Branded

NEW YORK — Pfizer has entered a definitive agreement to acquire a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the development of pain treatments.

Pfizer, which currently owns a near 11% stake in Icagen, will acquire the company's remaining 8.3 million shares. The aggregate transaction value, which includes the value of the shares currently owned by Pfizer, is about $56 million.

The two companies entered a discovery, development and commercialization collaboration in 2007, which sought to create potential treatments for pain and related disorders.

INDIANAPOLIS — Eli Lilly has launched its physician payment registry, a website that enables visitors to search payments to individual U.S.-based physicians and the institutions or research organizations that receive payments on behalf of a physician.

The drug maker said that its website, which is in line with its corporate integrity agreement with the U.S. government, aims to show how the company works with U.S. physicians and compensates them for their services and how these collaborations benefit patient care.

OSAKA, Japan — Japanese drug maker Takeda Pharmaceutical is reapplying for approval of two drugs to treat Type 2 diabetes after the Food and Drug Administration turned down its last applications, the company said.

Takeda announced that it resubmitted its applications for alogliptin and a drug that combines alogliptin with pioglitazone, the active ingredient in Actos, which the FDA approved in 1999.

The FDA will review the applications over the next six months, the drug maker said.

HAYWARD, Calif. — The branded drugs division of Impax Labs has finished enrolling patients in a late-stage trial of a drug for Parkinson’s disease.

Impax Pharmaceuticals said Tuesday that it had enrolled patients in ASCEND-PD, a phase-3 trial of IPX066 that will compare the drug with carbidopa-levodopa and entacapone in patients with advanced Parkinson’s. IPX066 is an extended-release formulation of carbidopa-levodopa in capsule form.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new means of administration for a drug made by Daiichi Sankyo, the drug maker said Monday.

Daiichi Sankyo announced the FDA approval of Welchol (colesevelam hydrochloride) for oral suspension to be mixed with fruit juice or diet soft drinks. The drug, used to improve blood-sugar control and cholesterol levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol, received approval in 2009 for mixing with water.

NEW YORK — Bristol-Myers Squibb will acquire San Diego-based Amira Pharmaceuticals for $325 million, the two companies said Friday.

Amira develops pharmaceutical drugs for treating inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, and the deal includes milestone payments of up to $150 million on top of the upfront purchase price. Amira’s drugs include AM152, an investigational treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, currently in early-stage clinical trials and set to enter mid-stage trials.

FRAZER, Pa. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy for two painkillers made by Cephalon, the drug maker said Thursday.

The FDA approved a REMS for Fentora (fentanyl) buccal tablets and Actiq (oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate). Both drugs are used for managing breakthrough pain in cancer patients who have become tolerant of opioid drugs.

WILMINGTON, Del. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug made by AstraZeneca to reduce the rate of heart attacks in patients with acute coronary syndrome, the Anglo-Swedish drug maker said.

AstraZeneca announced the approval of Brilinta (ticagrelor), a blood-thinning drug, on Wednesday. The drug maker is touting the drug as an alternative to Plavix (clopidogrel), made by Sanofi and Bristol-Myers Squibb.