Posts Tagged: "teva pharmaceutical"

Injectable migraine treatment being developed by Alder, Eli Lilly, Amgen and others

Migraines are the result of a hereditary neurological disorder which causes certain areas of the brain to become over-excited, creating the throbbing pain and increased sensitivity to lights, smells or sounds which characterize a migraine attack. Not much is known about the brain chemistry that directly causes a migraine, although it’s generally understood that hormonal fluctuations or environmental stimuli can act as triggers. News of successful mid-stage trials for a migraine treatment developed by Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc. has been greeted with a warm welcome from news media. The results of the trial show that an injectable treatment known as ALD403 administered four times over the course of a year reduced patient suffering from chronic migraines.

American high tech companies take charge as the world’s most valuable brands

The top two spots on the list of the 100 most valuable brands are occupied this year, as last year, by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), respectively. These two companies have held their respective spots since 2013, when both were able to ouster The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO) from the leading position in the Interbrand study, which it had held since Interbrand began releasing the report in 2000. Interbrand’s top 10 global brands include a collection of Companies We Follow often here on IPWatchdog, including 4th-placed Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), 5th-placed IBM (NYSE:IBM), 7th-placed Samsung Electronics Co. (KRX:005930), 8th-placed General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) and 10th-placed Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).

Teva first major corporate partner of Watson Health, IBM’s cloud platform for medicine

Just a few months after establishing this health and wellness cloud platform, IBM has secured its first Foundational Life Sciences partner for Watson Health in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE:TEVA) of Petah Tikva, Israel. Statements from senior Teva officials indicate that the world’s largest manufacturer of generic pharmaceuticals will use the personal health cloud to connect more directly with physicians and patients and enable individualized treatment optimization options. It’s hoped that the Big Data tools available through IBM’s Watson analytics will be powerful enough to help Teva and others come up with more effective treatments for the millions of people worldwide suffering from chronic health conditions such as migraine, asthma or neurodegenerative diseases.

Teva acquires Auspex for $3.5 billion, increases patent holdings in orphan disease treatment

This year the pharmaceutical world has already seen some incredible mergers and acquisitions. This rapid pace of activity represents the highest level of pharmaceutical and biotech takeovers since 2009, according to Bloomberg Business. The week of March 30th started with the announcement of four major pharma or biotech mergers which totaled greater than $17 billion in costs, including the $3.5 billion Teva acquisition of Auspex. One particular deal, the purchase of benefits management company Catamaran Corp. by health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc., will exceed $12 billion on its own.

FTC Sues to Stop Unlawful Blocking of Generic Androgel

The FTC is seeking a court judgment declaring that the defendants’ conduct violates the FTC Act, ordering the companies to disgorge their ill-gotten gains, and permanently barring them from engaging in similar anticompetitive behavior in the future. At issue in the alleged sham patent infringement suit is an ingredient in branded AndroGel, called isopropyl myristate or IPM. IPM is known as a “penetration enhancer” because it speeds the delivery of the drug’s active ingredient, testosterone, through the skin and into the bloodstream. The patent on branded AndroGel covers only a formulation using IPM as the penetration enhancer, according to the FTC complaint.