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NEW YORK — Pfizer announced Monday that it would be acquiring Anacor Pharmaceuticals for about $5.2 billion, a transaction that has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors. Currently, Anacor’s flagship asset, crisaborole — a non-steroidal topical PDE inhibitor with anti-inflammatory properties — is currently awaiting review from the Food and Drug Administration to treat mild to moderate eczema. 

 

WASHINGTON – In an effort to expand upon President Barack Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative and explore innovative ways to individualize patient care, representatives from MD Labs recently met with senior leadership at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

 

BOSTON - Big data is playing a role in better tracking flu outbreaks in real time, a team of researchers found, just not necessarily through Google searches. A team led by researchers at Boston Children's Hospital found that cloud-based data from electronic health records can be used to pick up cases in real time, at least one week ahead of CDC reporting.

 

BLOOMFIELD, Conn. — Cigna on Tuesday announced that it had signed value-based contracts with the makers of PCSK9 inhibitors Praluent and Repatha. The contracts — with Sanofi and Regeneron for Praluent and Amgen for Repatha — will tie patient outcomes to the price Cigna pays for the medications, which have been estimated to cost as much as $14,000 per patient per year. 

 

WASHINGTON — Americans turned in a record number of unused prescription drugs last weekend, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. The DEA on Monday said  the most recent National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day brought in the most unused prescription medications of any of its previous 10 events held since the initiative launched in 2010. 

 

HAWTHORNE, N.Y. — Taro Pharmaceutical USA on Tuesday announced a plan to make its primary periodic paralysis drug Keveyis (dichlorphenamide) available to distributors at no cost. The company will stop commercial sales and promotional activities for the ultra-rare disease treatment.  

 

SALT LAKE CITY - Babies whose moms get flu vaccinations while pregnant have a significantly reduced risk of acquiring influenza during their first six months of life, a new study shows, leading the authors to declare that the need for getting more pregnant women immunized is a public health priority.

 

ATLANTA — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to new data published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association that at least 1-in-3 antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary. The study looks at antibiotic use in doctors’ offices and emergency rooms nationwide, finding that some 47 million excess antibiotic prescriptions are written for viral respiratory conditions.