Specialty Pharmacy

OMAHA, Neb. — Specialty pharmacy provider Amber Pharmacy and pharmacy retailer Kubat Pharmacy have joined the first network to electronically exchange clinical patient information and medication therapy with healthcare providers in and around Nebraska, the Nebraska Health Information Initiative said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is looking to curb the growing national epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse, according to a plan unveiled Tuesday.

Elements of the plan include expansion of state-based prescription drug monitoring programs, recommendation of convenient and environmentally responsible drug-disposal methods, education and reduction of doctor shopping.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug made by Genentech for the treatment of two rare inflammatory disorders, the agency said.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Sagent Pharmaceuticals has increased the number of shares it’s issuing in its initial public offering on the Nasdaq, the drug maker said Wednesday.

Originally planning to offer 5 million shares, the company has increased that number to 5.75 million shares at $16 per share.

The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 862,500 shares at the IPO price. The offering is expected to close next Tuesday.

NEW YORK — Drug maker Forest Labs has acquired worldwide rights to a drug developed by Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals for treating arrhythmia.

Forest said Tuesday that it had purchased the rights to azimilide from Blue Ash Therapeutics and had been assigned a license agreement between Blue Ash and Warner Chilcott. Forest will assume responsibility for all future development and commercialization, including costs. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has given approval to Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals to manufacture the main ingredient of a treatment for leukemia, the drug maker said.

Sigma-Tau was approved to manufacture L-asparaginase, the primary ingredient in the drug Oncaspar (pegaspargase). Sigma-Tau began seeking approval when the previous manufacturer ceased production. The drug is used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia, also known as ALL.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — U.S. spending on drugs grew 2.3% to $307.4 billion in 2010, according to a new report by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, part of industry research firm IMS Health.

Healthcare is one of the fastest-growing segments of the American economy right now, and specialty pharmacy is no exception, especially as more baby boomers retire and as drug companies develop more sophisticated therapies.