Looking to beef up its diabetes pipeline, pharma giant Merck & Co. Inc. is acquiring insulin maker SmartCells Inc. in a deal potentially worth $500 million, including an undisclosed up-front payment.

Shares of Amarin Corp. plc skyrocketed as high as 67 percent Monday after the biotech reported that its prescription grade omega-3 fatty acid drug AMR101 (ethyl icosapentate) not only lowered triglycerides in patients with high levels during a pivotal Phase III study, but the drug did not increase low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) – a claim GlaxoSmithKline plc's Lovaza (omega-3-acid ethyl esters) cannot make. (BioWorld Today)

WASHINGTON – On the same day that Gilead Sciences Inc. revealed it had submitted a new drug application to the FDA to market a single combination pill of Truvada (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) plus Tibotec Pharmaceuticals Ltd.'s TMC278 (rilpivirine hydrochloride) as a treatment for HIV-1 infection in adults, researchers reported results showing that a daily pre-exposure prophylactic (PrEP) dose of Truvada cut the risk of HIV infection by 44 percent. (BioWorld Today)

WASHINGTON – The FDA late Thursday approved Amgen Inc.'s denosumab 120 mg as a therapy to prevent skeletal-related events (SRE) in patients with bone metastases from solid tumors. (BioWorld Today)