Specialty Pharmacy

ALEXANDRIA, Va. —Vulnerable patients, including seniors and cancer patients, suffer from lack of access to needed painkillers as efforts to combat diversion and misuse of controlled substances often result in drugs not getting into the hands of those who need them, according to a new pharmacist survey by the National Community Pharmacists Association. 

PITTSBURGH — Mylan has launched a generic drug for preventing rejection of transplanted organs, the company said Thursday.

The generic drug maker announced the launch of mycophenolic acid delayed-release tablets in the 180-mg and 360-mg strengths. The drug is a generic version of Novartis' Myfortic. As the first company to file a completed regulatory approval application for the generic, Mylan is entitled to 180 days in which to compete exclusively against Novartis' product before the Food and Drug Administration can approve additional generic versions.

Administering high-touch, expensive and complex medications to patients intravenously in their homes — or in a setting other than a hospital — is essentially a large-scale bid to “reduce costs by transferring non-self-administered drugs to the most cost-effective and clinically appropriate site of care,” said pharmacist Michael Einodshofer, senior director of specialty strategy and innovation at Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy.

OSAKA, Japan — Takeda Pharmaceutical has started a late-stage clinical trial program of its experimental drug for inflammatory bowel disease in Japan, the company said Wednesday.

Takeda announced the start of two phase-3 trials of MLN0002 (vedolizumab) in patients with severe ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. The trials are designed to find out the efficacy, safety and effects on the body of the drug, particularly to see if patients show a response after 10 weeks of treatment and disease remission after 60 weeks.

DENVER — A new mobile app-driven social network devoted to medical marijuana has attracted $150,000 in seed money from an investment group.

MassRoots announced Thursday that it had closed the seed investment from members of the ArcView Group. The social network, launched in July 2013, has more than 25,000 active users. MassRoots allows users to maintain their privacy and anonymity by not requiring their name, email or phone number to join.

NEW YORK — The number of new drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration fell by more than 30% in 2013 compared with 2012, according to agency records.

BOSTON — The owners of the compounding pharmacy linked to a nationwide meningitis outbreak that has killed dozens and sickened hundreds have agreed to set up a fund of more than $100 million to compensate victims and creditors.

Legal firm Brown Rudnick announced that the owners of the New England Compounding Center had reached a settlement with bankruptcy trustee Paul Moore, its creditors and the victims to set up the fund, money from which will be distributed to creditors as well as victims who received injections of tainted steroids from NECC.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Food and Drug Administration has declined to approve a drug made by Genzyme Corp. for certain forms of multiple sclerosis, the company said Monday.