> Without emerging healthcare markets like China and India, global pharma would be in a world of hurt. The global market for meds reached $712 billion last year, according to a new report from IMS Health, up $178 billion over five years before. Report
> The UK's Acadia Pharmaceuticals has reported positive data from a mid-stage study of pimavanserin for the treatment of psychosis in patients with Parkinson's disease. Patients experienced a benefit for psychosis without impacting motor function. Release
> Alcon's hay fever drug Patanase has been approved by the FDA, and analysts expect it will compete well against MedPointe's antihistamine Astelin. Release
> The FDA has approved a new combination migraine therapy developed by Pozen and GlaxoSmithKline. Treximate combines sumatriptan, the active ingredient in GSK's painkiller Imitrex, with naproxen sodium. Release
> Zelos Therapeutics and Aegis Therapeutics have inked a deal to collaborate on the development of an intranasal spray formulation of the proprietary parathyroid hormone analog ZT-031 (Ostabolin-C(TM), cyclic PTH-(1-31). Release
> StemCells issued a release claiming that the US patent office had upheld two of its patents in a dispute with NeuralStem. And NeuralStem fired back a release saying that StemCells got it all wrong. Release | Report
> Genentech is upping its stock buyback program by $2 billion. Report
> A research team has combined a nanoparticle platform used in imaging growing blood vessels and combined it with the fungal drug fumagillin to create a new weapon to fight the growth of tumors. Report
> A dozen new Biomedical Research Units created under the U.K.'s National Institute for Health Research will receive more than €56 million to fund translational work on ailments that include obesity and heart disease. Report
> Merck wrote its own articles on Vioxx research and then paid prestigious doctors to append their bylines, according to a new JAMA report. Report
> According to a study by Verispan, 47 percent of docs thought they got as much info from e-promotions as face-to-face detailing by reps, and 21 percent thought it was better than the real, live thing. Report
> The FDA believes Baxter International's recalled heparin was tainted "by virtue of economic fraud," Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach told a Senate panel yesterday. Report
And Finally... A new advance in cloning could lead to designer babies. Report