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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.

PALO ALTO, Calif. The Food and Drug Administration has turned down an application from a company seeking approval for a drug to treat fibromyalgia.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals announced Monday that the FDA had given it a complete response letter for the drug JZP-6 (sodium oxybate), citing a need for additional clinical studies and issues concerning the appropriate patient population, ensuring safe use, a proposed risk evaluation and mitigation strategy, and others.

NEW YORK Pfizer will buy King Pharmaceuticals for $3.6 billion, Pfizer said Tuesday.

The world’s largest drug maker announced that it had agreed to acquire Bristol, Tenn.-based King for $14.25 per share, which it said was a 40% premium over the Monday closing price of King’s stock.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. The board of directors of Genzyme again has rejected a buyout offer by French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis, Genzyme said Thursday.

The biotech company’s board unanimously turned down the hostile offer Sanofi made Monday to acquire Genzyme for $18.5 billion, or $69 per share, saying it was “opportunistic” and undervalued the company.

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.

SILVER SPRING, Md. Clinical trial data indicating an increased risk of heart attack and stroke has led to the removal from the market of an obesity drug made by Abbott, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.

The FDA said the drug maker voluntarily withdrew the drug Meridia (sibutramine) following a required post-marketing trial showing that the drug increased by 16% the risk of nonfatal heart attacks and strokes, the need for resuscitation after the heart stopped and death.

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.

NEW YORK Pfizer on Wednesday announced the completion of its acquisition of a privately held drug discovery and clinical development company.

FoldRx now is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer, Pfizer said. FoldRx's portfolio includes clinical and preclinical programs for investigational compounds to treat diseases caused by protein misfolding, which increasingly is recognized as an underlying cause in many chronic degenerative diseases.

The acquisition was announced Sept. 1.