Branded

SILVER SPRING, Md. — A drug widely used to treat breast cancer is not safe or effective, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.

PRINCETON, N.J. — Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca presented an analysis Wednesday of 14 clinical trials at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Orlando, Fla., the companies said.

The phase-2b and phase-3 trials all involved the investigational Type 2 diabetes drug dapagliflozin and, the companies said, showed that use of the drug did not lead to an unacceptable risk to adult patients' cardiovascular health compared with other treatments.

LONDON — GlaxoSmithKline announced the results from the first of eight phase-3 clinical trials that examined the efficacy of albiglutide in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.

The Harmony 7 trial was a 32-week, head-to-head, open-label, noninferiority study that compared albiglutide, an investigational once weekly glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist, with once-daily liraglutide. According to the results, patients administered GSK's drug saw a 0.78% reduction in HbA1C, while patients administered liraglutide saw a 0.99% reduction in HbA1C.

SEATTLE — Drug maker Eli Lilly is donating more than $4 million to the Infectious Disease Research Institute, the company said Thursday.

The company said the funding, which brings its total donations to IDRI to more than $20 million and its total funding for anti-tuberculosis efforts to more than $170 million, will support early-phase drug discovery efforts focused on identifying new drugs for tuberculosis, including strains of the virus that have grown resistant to multiple drugs. The Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative was started in 2007.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for treating a rare bone marrow disease, the agency said Wednesday.

NEW YORK — When its blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipitor loses patent protection this month, Pfizer is hoping that pharmacy benefit managers will not dispense a generic version of the drug to its customers, according to published reports.

Pharmacy benefit managers Medco and Catalyst have agreed to block generic versions of Lipitor from reaching their customers until the end of May 2012, according to Bloomberg. Additionally, the company reportedly is in talks with Express Scripts to have the PBM also block generic versions from reaching customers as well.

SAN DIEGO — A free mobile service providing healthcare information via text message helped improve both engagement with healthcare providers and compliance with regimens, researchers revealed Tuesday.

RIDGEFIELD, Conn. — German drug maker Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals invested more than $350 million in its U.S. operations this year, the company said Tuesday.