‘The atypical antipsychotic drug Abilify (aripiprazole) appears to enhance the response to antidepressants in patients with treatment-resistant major depression, research suggests.
Atypical antipsychotic agents are often used to augment antidepressants among patients with refractory mood disorders, lead author Dr. George I. Papakostas and colleagues note in their report, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
Abilify is […]
‘Leading depression drug makers such as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Eli Lilly may face further scrutiny following the release of a new report stating that SSRI treatment increases suicidal tendencies in youths. While the report was keen to stress the positive risk/benefit ratio of the treatment, the suicidality data will no doubt cause alarm, further impacting […]
‘Doctors are reporting the first advance in three decades in treating kidney complications from lupus, a life-threatening disease that primarily affects young women.
A small study showed that an immune-suppression drug worked better than the standard chemotherapy medication, which can cause infertility and other problems.
Nearly a quarter of patients who took the newer drug, CellCept, saw […]
‘A local health care company wants its members to start splitting some of their prescription pills in half to cut their costs.
Many drugs cost the same, regardless of the dose. For example, a one month supply of 20-milligram pills of the cholesterol drug Lipitor costs $99. A one month supply of 40-milligram pills of Lipitor […]
‘Leading private equity firm Direct Capital has acquired a shareholding of 51% in New Zealand Pharmaceuticals (NZP), which produces specialty chemicals for some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
Direct Capital’s investment has been completed from its DCPIII and Pohutukawa private equity funds and from BioPacificVentures (BPV), allowing Direct Capital to combine its traditional […]
‘The Food and Drug Administration has urged physicians to restrict the use of Advair and recommended stronger warnings be added to its packaging, saying GlaxoSmithKline’s popular asthma medicine increases the chance of deadly complications from the respiratory disease.
Surprised analysts predict the regulatory proposals would slow Advair sales growth in the short term, which could hurt […]
‘VX-950, an investigational compound being developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, was well-tolerated and demonstrated potent antiviral activity in a 14-day phase Ib study in patients with hepatitis C.
According to the company, the rapid decline in plasma hepatitis C virus-RNA levels observed in patients taking VX-950, together with a viral kinetic analysis that projects the potential duration […]
‘Drug makers must begin submitting electronic versions of their drug labels to build a database that doctors and patients can search for recent warnings or other changes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday.
The labels will be available on the Internet within one business day of any FDA-approved change at http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov, FDA officials […]
‘Tylenol, originally a pain reliever for children, has hit middle age.
The world’s best-known acetaminophen brand turned 50 last week, and it’s more popular than ever, in part because of its reputation as the safest nonprescription pain reliever. Even a fatal 1982 poisoning scare barely hurt the brand - and introduced tamperproof packaging.
Already in medicine cabinets […]
Orchid Pharma Raises US $75 million Through Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) and Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs)
Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited today announced that it has successfully raised USD 75 million through the issue of 8,650,000 GDRs aggregating USD 37.5 million and USD 37.5 million through the issue of convertible bonds. In addition, there is […]