Elders shouting at today's young to do as they say, not as they did during the heyday of rock, may have a point: Noise-induced hearing loss is on the rise. Read More
• Seattle Genetics Inc., of San Francisco, and Millennium, of Cambridge, Mass., a unit of Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., reported interim results from 32 patients treated to date in a Phase I trial of Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) in combination with or sequentially with chemotherapy in newly diagnosed systemic anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (sALCL) and other CD30-postive mature T-cell lymphoma patients. Read More
• Amgen Inc., of Thousand Oaks, Calif., reported full-year 2011 earnings reflecting a revenue increase of 4 percent to $15.58 billion from $15.05 billion in 2010. Earnings per share were $5.33 compared with $5.21 in 2010. Full-year adjusted net income was down 3 percent to $4.86 billion vs. $5.02 billion in 2010. Total product sales were up 4 percent, led by Xgeva (denosumab) at $351 million for the year. Prolia (denosumab) had $203 million in sales. Read More
• GenVec Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., extended a research collaboration and license agreement with Novartis AG, of Basel, Switzerland, in order to fund research at GenVec through January 2013 for hearing loss and balance disorders. The companies signed the original agreement in January 2010 for up to $213.6 million in up-front and milestone payments. Read More
Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. can (finally) put another check in the win column, with the FDA's approval of Bydureon, a once-weekly version of exenatide, a move that puts the San Diego-based biotech on solid footing for a lucrative ex-U.S. partnering deal – even a potential buyout isn't out of the question. Read More
Shares of Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. dropped 40 percent Friday on news that the biotech is stopping development of Hedgehog inhibitor saridegib (IPI-926) in pancreatic cancer after interim data from a Phase II trial showed better survival in the placebo arm. Read More
Verastem Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., priced a $55 million initial public offering (IPO), selling 5.5 million shares of its common stock at $10 per share, with an underwriters option for an additional 825,000 shares to cover overallotments. Read More
WASHINGTON – All those drug ads on TV may eventually be required to include side-effect and contraindication information in superimposed text as well as audio. Read More