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SAN DIEGO — Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Takeda Pharmaceutical have halted development of a treatment for obesity in mid-stage clinical trials, the two companies said.

The companies said the decision to discontinue development of a therapy that combines pramlintide and metreleptin was based on "a commercial reassessment of the pramlintide/metreleptin program … [that] took into account a revised development plan, as well as evolving dynamics within he obesity therapeutic area."

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson chairman and CEO Bill Weldon on Wednesday morning rang the NYSE opening bell remotely from Johnson & Johnson world headquarters here as part of the company's employee celebration of its 125th anniversary.

To see a brief video of the event, click here.

NEW YORK — The world's top-selling drug may become available over the counter, if its manufacturer has its way, according to published reports.

The New York Times reported that Pfizer may be looking for Food and Drug Administration approval for an OTC switch for Lipitor (atorvastatin calcium), a cholesterol-lowering medication. The Times quoted an unnamed source as providing the information, though Pfizer declined to comment.

DARMSTADT, Germany — Merck KGaA has finished enrolling patients in a late-stage clinical study of a drug for Parkinson's disease, the German drug maker said.

Merck KGaA, which is a separate company from U.S.-based Merck & Co. and operates in the United States under the name EMD, said 549 patients with mid- to late-stage Parkinson's had enrolled in the phase-3 "SETTLE" study of safinamide. The study is designed to evaluate the drug's safety and efficacy as an add-on therapy to levodopa, a common treatment for Parkinson's.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — GlaxoSmithKline company Stiefel announced it is seeking approval for a facial acne treatment in patients ages 12 years and older.

Stiefel said it has submitted a new drug application to the Food and Drug Administration for tazarotene foam. Tazarotene foam is subject to evaluation and approval by the regulatory authorities before it can be made available to physicians for prescribing to their appropriate patients, Stiefel said.

NEW YORK — Meningococcal meningitis is rare but can kill preteens and teenagers in as little as a day. Yet many kids still engage in behaviors that put them at risk of contracting the disease despite not being vaccinated.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug designation to a chemotherapy drug made by Merrimack Pharmaceuticals for pancreatic cancer, the drug maker said Monday.

Merrimack announced that it received the designation for MM-398, described as a novel, stable, nanotherapeutic encapsulation of the chemotherapy drug irinotecan.

EAST HANOVER, N.J. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new use for a drug made by Novartis for treating multiple sclerosis, the Swiss drug maker's U.S. subsidiary said Monday.

Novartis Pharmaceuticals announced the FDA's approval of Gilenya (fingolimod) for the reduction of T1 gadolinium-enhancing lesions, areas of inflammation in the central nervous system that mark disease activity in people with MS.