Wyeth and Elan in a World of Pain

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A little over a month ago, I wrote a post detailing how I thought the Bapineuzumab trial (which had just released phase 2 results) was a total loser.
It was, and still is, my contention that mAbs targeting APP, Tau, gamma secretase or the protein du jour in brain soup will not be effective [...]

Myriad Cancels Flurizan Development

One month after licensing EU rights to Lundbeck for $100M upfront (a deal I crapped on by the way), Myriad has discontinued the development of Flurizan for treating Alzheimer’s disease. Surprised? Not me.
As I’ve noted before (in multiple places), I’m not a fan of gamma-secretase modulators for AD. Every trial run so far [...]

Bapineuzumab Fails Trial

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For a drug expected to top $7B in annual sales, even a partial success looks like a failure to me.  I’ve talked about the efficacy in modulating APP for the treatment of Alzheimer’s a few times and Derek Lowe @ has some great articles, so if you’re not familiar, I‘d check them out [...]

Rumor Mill: Pfizer Buying MediGene?

The German based, MediGene hit a 52 week high yesterday on rumors that they are in discussions with the drug giant Pfizer. MediGene is just the latest of half a dozen companies mentioned in the same sentence as Pfizer in the last few months (others include Biogen, Shire, King and NicOx).
In the past year, [...]

Icahn Steals The Future of Enzon Pharmaceuticals

Enzon Pharmaceuticals, on the reported urging of uber-investor Carl Icahn, will spin off a NewCo along with the majority of the company’s core technology (PEGylation), their entire published preclinical pipeline (i.e.; their RNA antagonist oncology portfolio) and $150m of funding from Enzon. Not a bad way to start a company, right?
Maybe I’m way off [...]

MS News: Fingolimod (FTY720) Open Label Results and Tysabri PML Data

Last night (and I doubt coincidentally) two promising therapies for MS released positive data. Novartis’s fingolimod (FTY720) in a Phase II study extension showed 68-73% of patients with multiple sclerosis remained relapse-free after three years of treatment and that 89% of patients free from active brain lesions - the injury caused by [...]

American College of Cardiology Weekend Roundup

After two days of the American College of Cardiology conference in Chicago a few things to note:
- Drug eluting stents actually do work better than bare-metal stents in MI… for now. (PRNewswire)
- TAPAS study shows aspirating from PCI site improves blood flow deep in heart (PRNewswire)
- BRAVE-3 shows no need for Abciximab in addition to [...]

PDUFA Dates and Black Box Warnings

Like the FDA needs more bad press. The beleaguered drug watchdog
has taken hits aplenty over the last few years for more reason that can
be counted. The etiology of which, stem mostly from the lack of
sufficient funding from congress and an increasing workload. A study
published today in the NEJM illustrates what happens when [...]