@FierceBiotech: Publicly-funded drug research spawned 153 new drugs. Report | Follow @FierceBiotech
@JohnCFierce: Avik Roy estimates that MannKind will need 24 months to get a response back from the FDA and an additional $250M to get through 2013. | Follow @JohnCFierce
> According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, apixaban, an anti-clotting drug, is more effective in preventing clots than the traditional aspirin remedy in patients with atrial fibrillation. The drug is not yet FDA approved. Article
> After receiving a "refuse to file" notification the first time around, Gilead Sciences has refiled a New Drug Application for a single-tablet regimen combining its drug Truvada with Tibotech Pharmaceuticals' non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor TMC278, as an HIV remedy. Gilead release
> Columbia, MD-based Celsion has received a unanimous go-ahead from a data monitoring committee to continue enrolling patients in its Phase III study of ThermoDox with radio frequency ablation for primary liver cancer patients. Celsion release
> AcelRx announced it will price its initial public offering at $5 per share for 8 million shares, and will begin trading on the Nasdaq today under the symbol ACRS. Story
> Eli Lilly announced Sue Mahoney as the new senior vice president and president of Lilly Oncology. Mahoney's former position as senior vice president of human resources and diversity will be filled by Steve Fry. Lilly release
> Inhibitex's chronic Hepatitis C treatment, INX-08189 has received fast track status from the FDA. The guanosine nucleotide polymerase inhibitor is currently being studied in a Phase Ib clinical trial, which should end during the first quarter of 2011. Inhibitex release
And Finally... After inheriting a contaminated former chemical plant from its merger with Wyeth, Pfizer is working with the EPA on a potential nine-year cleanup effort to make the site usable again. The company is already pumping at least 650,000 gallons of groundwater from the site, near the Raritan River in Bridgewater, NJ, daily. Report