Specialty Pharmacy

CHADDS FORD, Pa. — Endo's parent company is looking to change its name and will integrate four of its operating units, the drug maker said Thursday.

Endo said the company, currently called Endo Pharmaceutical Holdings, would ask shareholders to approve changing the name to Endo Health Solutions at its annual shareholder meeting in May.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal court has turned down Cardinal Health's request for an injunction against the Drug Enforcement Administration's suspension of the its ability to ship controlled medications from one of its distribution centers, the company said Wednesday.

Reggie Walton, a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled against Cardinal's request to enjoin the DEA from preventing the company from shipping controlled substances from the distribution center, in Lakeland, Fla.

WESTON, Mass. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved two separate dosing innovations for multiple sclerosis patients that are being treated with a Biogen Idec drug.

Biogen Idec said the FDA approved Avonex pen, the first single-use, once-weekly intramuscular autoinjector approved for MS, and a dose titration regimen, which gradually escalates the dose of Avonex at treatment initiation. The drug maker said the new offerings are designed to improve the treatment experience.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Lowering health costs will require a greater understanding of differences between two distinct groups of patients, according to a new study, which also noted a growing availability of specialty drugs for complex and chronic conditions outside the hospital.

PHOENIX — A division of specialty pharmacy provider The Apothecary Shops has become the exclusive distributor of a drug used in glaucoma surgery, the company said.

Apothecary Shop Wholesale has received exclusive distribution rights for Mobius Therapeutics' drug Mitosol (mitomycin), which the Food and Drug Administration approved earlier this month.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy on Thursday released data showing that both patients and their health plans can realize savings of up to 60% on the cost of infused specialty medications by choosing alternate treatment sites. The cost savings was the key finding from new data being presented at the 2012 Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute Annual Drug Benefit Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.


PITTSBURGH — The Food and Drug Administration has given tentative approval to a division of Mylan for a generic drug for treating HIV and AIDS in children in developing countries.

Mylan said Thursday that the FDA had tentatively approved Mylan Labs' abacavir sulfate and lamivudine tablets in the 60 mg/30 mg strength. The drug is a generic version of Viiv Healthcare's Epzicom and was approved under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The drug will only be available for purchase in certain developing countries outside the United States.

SOUDERTON, Pa. — A Northern Ireland pharmaceutical company has acquired a chemotherapy agent from Gilead.

Galen said it has acquired DaunoXome (daunorubicin citrate liposome injection), an anthracycline chemotherapy agent that was first approved in the United States in 1996, and is indicated as a first-line cytotoxic therapy for advanced HIV-associated Kaposi’s sarcoma. Galen said its wholly owned subsidiary, Galen US, will market the drug in the United States. DaunoXome will be made available through wholesalers in the United States.