Specialty Pharmacy

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Merz Pharmaceuticals has created two programs to provide financial assistance to patients using its drug for cervical dystonia, the company said Tuesday.

The programs — the Xeomin patient co-payment program and the Xeomin patient assistance program — cover Xeomin (incobotulinumtoxinA), designed to decrease the severity of abnormal head positions and neck pains in patients with the disease, which causes muscle contractions resulting in repetitive movements and abnormal postures.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Generic drug maker Hospira has appointed Mike Ball as CEO, effective March 28, the company said. Ball currently is president of Allergan.

Ball, who also was appointed to the company’s board, will replace Christopher Begley, who will assume the role of executive chairman.

NEW YORK — Late-stage clinical trial data for a Keryx Biopharmaceuticals drug to treat kidney disease will be presented at a medical conference in Las Vegas.

Keryx said Monday that phase-3 data for the drug Zerenex (ferric citrate), a drug for abnormally high phosphate levels in patients with end-stage kidney disease on dialysis, will be presented at the upcoming National Kidney Foundation spring clinical meetings in April.

The company announced “positive” results from a phase-3 trial of the drug in November.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The board of directors of Genzyme unanimously recommended that shareholders accept French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis’ $74-per-share buyout offer, Genzyme said Monday.

Genzyme recently accepted Sanofi’s $20.1 billion offer for the Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech company. Sanofi had sought to buy the company since last July, when it offered $18.5 billion, or $69 per share.

FOSTER CITY, Calif. — Gilead on Friday announced that the Food and Drug Administration has removed a boxed warning about a possible liver injury risk caused by the drug maker's hypertension treatment.

Gilead said the FDA approved a change to the prescribing information for Letairis (ambrisentan 5-mg and 10-mg tablets), the company’s once-daily treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Hospira launched a new online resource that catalogs all of its products available in the United States.

Hospira said that the U.S. product catalog, available at Hospira.com/catalog, allows customers, including healthcare facilities and medical care providers, to search Hospira's more than 1,200 products in a variety of ways: alphabetically, by product name, by list number or by therapeutic class.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Delays or limits in the supply of flu vaccines can exacerbate disparities in vaccination rates among elderly whites, African-Americans and Hispanics, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester and published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

With pharmacists across the country now able to administer vaccinations, the Department of Health and Human Services’ plan came at just the right time.