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SAN FRANCISCO — Practice Fusion on Wednesday launched its real-time healthcare database, Insight. With Insight, physicians, researchers and analysts can access analysis sourced from a de-identified subset of more than 81 million patient records. Insight users can explore health and pharmaceutical market trends, including diagnoses across patient populations, all in real-time.

Offered free of charge, Insight is designed to provide a full perspective across the healthcare spectrum, from diagnosis to treatment, that can identify new research opportunities and market trends.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Takeda Pharmaceutical on Tuesday announced that the Food and Drug Administration simultaneously approved a new biologic therapy, Entyvio (vedolizumab), for the treatment of adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

CHICAGO — According to a report published Monday by JAMA Pediatrics, cost-related barriers to care among children with asthma are concentrated among low-income families with higher cost-sharing levels.

NEW YORK — Pfizer on Sunday made a final offer valued at $118 billion for AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca, in turn, rejected the bid Monday morning. 

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced it required Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, manufacturer of the sleep drug Lunesta (eszopiclone), to change the drug label and lower the current recommended starting dose. Data show that eszopiclone levels in some patients may be high enough the morning after use to impair activities that require alertness, including driving, even if they feel fully awake.

NEW YORK — Pfizer announced plans to submit a new drug application with the Food and Drug Administration for palbociclib (combined with letrozole). The drug is used for the first-line systemic treatment of post-menopausal women with advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

The company said it plans to submit the NDA early in third quarter 2014. The decision to file was based on discussions with the FDA surrounding the final results of a randomized, Phase 2 trial called PALOMA-1.

WASHINGTON — A new report by Milliman released Thursday found that Silver plans with combined deductibles offered through the Health Insurance Exchanges may require patients to pay more than twice as much out of pocket for prescription medicines overall as they would under a typical employer plan.

ATLANTA — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday released guidance advising practitioners to offer an HIV prevention pill to healthy individuals who are at high-risk for an HIV infection, according to published reports. 

The guidelines, issued in conjunction with the U.S. Public Health Service, involve the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis, a strategy in which at-risk individuals take a daily dose of an antiretroviral drug to reduce their risk of HIV infection.