Specialty Pharmacy

STOCKHOLM The Food and Drug Administration has given orphan drug designation to a treatment for a rare kidney disease under mid-stage clinical development by privately owned Swedish drug maker PharmaLink, the company said.

The FDA granted the designation to Nefecon (PL-56), a treatment for IgA nephropathy, also known as Berger’s disease, a disorder that leads to end-stage kidney disease. The FDA gives orphan drug designation to incentivize development of treatments for rare and serious disorders.

SILVER SPRING, Md. The Food and Drug Administration approved a drug to treat and prevent relapse after patients with opioid dependence have undergone detoxification treatment.

Vivitrol is an extended-release formulation of naltrexone -- which works to block opioid receptors in the brain -- administered by intramuscular injection once a month. It only is administered by a physician.

BASEL, Switzerland Swiss drug maker Roche has bought the rights to an investigative treatment for hepatitis C, Roche said.

The company announced Thursday that it had purchased global development and commercialization rights to the drug RG7227/ITMN-191 (danoprevir) from InterMune for $175 million.

Roche said the drug had shown promise in preclinical and early clinical development. The two companies have been developing the drug since 2006.

NORWALK, Conn. The global pharmaceutical market will reach a value of $880 billion next year, according to a report by market research firm IMS Health.

IMS Health forecasted 5% to 7% growth in 2011 in its annual IMS Market Prognosis, compared with 4% to 5% growth this year.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. An investigative biotech drug administered together with chemotherapy helped extend the lives of cancer patients without their disease getting worse, also known as progression-free survival, according to results of two clinical trials announced this week by Amgen.