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BURLINGTON, Mass. Many Type 2 diabetes patients who use the drug Onglyza (saxagliptin) switched to that drug from Merck’s Januvia (sitagliptin) and Janumet (sitagliptin and metformin), according to a new report by market research firm Decision Resources.

NEW YORK Risks of counterfeiting, contamination and intellectual property theft could increase with the globalization of the pharmaceutical supply chain, according to a new report.

BALTIMORE Drug maker Pharmaxis got promising results from an investigative treatment for cystic fibrosis, the company said.

Pharmaxis announced results of two six-month phase-3 trials of 643 patients receiving Bronchitol (mannitol), which the company presented last week at the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference in Baltimore.

LONDON British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline will pay nearly $1 billion to the U.S. government to settle allegations that it sold contaminated and ineffective products.

The company will plead guilty to criminal charges relating to drugs made at a manufacturing plant in Cidra, Puerto Rico, which it closed in 2009, and pay $750 million. In a whistleblower suit filed by a former employee, it was alleged that the company knowingly sold defective supplies of various drugs, including the baby ointment Bactroban (mupirocin) and the antidepressant Paxil (paroxetine).

NEW YORK Drug maker Keryx Biopharmaceuticals has finished enrolling participants for a late-stage clinical trial of a drug for patients on kidney dialysis, Keryx said Tuesday.

The company is conducting a phase-3 trial of Zerenex (ferric citrate) in patients with end-stage kidney disease on dialysis who have excessive phosphorous levels, a condition known as hyperphosphatemia.

Keryx said it expects to complete the study and report top-line data by the end of the year.

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. Strativa Pharmaceuticals is working with a Swedish drug maker to develop and commercialize a prescription vitamin supplement, Strativa said Tuesday.

The company said it had signed a license and supply agreement with Swedish Orphan Biovitrum, also known as Sobi, concerning European rights to Strativa’s Nascobal (cyanocobalamin), a vitamin B12 nasal spray.

NEW YORK Speculation has emerged that Eli Lilly may seek to acquire several other companies in light of its difficulties winning approval for a long-acting diabetes treatment, according to published reports.

FRAZER, Pa. The Food and Drug Administration has approved risk evaluation and mitigation strategies for two sleep disorder drugs made by Cephalon, the drug maker said.

Cephalon announced that the FDA approved the REMS for Nuvigil (armodafinil) and Provigil (modafinil), both used to improve wakefulness in patients with sleep apnea, narcolepsy or shift work disorder.