Two important reports today offer early hints of the potential impact of a $1.1 billion federal program to compare the medical benefit and the cost-effectiveness of surgeries, medicines and medical devices. The reports — by the Institute of Medicine and the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research – suggest priorities for spending $700 million of the research funds set aside under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The reports don’t name partic

Two important reports today offer early hints of the potential impact of a $1.1 billion federal program to compare the medical benefit and the cost-effectiveness of surgeries, medicines and medical devices. The reports — by the Institute of Medicine and the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research – suggest priorities for spending $700 million of the research funds set aside under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The reports don’t name partic

AstraZeneca announced that its development partner, Pozen, Inc., has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for VIMOVO (PN400) (enteric coated naproxen/esomeprazole magnesium) tablets, a product under investigation for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in patients who are at risk of developing NSAID-associated ulcers.

Legal suits are still ramped with drug companies in the court rooms, this one has to be one of the largest settlements I am aware of, over a billion dollar infringement over the patent, or aka Intellectual Property as sometimes referred to today. The two drugs in question were Humira from Abbott and Remicade from Johnson and Johnson. Here’s a related link with a little history on the case. Lately there have been other similar battles in court, such as generic company Teva questionin

June 30, 2009, 11:57 am Posted by Tiernan Ray Late yesterday, a federal court jury in Marshall, TX ordered Abbott (ticker: ABT) to pay Johnson Johnson (JNJ) $1.67 billion in damages after concluding that Abbott’s arthritis drug Humira infringed on a patent held by Johnson Johnson. Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Derrick Sung estimates that Abbott’s stock might decline by a modest amount, which he variously figures as 1-2% or as 2-5%. He also believes that an appeal will likely reduce or