Branded

PHILADELPHIA — The Food and Drug Administration has approved an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug for use in adolescents.

British drug maker Shire announced Monday the approval of Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine dimesylate) capsules for patients aged 13 to 17. The drug was already approved for children ages 6 years to 12 years and adults.

NEW YORK —The often wide gap between what consumers will pay out of pocket for a branded versus a generic drug is one big factor driving the continually rising demand curve for me-too medicines.

NEW YORK — The makers of Zestra held a symposium on Oct. 28 at New York’s Penn Club to promote the over-the-counter product designed to address women’s sexual dysfunction.

CHICAGO — A drug made by Pfizer may help decrease the risk of cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalization in patients with chronic heart failure, according to a late-stage clinical study.

The “Emphasis-HF” study — funded by Pfizer, published online in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Heart Association scientific sessions in Chicago — found that adding Inspra (eplerenone) to standard therapies reduced the risks compared with placebo.

NEW YORK Patients with rheumatoid arthritis derive about as much benefit from a weekly injection of a biotech drug made by Bristol-Myers Squibb for the disease as they do from receiving it via IV on a monthly basis, according to late-stage clinical trial data released Monday.

INDIANAPOLIS The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new usage for a drug used to treat depression and pain.

Eli Lilly said Thursday that the FDA had approved Cymbalta (duloxetine hydrochloride) for treating chronic musculoskeletal pain. This is the fifth indication for which the agency has approved Cymbalta, after major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain and fibromyalgia, Lilly said.

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. Drug maker Savient Pharmaceuticals will begin shipping its treatment for chronic gout to specialty distributors at the end of this month, Savient said.

The company announced that it would begin shipping Krystexxa (pegloticase) on Nov. 30, and it would become available for prescription on Dec. 1.

MONTREAL A study presented last month before the European Respiratory Society Annual Congress determined that the branded probiotic ProbioKid reduced infectious events in children by 25% during the winter period, as compared with a placebo. The study was conducted during the winter of 2006-2007 and involved 135 healthy, school-aged children who had suffered from at least three episodes of ear-nose-throat, bronchopulmonary or gastric disorder during the course of the previous winter.