> GenVec veteran William Enright has been recruited to head up Vaxin. His first assignment is to line up $20 million in new venture backing for the vaccine development company. Enright had been in charge of business development at GenVec, which ginned $140 million in funding. Report
> TorreyPines Therapeutics announced that its CEO, Neil Kurtz, is leaving at the end of the month to take a new job. COO Evelyn Graham was named acting CEO. TorreyPines release
> IR BioSciences Holdings has closed a $5 million round of financing with certain funds for which Brencourt Advisors is the investment manager. Release
> A sociologist and health policy researcher has some stern language for drugmakers and their regulators. Report
> The FDA's marketing regulators have either been pulling their punches lately or drugmakers are complying with promo rules better than usual, because the number of warning letters about advertising and brochures and mailers last quarter could be counted on one hand--and so far this quarter, there hasn't even been one. Report
> Back in 2006, Cleveland Clinic anointed Boston Scientific as its preferred supplier of drug-coated stents. At the time, though, Johnson & Johnson had the only other coated stent on the U.S. market. Times have changed--and so has the Cleveland Clinic. Report
> Muscle injury warning, part two: The FDA says mixing Zocor (simvastatin), with the heart rhythm med amiodarone boosts the risk of muscle injury, especially in elderly patients. Report
> Despite a last-ditch lobbying effort by drugmakers, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law the controversial healthcare bill that would ban some types of pharma gifts to doctors--sports tickets and travel, for instance--and require all gifts and payments worth more than $50 to be publicly disclosed. Report
And Finally... A Korean company says that it wouldn't let a client's criminal history prevent it from cloning a pet for the client. That comes after one of its first customers turns out to be the central character in a ‘70s tabloid sensation involving a kidnapped Mormon missionary. Story