Month: April 2013

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s government commission on foreign investment has rejected U.S. Abbott Laboratories’ plan to buy Russian pharmaceutical producer Petrovax, the head of the Russian antitrust regulator said on Friday. “The commission has reviewed the question about the sale to U.S. company Abbott of Petrovax Pharm. As a result of very lengthy discussion the U.S. company was denied to make this deal,” Igor Artemyev, head of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS), told reporters. Abbott Laboratories filed for permission to buy the Russian vaccine developer and producer last year. …

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) – Japan’s Astellas Pharma and Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline are competing to develop a new kind of medicine that boosts production of red blood cells by making the body think it is at high altitude. Their experimental drugs – both given as pills – could create a major new market in treating anemia and other serious conditions, including circulatory problems and wound damage. …

In the aftermath of such traumatic events as the bombings at the Boston Marathon or the explosion at the Texas fertilizer plant, it’s not only those with the most serious wounds who need treatment.        

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) – Britain's competition body accused GlaxoSmithKline of market abuse for striking deals with three generic drugmakers that paid them to delay launching cheap copies of its antidepressant Seroxat. GSK, Britain's biggest drugmaker, said it believed it had acted lawfully. If it is found to have broken the law, it could be fined up to 10 percent of its worldwide turnover, which amounted to 26.4 billion pounds ($40.4 billion) in 2012. …