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NEW YORK — Legislation recently introduced in the Senate aims to address the issue of drug shortages.

The Preserving Access to Life-Saving Medications Act, introduced in February by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., would require drug manufacturers to inform the Food and Drug Administration when supplies of a drug may be running low, allowing the agency to inform hospitals and attempt to address shortages.

The bill currently has nine cosponsors and is under review by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, according to congressional records.

NEW YORK — Bristol-Myers Squibb will collaborate with Roche to investigate the use of a combination of the companies’ drugs in patients with a deadly form of skin cancer.

The companies will conduct a phase 1/2 trial to test the safety and efficacy of BMS’ Yervoy (ipilimumab) in combination with Roche’s investigational drug vemurafenib in patients with melanoma that has spread to other parts of the body.

CINCINNATI — An Eli Lilly executive was elected to Chiquita's board of directors at the company's annual shareholders meeting.

Chiquita said that Jeffrey Simmons, who serves as Lilly SVP and president of the drug maker's animal health division, Elanco Animal Health, brings more than 20 years of management experience to his new role on the audit committee and the food innovation, safety and technology committee.

PARIS — New results from a late-stage clinical trial of a Sanofi drug for Type 2 diabetes indicated that the drug can reduce blood sugar in patients without increasing the risk of causing the blood sugar levels to dip too low, the French drug maker said Tuesday.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a treatment for diarrhea caused by a bacterial infection.

The agency announced the approval of Optimer Pharmaceuticals’ Dificid (fidaxomicin) tablets for the treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea, also known as CDAD.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved an injectable gel for fecal incontinence, the agency said.

The FDA announced the approval of Oceana Therapeutics’ Solesta for patients who have involuntarily lost bowel control and for whom such therapies as diet change, fiber therapy and antimotility medications have failed.

Fecal incontinence affects more than 5.5 million Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Drug maker Johnson & Johnson plans to file for regulatory approval for 11 new drugs between 2011 and 2015, the company said Thursday in relation to a meeting between J&J’s executive committee and investors.

SAN DIEGO — Eli Lilly is temporarily barred from using the same sales team to market two diabetes drugs, under a court order issued Thursday.