Specialty Pharmacy

HAYWARD, Calif., and FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Impax Labs has partnered with a pharmaceutical research, development, manufacturing and commercial operations company on a multiproduct agreement.

Impax Labs and Tolmar will develop, supply and distribute alternative dosage form products. The products and terms of the agreement were not disclosed; however, Impax Labs president and CEO Larry Hsu said the new agreement "represents an ideal extension of [our] initial product agreement."

NEW YORK — Lawmakers are going after companies that they say have sought to take advantage of drug shortages by buying drugs in short supply and then reselling them at higher prices, according to published reports.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration's director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Janet Woodcock, on Thursday identified three tools the agency wanted to use in potentially increasing access to appropriate medicines in her opening remarks at the FDA Rx-to-OTC Switch Hearing held here.

PHILADELPHIA — A Food and Drug Administration expert panel delivered a favorable vote on a cancer drug made by GlaxoSmithKline.

GSK announced that the FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 11-2 that clinical trial data indicated a favorable risk-benefit profile of the drug Votrient (pazopanib) in patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcoma who have received chemotherapy. The drug is already approved for treating the kidney cancer renal cell carcinoma.

JERUSALEM — Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is switching stock exchanges, the company said.

The world's largest generic drug manufacturer — and increasingly a player in branded and specialty drugs — announced Wednesday that it would transfer the listing of its shares from the Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange, with plans to start trading on the NYSE on May 30 under its current ticker symbol, "TEVA."

WASHINGTON — Pills for treating cancer have created numerous alternatives to spending hours in a clinic or at home receiving chemotherapy infusions, but risks of drug interactions remain, according to a new survey by the research arm of pharmacy benefit manager Medco Health Solutions.

JERUSALEM — A drug under investigation by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Active Biotech reduced symptoms and progression of disease in patients with multiple sclerosis, according to results of a late-stage clinical trial.

Teva and Active announced the publication of results of the phase-3 "Allegro" study of oral laquinimod in the March 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study was conducted in 24 countries and enrolled 1,106 patients with MS who received 0.6 mg of laquinimod per day or placebo.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Pharmaceutical wholesaler H.D. Smith has appointed Bill Williams as CFO, the company said Wednesday.

Williams, who has worked at such companies as Kraft Foods, Allied Signal and Martin Brower Co., most recently worked as a partner in Tatum LLC's Chicago office.