> Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates says that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation lost about one fifth of its total value in last year's stock meltdown, but he plans to increase the amount of money he's spending on vaccine and other initiatives this year. In an open letter, the fulltime philanthropist promised to shell out $3.8 billion this year, seven percent of the foundation's wealth and a significant increase over the $3.3 billion spent last year. Report
> The New York Times reports today that the nine FDA scientists who wrote President Obama's transition team to complain of a "culture of corruption" at the agency now say officials may have placed them under criminal investigation. Report
> Symphogen has acquired the technology and programs of Receptor BioLogix. Release
> As promised, another raft of pharma earnings reports today, ranging from a $3.63 billion loss at Eli Lilly--because of its big acquisition of ImClone Systems--to a 138 percent hike in profits at Novo Nordisk. Here we go. Report
> Sigma-Aldrich today announced a partnership with CPC Scientific which will see CPC distribute Sigma-Aldrich's PEPscreen custom peptide libraries to its life science and pharmaceutical customers. Release
> More sad-but-true statistics: Sepracor plans to slash 20 percent of its workforce, or 530 jobs. Another 410 contract sales jobs will be eliminated, too, for a grand total of 940 newly unemployed. Report
> Oxygen Biotherapeutics says it plans to meet with the FDA as soon as possible following the agency's response to its information package filed late last year. "We will be requesting a meeting right away and hope to schedule it as soon as possible," said Chris J. Stern, DBA, company chairman and CEO. "We have a difference with the FDA in the interpretation of the clinical data." Release
> The feds are warning you: No off-label marketing, or else! Coming on the heels of two big settlements related to alleged off-label promos--Eli Lilly's $1.4 billion on Zyprexa marketing and Pfizer's $2.3 billion on Bextra--this warning appears to have teeth. Report
And Finally... With the Phacilitate Vaccines Forum taking place in our backyard, FierceVaccines decided we had to check it out. We talked to you and your industry counterparts to get your opinions on trends affecting the vaccines business. Article