ALSO NOTED: FDA, Medicare team up on drug surveillance; Early stage prostate vaccine shows promise; and much more...

> FDA is teaming up with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services on data-mining. FDA will be able to probe CMS's patient databases, actively looking for potential safety problems. Next, the data-mining will move into the private arena via deals with insurance companies. Report [1]

> An early-stage trial of an experimental prostate cancer vaccine demonstrated that it was safe and also generated an immune response among a large percentage of the volunteers in the study. Report [2]

> Certain segments of the biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry are set to make big leaps in capacity over the next five years. Report [3]

> An experimental vaccine developed at the University of Rochester Medical Center prevented the build-up of amyloid plaques in the brains of mice engineered to develop an aggressive form of Alzheimer's disease. Report [4]

> The antiviral Relenza has won a battle over Tamiflu in the competition for government contracts from governments anxious about a possible bird flu epidemic. Report [5]

> There's another corruption scandal brewing in Italy--this time involving a pay-to-play scheme at AIFA, the pharma regulatory agency. Report [6]

And Finally... Drugmakers are climbing on the disclosure bandwagon. AstraZeneca and Merck have come out in favor of a bill requiring pharma and device-makers to report their payments to doctors, joining Eli Lilly, which gave the legislation a thumbs-up last week. Report [7]