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Forest buys rights to Bystolic from J&J
NEW YORK — Forest Labs has bought rights to a drug used for high blood pressure that it had marketed with a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, thus eliminating the need to pay future royalties.
Forest announced Monday that it had bought all U.S. and Canadian intellectual property related to Bystolic (nebivolol) for $357 million from Janssen Pharmaceutica NV on Friday.
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FDA OKs Levemir for pregnant women
NEW YORK — A diabetes treatment made by Novo Nordisk is safe for pregnant women, according to a recent decision by the Food and Drug Administration.
Novo Nordisk said Monday the FDA had approved Levemir (insulin detemir [rDNA origin]) for a pregnancy category B classification, meaning that when used by pregnant women, the insulin did not increase the risk of harm to fetuses. The agency's decision was based on results of a clinical trial involving 310 women that compared Levemir to another insulin product.
The insulin is used to treat Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.