million in damages awarded by a California jury in a lawsuit over alleged violations at 22 of its nursing facilities. online.wsj.com |
Key Drugs Boost AstraZeneca AstraZeneca posted a 23% rise in profit, helped by a strong performance in emerging markets and sales of key drugs like cholesterol product Crestor. online.wsj.com |
Biotechs With Room to Run M.E. Garza submits: Here now is our opportunity to reiterate some of the solid companies that we've covered recently- especially since they have treated our readers and investors well. It's important to note that some of these runners are still not done, so keep a close eye because there is definitely more to come. Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXA) - This stock has been on fire since their $18M direct offering back in August, up roughly 40% since the lows in August. This stock still has more room to climb up until their PDUFA date for AZ-004 on October 11th, 2010. See our original report for all the detailsCleveland BioLabs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBLI) - Shares of CBLI have been climbing since we said that the company was in line for some substantial government contracts. The stock was trading at $3.81at the time but it saw a high of $5.75 on Friday after the company was awarded a $45 million contract (including options), from the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Chemical Biological and Medical Systems (CBMS) - Medical Identification and Treatment Systems (MITS) to develop and stockpile their CBLB502 drug as a medical radiation countermeasure.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Drug Makers' Appeal of Hormone-Therapy Suits Rejected Three lawsuits alleging a link between hormone-therapy drugs and breast cancer can proceed in state court after the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by several drug makers, including two Pfizer subsidiaries. online.wsj.com |