"Targanta Therapeutics fetches $42m" by Chris Reidy, Globe Staff | January 14, 2009
Cambridge biotech Targanta Therapeutics Corp. is being bought for about $42 million by Medicines Co., a New Jersey drug company. The sale comes after Targanta's lead drug candidate failed to win recommendation from a federal advisory panel in November and the stock price plunged.
And our governor just tossed a cool BILLION their way, even though "it's never been easy to turn a profit in biotech?"
Flush that money away, too, taxpayer.
The drug, oritavancin, is an antibiotic intended to treat complex skin infections, but panelists said it has not yet been proven safe and effective. Last month, the company said it was laying off 86 employees, about 75 percent of its workforce.
Still, Medicines Co. is optimistic oritavancin will eventually win Food and Drug Administration approval. Medicines Co. also said Targanta shareholders may be entitled to receive additional cash payments if certain milestones for oritavancin are met.
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Biogen Idec Inc. said yesterday the number of new patients taking its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri slowed in the fourth quarter amid concerns over its safety. The company said patients taking Tysabri rose about 6 percent to 37,600 from 35,500 at the end of the third quarter.
Biogen made its disclosure at the JP Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco. The figures show a slowdown versus third-quarter growth of 11.6 percent from the 31,800 reported in the second quarter. Tysabri is considered critical to Biogen's growth, as well as to that of its partner Elan Corp., which said yesterday it's exploring strategic options, including a merger or sale.
Growth rates have been slowing amid concern over the risk of patients developing a potentially deadly brain infection known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. Tysabri was temporarily pulled from the market in 2005 after it was linked with PML but reintroduced in 2006 with stricter safety warnings.NEW YORK - Pfizer Inc. wants to sell to other drug makers 100 experimental medicines for conditions ranging from obesity to high cholesterol.
The world's biggest drug maker is cleaning out its chemical compound closet and cutting 800 researchers, or 8 percent of its science staff, as it focuses on developing medicines to treat cancer, brain disorders, and pain, said Martin MacKay, the company's research chief, at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco yesterday. Some compounds Pfizer wants to sell have been tested on humans, MacKay said.
WASHINGTON - Federal health officials said that asthma drugs, including Merck's Singulair, do not appear tied to suicide - though regulators continue to examine possible links to behavioral problems.
After nine months of review, the Food and Drug Administration said company data do not show any association between the popular respiratory medications and suicide. However, the agency said the studies it reviewed were not designed to detect those events.
At this point, the FDA has about as much credibility as an Israeli government spokesperson.
Related: FDA Protects Big Pharma While Telling Americans "F*** You!"
FDA Doesn't Care About Cancer
FDA Approval to Immunize Drug Companies From Lawsuits
FDA Food Fight
"We have finished our analyses," said FDA spokeswoman Karen Riley. "But that doesn't mean we have closed the book on suicidality." Regulators said that only one in nearly 10,000 patients taking Singulair in clinical trials reported suicidal tendencies. None committed suicide.
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You wanna be sure, American?
DON'T TAKE THEIR POISON PILLS!!!
