FDAnews Drug Daily Bulletin

Mounting concerns over the safety of Cox-2 inhibitors is having a negative impact on medical research, including large studies on the prevention and treatment of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, dementia, and other diseases, industry experts warn.

Maryland has laid plans to join a multistate prescription drug buying agreement that would let the states combine their Medicaid purchasing power to seek deeper discounts from drugmakers.

The mounting controversy over Cox-2 inhibitors is having a positive effect on Abbott Laboratories' bottom line, which was bolstered during the fourth quarter by strong sales of Mobic, a pain reliever that Abbott co-markets with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals.

Wyeth has initiated settlement discussions with an undisclosed number of plaintiffs who opted out of the National Diet Drug Settlement, which was inked in 1999 to address claims filed over Wyeth's diet drugs Pondium and Redux, the company said.

Germany's generic drugmaker Stada Arzneimittel AG has completed the previously announced acquisition of one of Russia's top three pharmaceutical companies, Nizhpharm.

Bayer HealthCare AG and Nektar Therapeutics have announced a new collaboration to develop an inhaleable powder formulation of a novel form of Ciprofloxacin (Cipro) to treat chronic lung infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) in cystic fibrosis patients.

Perlegen Sciences will conduct a high-density whole genome study for an undisclosed trait of interest with global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

GlaxoSmithKline said plans to eliminate 250 positions -- roughly half of which will be in the Philadelphia region -- in its U.S Pharmaceuticals division in February.

Nanospectra Biosciences has received a $750,000 grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Nitin Sahney, president of RxCrossroads has announced the launch of an industry-leading manufacturer focused mail-order pharmacy automation platform. RxCrossroads is a leader in providing product support services to pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies.

Fifteen months ago, Genzyme and Transkaryotic Therapies of Cambridge decided to kiss and make up.

GTC Biotherapeutics will sell $10.4 million in common stock in an effort to raise money to fund clinical trials and product development, the company announced.