@FierceBiotech: BIO chief Jim Greenwood talks to @JohnCFierce about reform, maps salvage plan for the 12-year umbrella. Article | Follow @FierceBiotech
@JohnCFierce: Dendreon CEO M Gold sounds supremely confident about the Provenge rollout. Follow @JohnCFierce
> Biogen Idec said Tuesday that it is dropping its program for Adentri, a heart-failure therapy, after analyzing disappointing mid-stage data. Last October Biogen Idec dropped two late-stage programs. Story
> Bad weather is delaying the FDA. XenoPort says that the FDA has extended its PDUFA date on its restless leg syndrome drug to February 11. A snowstorm has shuttered the government for two days. Xenoport release
> Shares of Athersys soared 32 percent this morning after the developer announced that it had been granted two patents covering the technology in its stem cell therapies. Athersys release | Story
> Cel-Sci's presentation at the BIO conference in New York apparently dropped any mention of Byron Biopharma, which Cel-Sci has said was partnered on its cancer drug Multikine. And that has TheStreet's Adam Feuerstein raising some fresh questions about the company as well as the partnership. "Cel-Sci has long refused to provide any evidence that Byron is a real company or a legitimate Multikine partner," writes Feuerstein. "On Tuesday, Cel-Sci went further by making Byron disappear." Story
> Barry Labinger, Human Genome's chief commercial officer, tells Reuters that while investors are largely focused on its lupus drug Benlysta, it has another late-stage prospect that could provide blockbuster revenue for the biotech. Report
> Xoma has started enrolling 325 patients in a Phase IIb trial of the monoclonal antibody XOMA-052, which is being studied as a new type 2 diabetes therapy. Initial results are expected in about a year. Xoma release
> Sequenom has obtained the rights to develop and commercialize diagnostic tests to predict genetic predisposition to late stage age-related macular degeneration. Sequenom release
Pharma News
@FiercePharma: GSK's Andrew Witty: emerging-markets guru. Report | Follow @FiercePharma
> Merck has made a deal with Vioxx shareholders. Article
> More evidence to bolster Big Pharma's increasing interest in selling generic drugs: Over the 12 months that ended September 2009, global sales of generics grew by 7.7 percent, up from 3.6 percent the year before, IMS Health reports. Article
> Merck and GlaxoSmithKline could get a boost from New York lawmakers. Two bills working their way through the New York State legislature would mandate that schoolchildren receive a human papillomavirus vaccine, even without a parent's consent. Article
> Looking for a hint of how psychiatry and psychotropic drug sales might change when the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders--a.k.a. the DSM-V--appears in 2013? You're in luck. Yesterday, the American Psychiatric Association posted some potential guidelines for comment and study at DSM5.org. Report
And Finally... Children with a family history of alcoholism are more likely to be particularly attracted to sweets, and that could be a red flag. Blog