Bringing a new treatment option for patients with the fast-killing blood cancer multiple myeloma, Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. won FDA approval of the proteasome inhibitor Velcade (bortezomib) and plans to launch it next week. (BioWorld Today)

What a difference a year makes. Or not.At this point in 2002, ICOS Corp. had just received word from the FDA that its erectile dysfunction drug candidate Cialis (taladifil), partnered with Eli Lilly and Co., was approvable if three issues were cleared up. (See BioWorld Financial Watch, May 6, 2002.)

Almost eight months after a positive FDA panel review, AstraZeneca plc won accelerated approval Monday for Iressa (gefitinib), its epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor pill for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer. (BioWorld Today)

SAN FRANCISCO - While the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society was holding its 163rd spring technical meeting just down the hall at the Westin St. Francis Hotel here, members of the biotechnology industry were learning about another kind of flexibility.

Saying goodbye to biotechnology's booming "days of wine and roses," as well as the tricky "days of smoke and mirrors" that followed, industry leaders had better adopt a more realistic view of the present "days of our lives," when resources are tight and demands from partners are high. (BioWorld Today)

If government red tape makes for slow and cumbersome drug development in deals with biotechnology firms, you wouldn't know it by GenVec Inc. (BioWorld Today)