FDAnews Drug Daily Bulletin

In the wake of mounting concerns over drug safety, the FDA has started reviewing the possibility of building a new adverse event reporting system (AERS).

HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt has called for eliminating wasteful spending on Medicaid, including by changing the way the government pays for prescription drugs under the program.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee sent a letter to President Bush requesting he nominate a permanent FDA commissioner "as soon as possible" and promising the president a prompt hearing on such a nominee.

Merck and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have settled their competing intellectual property claims related to their human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine candidates.

Emergent Technologies has formed a new biotech company, Auxano Biologics to commercialize patented technology utilizing Substance P for wound healing applications developed by Ted Reid, Chris Murphy and Mark Mannis.

Gufic Biosciences has started discussions with potential investors, offering them close to 10 percent equity in the company, reports Business Standard.

WellGen, a biotechnology company using nutrigenomics to develop proprietary wellness products, has signed a research contract and licensing agreement with HMGene, a company focused on the genetics of obesity.

Cytel Software, a leading provider of software and services for optimized clinical trial design and analysis, has completed a round of financing led by Merck Capital Ventures.

Officials at the FDA asked Canadian regulators to refrain from suspending the use of the hyperactivity drug Adderall XR, because the FDA could not handle another "drug safety crisis," according to Sen. Charles Grassley.

Mylan Laboratories' rocky road toward acquiring King Pharmaceuticals has taken two more turns that could complicate a deal already mired in controversy.

Nine construction companies have registered their interest in bidding for a Bt950-million contract to build a pharmaceutical plant to produce anti-AIDS medicines, the Acting Managing Director of the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO), Wanchai Subhachaturus, told TNA.

A government panel has recommended that all college freshmen who live in dorms receive a new meningitis vaccine that lasts years longer than the old one and prevents people from being carriers of the bacteria.