Month: February 2015

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) – Sanofi’s new Toujeo diabetes drug is on track to receive a potential green light from European regulators this week, building on a U.S. regulatory approval awarded on Wednesday. Toujeo is a more potent follow-up to the French drugmaker’s top-selling Lantus insulin product, which accounts for a fifth of group sales, and the new drug is pivotal to Sanofi’s diabetes business as Lantus faces loss of patent protection. A committee of experts at the European Medicines Agency is considering whether to recommend Toujeo at a regular monthly meeting in London, according to the agency’s website. Assuming Toujeo gets a positive opinion, it is likely to be formally approved by the European Commission a couple of months later, allowing Sanofi to launch in its chosen first European markets of Germany and Britain.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the use of Actavis Plc’s antibiotic, Avycaz, to battle drug-resistant bacteria known as superbugs. As a standalone medication, it is used to treat urinary tract infections. Concerns about superbugs have escalated, especially after the UCLA Health System said last week that seven patients were infected with a potentially deadly, drug-resistant strain of the Enterobacteriaceae bacteria, and that more than 100 people might have been exposed to it. Although a number of companies including Roche Holdings AG, Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc, Achaogen Inc and Cempra Inc, are developing drugs for a variety of superbugs, Gabelli & Co analyst Kevin Kedra believes there is room for multiple players.
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"The first time I felt like I needed to go on a diet I was ten," Marjorie said as she looked … "Right now I'm a healthy weight, everyday it's still a struggle.
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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Mayor Bill de Blasio is defending New York City’s tentative agreement with members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community over a tradition known as oral suction circumcision.
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A 14-year old Chilean girl with cystic fibrosis has asked to be allowed to die in a film she made pleading with President Michelle Bachelet to authorize her euthanasia. In a video that news media said had been uploaded to her Facebook page on Sunday, Valentina Maureira said from her hospital bed: “I am asking to speak urgently to the president because I am tired of living with this sickness and she can authorize the injection to put me to sleep forever.” Cystic fibrosis is a genetic condition that affects the lungs and other organs. Maureira’s brother had died of the disease, her father, Freddy Maureira, told local Radio Bio Bio. A spokeswoman from the Universidad Catolica clinic in Santiago confirmed that Valentina Maureira was a patient at the hospital and said she was stable, with no immediately life-threatening conditions.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A patient has sued the maker of a medical scope linked to the outbreak of a superbug at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
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