naproxen news from FierceBiotech

Shares of France's NicOx tumbled 38 percent after Pfizer announced that it would not advance their Read more...

The Wall Street Journal reports on the progress that NicOx is making advancing a new version of naproxen for relieving arthritis pain. The French biotech is looking for a marketing partner for the Read more...

AstraZeneca and Pozen are starting Phase III trial of PN400, an experimental drug for arthritis pain that combines AstraZeneca's heartburn drug Nexium with the anti-inflammatory drug naproxen. In Read more...

France's NicOx says its drug naproxcinod failed to achieve its primary endpoint in a blood pressure study, but researchers touted its success for a secondary endpoint. The trial results showed a 2 mmHg difference in both the average systolic and diastolic blood pressure in favor of naproxcinod when compared to naproxen.

"We are encouraged that this study has shown a clear and positive differentiation in the blood pressure curves for naproxcinod compared to naproxen when viewed …

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Press Release: Results for NicOx's ABPM Trial

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> Merck has won another of the federal lawsuits filed against the company over Vioxx. A federal jury in New Orleans ruled in its favor, bringing Merck's score in federal suits to two wins out of three cases. Overall, Merck has won five out of nine lawsuits. Thousands of lawsuits have yet to be litigated. Report

> Axcan Pharma has agreed to pay $1.5 million up …

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Shares of Pozen shot up 30 percent this morning when the company announced that it has signed a rich deal to develop a pain medication with AstraZeneca that will combine therapies from each company. Pozen gets $40 million up front, $160 million in potential milestone payments and $175 million for hitting sales targets along with royalties. The deal will pair the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug naproxen with esomeprazole magnesium, the active ingredient in Nexium. The combinational …

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NiCox has begun a closely watched Phase III trial for HCT-3012 for patients with osteoarthritis in the knee. HCT-3012 is derived from naproxen, and NiCox believes it could become the lead drug for osteoarthritis patients with hypertension. PRA International, a contract research organization, is managing the trial.

"We believe HCT 3012 has the potential to play a major role in the anti-inflammatory market," said Michele Garufi, chairman and CEO of NicOx. "Our view is that HCT 3012 …

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The Cleveland Clinic will direct a $100 million study to examine the safety and effectiveness of three popular painkillers--Celebrex, ibuprofen and naproxen--on people with heart problems. The worldwide, 20,000-patient study will begin enrollment early next year and could take researchers up to four years to complete. After the uproar over Vioxx and Bextra, the FDA has added black box warnings to many drugs, leaving a lot of people concerned and confused when it comes to choosing the best …

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Merck shares slipped in overnight trading after the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine posted an editorial asserting that the drug maker had deleted data on the cardiovascular side effects linked to Vioxx in a major study of the Cox-2 inhibitor. Specifically, the journal asserted that Merck underreported the number of heart attacks suffered by people taking Vioxx, cutting the number from 20 to 17. In the study, researchers concluded that people taking Vioxx were four …

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