Specialty Pharmacy

WASHINGTON — A study published last week in Nutrition Journal found that dietary supplement usage and patient recommendations were common for physicians across several medical specialties, including dermatology, cardiology and orthopedics.

WASHINGTON — By 2015, “pharmacists will be the healthcare professionals responsible for providing patient care that ensures optimal medication therapy outcomes.” That was the consensus reached in the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners' vision statement at the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board’s Consumer Awareness, Resources, Education, State Policy and Testing Summit last month.

SEATTLE — The Food and Drug Administration has approved biotech company Dendreon’s expansion of manufacturing capacity for an immunotherapy treatment for prostate cancer, Dendreon said Thursday.

The company said it would be able to increase the ability of Provenge (sipuleucel-T) manufactured at its plant in New Jersey by increasing the number of workstations to produce it from 12 to 48.

The treatment is designed to induce an immune response against prostatic acid phosphatase, an antigen present in most prostate cancers.

ELMSFORD, N.Y. — Specialty pharmacy provider BioScrip had sales of $450.4 million in fourth quarter 2010 and $1.6 billion for the year as a whole, according to financial results released Friday.

Sales for the quarter were $108.8 million higher than in fourth quarter 2009, while sales for the fiscal year were $300 million higher than in fiscal year 2009. However, the company still had net losses of $67.1 million for the quarter and $69.1 million for the year.

PITTSBURGH — A subsidiary of Mylan has won approval to sell a generic drug for HIV and AIDS in developing countries under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Mylan announced Thursday that Matrix Labs won Food and Drug Administration approval for zidovudine tablets in the 100-mg strength. The drug is a generic version of ViiV Healthcare’s Retrovir, an antiretroviral sold as a water-dispersible tablet. The drug is designed to treat HIV and AIDS in children and prevent transmission of the virus from pregnant mothers to their children.

INDIANAPOLIS — Eli Lilly on Thursday announced that it has named Greg Plowman VP oncology research and SVP for ImClone Systems research.

Plowman will oversee the oncology research efforts of both Lilly and ImClone, the drug maker's subsidiary that it acquired in 2008. He will report to Jan Lundberg, EVP science and technology and Lilly Research Labs president, as well as Bernhard Ehmer, ImClone president.

Prior to accepting the position at Lilly, Plowman served as senior director of research for Genentech for six years. He officially will join the company March 28.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Hospira has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for a generic cancer treatment.

Hospira will offer 20-mg, 80-mg and 160-mg vials of docetaxel at a 10-mg/mL concentration. Docetaxel is a generic version of Sanofi-Aventis's Taxotere.

Hospira already markets docetaxel in Europe and Australia, the drug maker noted.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Merz Pharmaceuticals has created two programs to provide financial assistance to patients using its drug for cervical dystonia, the company said Tuesday.

The programs — the Xeomin patient co-payment program and the Xeomin patient assistance program — cover Xeomin (incobotulinumtoxinA), designed to decrease the severity of abnormal head positions and neck pains in patients with the disease, which causes muscle contractions resulting in repetitive movements and abnormal postures.