Following the excitement last month of Human Genome Sciences Inc.'s successful Phase III trial of its lupus drug - which sent the firm's shares on a 277 percent rocket ride on July 20 - Immunomedics Inc. and UCB SA Thursday said their drug epratuzumab had a 24.9 percent treatment advantage over placebo in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in a Phase IIb dosing study. (BioWorld Today)
WASHINGTON - European drugmakers are pulling ahead of U.S. companies in pharmaceutical innovation, according to a new report in the Washington public policy journal Health Affairs, which challenged earlier claims to the contrary. (BioWorld Today)
Danish firm Santaris Pharma AS racked up another multimillion dollar deal to develop drugs based on its locked nucleic acid (LNA) platform targeting microRNAs and messenger RNAs, this time with London-based Shire plc for drugs to treat rare genetic disorders. (BioWorld International)
WASHINGTON - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to convene an advisory panel next March to provide input on establishing a national coverage decision (NCD) for the use of anemia drugs, such as Amgen Inc.'s Epogen (epoetin alfa) and Centocor Ortho Biotech Product LP's Procrit (epoetin alfa), in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). (BioWorld Today)
