Business & Industry News Channel
Nycomed announced that the European Commission has granted marketing authorisation for Instanyl®, its first-in-class intranasal fentanyl spray. Instanyl is aimed at managing breakthrough pain in adult cancer patients already receiving maintenance opioid therapy for chronic pain. 
Roche announced that the European Union's Committee on Human Medicinal Products (CHMP) has issued a positive recommendation for the use of MabThera (rituximab) in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). 
Merck KGaA announced today the submission of a marketing authorization application (MAA) to the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) for Cladribine Tablets, Merck’s proprietary investigational oral formulation of cladribine, as a therapy for patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). 
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) reported financial results for second-quarter 2009. Revenues were $11.0 billion, a decrease of 9% compared with the year-ago quarter and flat on a constant currency basis. Foreign exchange unfavorably impacted revenues by approximately $1.1 billion or 9%. For second-quarter 2009, U.S. revenues were $4.5 billion, a decrease of 5% compared with the year-ago quarter. Roche has announced results from the international phase III study NO16968 (XELOXA), investigating oral Xeloda in combination with intravenous oxaliplatin (XELOX) immediately after surgery, which show that patients with colon cancer taking XELOX live disease free for longer compared to those taking the commonly used intravenous chemotherapy combination 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin (5-FU/LV). The data prove that XELOX is superior to 5-FU/LV in terms of the time patients live without their cancer being detectable.
Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) today announced that the European Commission (EC) has approved under the European Union (EU) Merger Regulation the company's pending acquisition of Wyeth. The Commission's decision includes Pfizer's commitment to divest certain animal health assets in the EU.
