Specialty Pharmacy

NEW YORK — Abbott Labs has spun off its specialty drug division into a new company called AbbVie, which the new company's leaders heralded Wednesday by ringing the first opening bell of 2013 at the New York Stock Exchange.

SAN FRANCISCO — Biotech companies saw a decline in project delays due to regulations over the past year, as more than half have said insurance coverage and reimbursement issues have become more difficult, according to a new report.

The 2013 California Biomedical Industry Report — by PwC, the California Healthcare Institute and BayBio — looked at California's biotech industry and how it faired in 2012.

SAN FRANCISCO — While pressure to grow will drive more large drug makers to pursue mergers and acquisitions, diminished resources and competition from biotech and specialty pharmaceutical companies will challenge their ability to do so, according to a new report.

BOSTON — Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has introduced legislation that would give the state government broader power over compounding pharmacies, the governor's office announced.

WESTON, Mass. — Biogen Idec is seeking Food and Drug Administration approval for a hemophilia drug that it called the first of its kind.

The drug maker announced that it had submitted a regulatory application for recombinant factor IX Fc fusion protein, or rFIXFc, which it called the first long-lasting factor IX therapy for hemophilia B.

NEW YORK — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new means of administration for a multiple sclerosis drug, the manufacturers said.

Pfizer and EMD Serono announced the approval of Rebif Rebidose (interferon beta-1a), a single-use auto-injector for self-administering Rebif, used to treat relapsing forms of MS. EMD Serono is the U.S. division of German drug maker Merck KGaA, so-named to avoid confusion with U.S.-based Merck & Co.

LANDOVER, Md. — Ahold banner Giant Food of Landover, Md., donated $37,305 to the Capital Breast Care Center.

The donation, presented by Giant-Landover public and community relations manager Jamie Miller (center) to Capital Breast Care Center executive director Wanda Lucas (front row, second from right) comes from money collected by the chain during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

WESTON, Mass. — An experimental drug for Lou Gehrig's disease made by Biogen Idec has failed in a late-stage clinical trial, the drug maker said Thursday.

Biogen announced results of its phase-3 trial of dexpramipexole in patients with the disease, known technically as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The drug failed to improve functioning and survival in patients and failed to show efficacy in key secondary endpoints as well, the company said.