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Sebelius on Vaccines

24 Nov 2009

Discussing whether a new $487M investment from the government will help speed up the production of the most important vaccines, with Kathy Sebelius, Health & Human Services secretary and CNBC's Mike Huckman.

The New Formula for Faster Vaccines

24 Nov 2009

Novartis is opening on Tuesday the country's first plant to produce flu vaccines using cell cultures. These vaccines are faster, better and cheaper to make than egg-based methods, reports CNBC's Mike Huckman.

Novartis Opens 1st US Plant for Flu Vaccine

24 Nov 2009

Cholesterol Drug Battle: Niaspan vs. Zetia 16 Nov 2009
Abbott Laboratories' Niaspan beat Merck's Zetia in a new study. CNBC's Mike Huckman has the details.

Cardiologist Grades Cholesterol Drug Study

16 Nov 2009

Abbott Laboratories' Niaspan beat Merck's Zetia in a new study. Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic, shares his reaction with CNBC's Mike Huckman.

Merck's Cholesterol Drugs Under Pressure

16 Nov 2009

A new study is putting Merck's cholesterol drugs under pressure today, reports CNBC's Mike Huckman, with Ken Frazier, Merck Global Human Health president.

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CNBC ON DIGG

Biopharma's Bustin' Out All Over

Published: Monday, 2 Nov 2009 | 12:32 PM ET

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By: Mike Huckman
CNBC Correspondent

Over the past few days there's been a remarkable confluence of newsflow, most of it positive, out of biopharma.

First the bad news.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is leading a multi-state lawsuit against biotech giant Amgen [AMGN Loading... () ] over alleged kickbacks. The company says the case is without merit. Then, just a few hours later, on Halloween Eve, the results of the so-called TREAT trial came out. There were nearly twice as many strokes among diabetic, pre-dialysis kidney disease patients who got AMGN's anemia drug Aranesp. Most analysts say the results, while obviously not good, may have already been baked into the stock price. It's also worth noting that Amgen paid for this study. So, it'll be interesting to see how far it might go to help dispel perceptions that drug companies buy only favorable research and try to sweep everything else under the rug. In the press release, Amgen's head of R & D even acknowledges "the risk...will exceed the benefit...."

And now the good stuff.

Where do I start? Dendreon [DNDN Loading... () ] files a little bit earlier than expected for FDA approval of its prostate cancer treatment Provenge. Human Genome Sciences [HGSI Loading... () ] says the second of two late-stage studies on the Lupus drug it shares with GlaxoSmithKline [GSK Loading... () ] met its main goal. Vertex Pharmaceuticals [VRTX Loading... () ] says a mid-stage study shows a twice-a-day version of its experimental hepatitis C drug works as well as the further along three-time-a-day version. It's partners with Johnson & Johnson [JNJ Loading... () ] on that one. Vertex and HGSI both hit new intra-day highs. And finally, Amylin Pharmaceuticals [AMLN Loading... () ] hit a trifecta over the weekend. The FDA okayed use of the diabetes drug Byetta as a stand-alone treatment. The agency did put a new warning on the Byetta label for pancreatitis, but it isn't the more severe "boxed" warning. And the company did a potential $1-billion-plus partnership deal on its developmental obesity drugs. Amylin and Lilly [LLY Loading... () ] are partners on the twice-a-day injectable Byetta. And the pair, along with Alkermes [ALKS Loading... () ], are waiting for the FDA okay of a once-a-week version of the drug.

Today, I interviewed the CEOs of AMLN, HGSI and VRTX. If you missed them, you can check them out here on this blog page as they appear and get posted. Sure, things get hectic when there's so much to keep track of, but it's days like this when I'm glad to be on this beat.

Questions? Comments? and follow me on Twitter at mhuckman