"Another patient taking Tysabri contracts PML" by Todd Wallack, Globe Staff | December 16, 2008
Biogen Idec Inc. said yesterday that another patient has contracted a potentially deadly brain disease after using the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri, the fourth case of the rare side effect since the drug came back on the market 2 1/2 years ago....
JPMorgan analyst Geoff Meacham said the latest news wasn't surprising, given the drug's warning label and previous cases of the disease, and should not hurt Biogen Idec's stock.
Oh, good! For a minute there, I was worried!
"Investors are becoming increasingly comfortable with the PML risk, which, in our view, bodes quite well for [Biogen Idec] shares," Meacham wrote in a note to investors....
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You see? They don't care about YOUR HEALTH -- only the $$$$ you bring!
Genzyme Corp.'s drug to help collect the bone marrow stem cells of blood cancer patients has been approved by federal regulators, the Cambridge company said.
To be pulled six months from now for God-knows-what side effects.
The drug, Mozobil, is intended for use with Amgen Inc.'s Neupogen in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma to boost the number of stem cells in a bone marrow transplant, the company said yesterday in a statement on Business Wire.
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The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, a quasi-public agency charged with managing the state's $1 billion life sciences initiative, said it has leased about 6,000 square feet of office space for its headquarters at the Bay Colony Corporate Center in Waltham, overlooking Route 128 and the Cambridge Reservoir.
The agency has been working out of other agencies' offices near the State House in Boston. Many medical device and equipment makers, such as Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Covidien Ltd., and Boston Scientific Corp., are already based in the suburbs. Over the past year, a growing number of biotechnology companies have moved to the suburbs as prime space becomes increasingly scarce in Cambridge because of booming demand from biotechs and tech companies.Yay, our saviors!
Of course, "it's never been easy to turn a profit in biotech?" Flush that money away, too, taxpayer.
NEW YORK - Coca-Cola Co. will begin selling products made with a new zero-calorie sweetener, despite no official nod from the government, but rival PepsiCo Inc. said that it will wait. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to determine that a sweetener made from the herb stevia is "generally regarded as safe," but its approval has taken longer than expected....
FDA says, huh? "Generally safe?"
I'm glad I never drink soda! I hate the stuff!
