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CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid has appointed healthcare executive Myrtle Potter to its board of directors, the retail pharmacy chain said Tuesday.

Potter is currently CEO of Myrtle Potter & Co., a Silicon Valley-based consulting firm focused on life sciences and health care, as well as the head of consumer healthcare content company Myrtle Potter Media. She previous served as president of commercial operations and COO at Genentech and has worked at companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck.

NEW YORK — Forest Labs is spending at least $240 million to buy rights to a psychiatric drug made by Merck, the New York-based drug maker said.

Forest said it would buy the U.S. rights for Merck's Saphris (asenapine), a tablet dissolved under the tongue for the treatment of schizophrenia and manic episodes in patients with bipolar disorder. Forest will pay Merck $240 million upfront, as well as milestone payments based on sales, while Merck will supply the drug. Forest will market the drug and conduct clinical studies.

PHILADELPHIA — Sandoz will market an authorized generic version of an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug made by Shire under a contract between the two companies, Shire said Monday.

Shire said Sandoz, the generics division of Swiss drug maker Novartis, would market an authorized generic version of Adderall XR (amphetamine; dextroamphetamine).

MALVERN, Pa. — Shionogi and Egalet have entered a deal worth up to $425 million for the development of abuse-deterrent opioid painkillers, Egalet said.

The deal centers on the development and potential commercialization of experimental drugs containing the opioid painkiller hydrocodone.

JERUSALEM — The Food and Drug Administration has designated a drug made by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries as an orphan drug, the company said.

Teva said the drug, Treanda (bendamustine hydrochloride), received the designation for indolent B-cell non-Hodgkins lymphoma through October 2015 that has progressed during or within six months of treatment with a regimen containing Rituxan (rituximab), marketed by Genentech and Biogen Idec. The FDA gives orphan drug designation to treatments for diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States.

ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill. — Treatment of influenza with such antiviral medicines as Tamiflu and Relenza may improve survival rates in children, according to a study published on Nov. 25 in Pediatrics. 

Researchers from the California Department of Public Health analyzed data abstracted from medical records to characterize the outcomes of pediatric patients hospitalized with the flu between April 3, 2009 and September 30, 2012. 

LONDON — Researchers at the University of Dundee and University College London on Wednesday found that taking the maximum daily dose of some medicines would exceed the recommended daily limits for sodium, without any additional dietary intake and potentially become an added risk factor for heart disease.

They say the public "should be warned about the potential dangers of high sodium intake from prescribed medicines" and that sodium-containing formulations "should be prescribed with caution only if the perceived benefits outweigh the risks."

SILVER SPRING, Md. — A new study is helping to provide a better understanding of vaccines for whooping cough, the Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday. Based on an animal model, the study shows that acellular pertussis vaccines licensed by the FDA are effective in preventing the disease among those vaccinated, but suggests that they may not prevent infection from the bacteria that causes whooping cough in those vaccinated or its spread to other people, including those who may not be vaccinated.