(Reuters)—Pfizer Inc., which plans a $160-billion merger with Ireland-based Allergan Plc to slash its U.S. tax bill, on Jan. 1 raised U.S. prices for more than 100 of its drugs, some by as much as 20%, according to statistics compiled by global information services company Wolters Kluwer. Pfizer confirmed a 9.4% increase for heavily advertised…
NIH-Funded Trials Dip While Industry Trials Are on the Rise
(Reuters Health)—Every year since 2006 in the U.S., the number of clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has gone down, while the number of industry-funded trials has gone up, a new study shows. Analyzing the ClinicalTrials.gov database, researchers found that after trial registration became a requirement for publication in major scientific…
Smarter Regulation Can Help Cut Drug Prices, Says EU Agency Head
LONDON (Reuters)—Europe’s top drug regulator weighed into the medicine pricing debate on Wednesday, arguing a smarter and faster pharmaceutical approval system was needed to help rein in the spiraling cost of new treatments. In exchange for speeding up the approval process, society would expect manufacturers to charge less for innovative medicines, European Medicines Agency (EMA)…
Rheumatology Drug Updates on Brentuximab Vedotin, Tofacitinib Citrate
Brentuximab Vedotin Enters Phase 2 Trials Brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris), an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) directed at CD30, is currently entering Phase 2 clinical trials for treating systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).1 The ADC encompasses an anti-CD30 monoclonal antibody, which is attached by a protease-cleavable linker to a microtubule-disrupting agent, known as monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE). The ADC…
U.S. Drug Benefit Managers Clamp Down on Specialty Pharmacies
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters)—In recent days, the largest U.S. managers of private prescription drug benefits have cut off at least eight pharmacies that work closely with drugmakers, intensifying scrutiny of a system that helps inflate drug prices, officials at the benefit managers told Reuters. The terminations come from payers who together manage drug benefits for…
FDA Declines to Expand Approval of Pfizer Arthritis Drug Xeljanz
(Reuters)—U.S. health regulators declined to approve Pfizer Inc’s oral rheumatoid arthritis drug Xeljanz (tofacitinib) to treat moderate to severe cases of plaque psoriasis, the drugmaker said on Wednesday. Pfizer said it received a complete response letter from the Food and Drug Administration. Such letters typically outline concerns and conditions that must be addressed in order…
Unwelcome News about Medicare’s Rising Drug Plan Costs
CHICAGO (Reuters)—Seniors have received some unpleasant news in their mailboxes in recent weeks: premiums for many Medicare prescription drug insurance plans will rise at double-digit rates next year. Premiums for the ten most popular Medicare Part D prescription drug plans (PDPs) will rise an average of 8 percent next year—the fastest clip in five years,…
Guselkumab Studied to Treat RA, Plaque Psoriasis
Guselkumab Studied to Treat RA & Plaque Psoriasis Guselkumab (GUS) is a subcutaneously administered monoclonal antibody that targets interleukin (IL) 23.1 It is being investigated in a Phase 2 study to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (PsA). On June 11, 2015, at the 2015 meeting of the European League Against…
EULAR 2015: Anti-Inflammatory Drugs with Dual Targets
Antibody-like molecules that can bind to more than one target—with the goal of having a more powerful effect than if those targets were treated separately in a combination of therapies—could become part of treatment regimens in rheumatic diseases over the next several years, an expert said here in a session at EULAR 2015, the annual…
Can We Get Closer to a Cure for RA?
Despite new therapeutics, progress for RA patients has virtually stalled over the past 10 years. In this article, the authors discuss many options to advance to a cure and the evidence for them, including the combination of low-dose methotrexate and anti-TNF; targeting angiogenesis and tissue damage pathways directly; antigen-specific therapy; potential combination of TNF and IL17 blockade; and targeting inhibitory receptors and regulatory T cells.
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