Branded

NEW YORK — Look for a big surge in brand-to-generic drug switches at the pharmacy counter over the next year.

SILVER SPRING, Md. The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new treatment for breast cancer, the agency said Monday.

The FDA approved Eisai’s Halaven (eribulin mesylate) for patients with breast cancer that has spread and who have received at least two chemotherapy regimens for the disease in its late stages. More than 200,000 women will be diagnosed this year with breast cancer, and nearly 40,000 will die from it, making it the second leading cause of cancer-related death among women, according to the National Cancer Institute.

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 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.