Branded

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved changes to the labels of several drugs made by Merck, the agency said Friday.

Merck’s Label Standardization Project includes the revision of 34 container labels for 16 drugs, all orally administered pills. These include the cardiovascular drugs Cozaar (losartan) and Hyzaar (losartan and hydrochlorothiazide), the diabetes drugs Januvia (sitagliptin) and Janumet (sitagliptin and metformin), the allergy and asthma drug Singulair (montelukast), the HIV drug Isentress (raltegravir) and others.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for epilepsy made by GlaxoSmithKline and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, the drug makers said Monday.

The FDA approved Potiga (ezogabine) tablets for the treatment of partial-onset seizures in patients ages 18 years and older.

ABBOTT PARK, Ill. — Abbott has delivered quarterly dividends for more than 300 consecutive quarters as of Friday, the drug maker said.

Abbott, based in the Chicago area, declared a quarterly common dividend of 48 cents per share, marking the 350th consecutive quarterly dividend to be paid since 1924.

The company said only 1% of companies listed on the S&P 500 Index, of which Abbott is one, had delivered a comparable number of consecutive annual increases and payments.

NEW YORK — A drug for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease made by Forest Labs will be available by the middle of this month, Forest said Thursday.

Daliresp (roflumilast) recently received approval from the Food and Drug Administration as a treatment to reduce the risk of exacerbations in patients with severe COPD associated with chronic bronchitis and a history of exacerbations.

Forest said Daliresp, a daily oral tablet, is the first and only approved drug in its class, known as selective phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration is seeking to limit the use of high doses of a drug for high cholesterol due to the risk of a muscle injury known as myopathy.

ABBOTT PARK, Ill. — Patients with Parkinson’s disease treated with an investigational drug made by Abbott saw a decrease in the amount of time their symptoms resurfaced, while the time in which their symptoms stayed under control increased, according to results of a late-stage clinical trial that Abbott announced Thursday.

INDIANAPOLIS — Patients with Type 1 diabetes using an insulin product made by Eli Lilly can store it in their pumps for longer periods of time, while children using it have additional options, thanks to a labeling change approved Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration.

INDIANAPOLIS — A federal court has ruled in favor of drug maker Eli Lilly in a dispute with Amylin Pharmaceuticals over Lilly’s partnership with German drug maker Boehringer Ingelheim.