Generics

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Conventional wisdom holds that when the risk of catching a disease is high, people are more likely to get vaccinated to protect themselves. This may not be the case, however, according to a study presented May 5 at the Pediatric Academic Societies' annual meeting.

Researchers, led by Elizabeth Wolf, compared rates of infant vaccination with the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine before and during an epidemic of pertussis (whooping cough) in Washington state. Surprisingly, they found no difference in vaccination rates.

HORSHAM, Pa. — Symphony Health Solutions last week announced it now offers weekly views of pharmaceutical sales and prescription activity. The company launched PHAST 2.0 Institutional Weekly and PHAST 2.0 Integrated Weekly, weekly audits of U.S. institutional sales and overall market activity.

WASHINGTON — The Generic Pharmaceutical Association on Friday applauded the launch of the bipartisan Affordable Medicines Caucus, co-chaired by Reps. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Keith Rothfus, R-Pa. 

JERUSALEM — Teva Pharmaceutical Industries last week announced results for first quarter 2014 ended March 31. The company reported revenues of $5 billion, which is up 2% when compared to first quarter 2013. Additionally, Teva reported Non-GAAP net income of $1 billion, an 8% increase and GAAP net income of $744 million, an increase of 18%. 

NEW YORK — Last winter's flu season was fairly typical of other winters over the last decade, with the prevalence of the flu and the number of people who had flu shots both fairly close to the averages for that time period, the Harris Poll reported Tuesday. The effectiveness of flu vaccines also seems to have been fairly typical.

MUMBAI, India — Sun Pharmaceutical Industries last week announced that it notified the Workforce Development Agency for the State of Michigan regarding its decision to stop manufacturing operations and close the Detroit facility, which is located at Elijah McCoy, Detroit, Mich.

CHICAGO — In a study released Saturday that included data from more than 3 million children and adolescents from diverse geographic regions of the United States, researchers found that the prevalence of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes increased significantly between 2001 and 2009. The study was published in the May 7 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on child health. This issue was released early to coincide with the Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting.

BASEL, Switzerland — Sandoz recently announced that the generic manufacturer continues to advance its biosimilars pipeline that currently has six molecules in the Phase III clinical trial/filing prep phase. 

For example, Sandoz completed the patient enrollment for its Phase III trial with biosimilar etanercept (Amgen's Enbrel). The global clinical trial seeks to confirm biosimilarity with regard to safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of the Sandoz product versus Enbrel in patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque-type psoriasis.