Specialty Pharmacy

DUBLIN — Drug maker Shire is extending the deadline for its offer to buy Exton, Pa.-based ViroPharma for $4.2 billion, Shire said Friday.

The company said it had extended the expiration date of its tender offer for ViroPharma until Jan. 9. The offer had previously been planned to expire on Thursday. Shire announced the $50-per-share offer last month.

As the company completes its 50th year in business and the country awaits a period of change in health care unlike anything seen in at least that time, CVS Caremark executives are quite confident that its unique hybrid structure and its ability to leverage the three core parts of its business — either individually or together, in varying combinations to serve a multitude of needs — aligns more effectively with the long-term trends in health care and puts the company in a unique position at a singular moment in history.

In the late 1980s, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” introduced viewers to the replicator, which could make food, beverages and other items materialize out of thin air.

The idea of Captain Picard instantaneously getting his favorite brew by telling a machine “Tea, Earl Grey, hot” won’t happen any time soon. But with the advent of 3-D printing, it’s a lot closer to reality than one might think.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — The Food and Drug Administration has postponed the time it will decide whether or not to approve an experimental treatment under development by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. for ulcerative colitis, the company said.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new treatment made by Danish drug maker Novo Nordiskfor a rare, genetic bleeding disorder, the agency said Monday.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved revisions to the labeling of a leukemia drug made by Ariad Pharmaceuticals that allow the company to resume selling it, the company said.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug made by United Therapeutics for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension, the company said Monday.

The FDA approved Orenitram (treprostinil) extended-release tablets for treating certain PAH patients to improve exercise capacity. PAH is a disease in which abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs causes the right side of the heart to work harder than normal, according to the National Library of Medicine.

NEW YORK — Two experimental drugs under development by Biogen Idec are effective in reducing bleeding episodes in patients with two forms of hemophilia when administered as a preventive treatment, while also reducing the need for frequent injections, according to late-stage clinical trial data.