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Specialty Pharmacy

  • Costco offers Aetna insurance to California members

    WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — Aetna is offering individual health insurance plans to Costco members in California, the health insurer said.

    The Costco Personal Health Insurance program includes five plans and offers broad medical benefits, dental options and a large network of doctors and hospitals. The program also is available to members of the club retailer in Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. Aetna plans to expand the program to other markets in the coming months.

  • FDA approves Genzyme drug for rare cholesterol disorder

    SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for treating a rare cholesterol disorder, the agency said.

    The FDA announced the approval of Kynamro (mipomersen sodium), made by Genzyme for the treatment of homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, or HoFH. Kynamro has been approved as an orphan drug, a designation the FDA gives to drugs that treat diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people.

  • New York Times: Battle against biogenerics is on

    NEW YORK — The battle against biogenerics is on, noted a report published in The New York Times Tuesday.  As many as eight states have introduced legislation that would restrict generic competition of biological pharamceuticals so far this year and one, the Virginia House of Delegates, already passed such a measure by a 91-to-6 vote. 

  • FDA accepts application for Genzyme MS drug

    CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Food and Drug Administration has accepted a regulatory approval application from Genzyme for an experimental treatment for multiple sclerosis, the company said Monday.

    Genzyme, a division of French drug maker Sanofi, said the FDA accepted its application seeking approval for Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) for relapsing MS. The company expects the agency to decide whether to approve the drug in the second half of this year.

  • FDA approves Gleevec for most common pediatric cancer

    SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a Novartis drug for treating leukemia in children.

    The FDA said Friday that it approved Gleevec (imatinib) for treating children newly diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, also known as Ph+ ALL.

  • New indication approved for Genentech drug

    SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new use for a cancer drug made by Roche unit Genentech, the agency said.

    The FDA announced the approval of Avastin (bevacizumab) combined with fluoropyrimidine-irinotecan or fluoropyrimidine-oxaliplatin chemotherapy for treating colorectal cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, also known as metastatic colorectal cancer, or mCRC.

    The drug is also approved for treating lung cancer, kidney cancer and brain cancer.

  • McKesson Specialty names medical director

    THE WOODLANDS, Texas — McKesson Specialty Health and the U.S. Oncology Network on Friday announced that Marcus Neubauer accepted the position of medical director of oncology services for McKesson Specialty Health, effective March 1. 

  • FDA approves Novartis drug for rare blood disorder

    SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for removing excess iron from the blood in patients with a rare genetic disorder, the agency said.

    The FDA announced the approval of Novartis' Exjade (deferasirox) for patients ages 10 years and older with chronic iron overload resulting from nontransfution-dependent thalassemia, or NTDT. A companion diagnostic, FerriScan, made by Australia-based Resonance Health, also was approved.

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