IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp. licensed a small-molecule cancer drug from Japan and the company's chief financial officer resigned, but analysts seemed just as interested - if not more - in a third bit of news not formally disclosed by the company: an abstract showing how well Rituxan (rituximab) worked against rheumatoid arthritis in Phase II trials. (BioWorld Today)

LSD, still best known as the acronym for the once-popular hippie drug lysergic acid diethylamide, also is recognized to stand for something else in the pharmaceutical world. And that something may be just what the doctor ordered for those who regard profits in these hard times as nothing more than hallucinations. (BioWorld Financial Watch)

Less than two months after an advisory panel unanimously recommended approval of Gilead Sciences Inc.'s Hepsera (adefovir dipivoxil) for chronic hepatitis B, the FDA has given its expected nod and the company plans to ship the drug this week - with a price tag that was higher than some analysts had forecast.