Vioxx Litigation
Lawyers for Merck have asked a judge to throw out the first Vioxx litigation case, scheduled for May 23rd. They attempted to discredit information provided to the court plaintiff, Cheryl Rogers. Merck voluntarily pulled its COX-2 inhibitor off the market at the end of September after studies showed that it had twice the risk of heart attack and stroke compared with patients who took a placebo for 18 months. More than 2,400 lawsuits have been filed claiming damages from Merck because of Vioxx’ side-effects. A ruling is expected by the end of the week.
Guidant Shareholders Give Green Light
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – Shareholders at Guidant approved Johnson & Johnson’s $25.4-billion cash and stock bid for the cardiac and vascular medical device company on Wednesday. The deal, first announced in December of last year, is subject to regulatory review in the United States and Europe. Guidant shares rose $0.30 to $74.17 in recent trading.
Portable Device for Concussions
ATLANTA – Academics at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a portable medical device worn on the head that is used to treat concussions. Called DETECT (Display Enhanced Testing for Concussions and mTBI system), the device could prove useful on the football field and in combat, according to the university, located in Atlanta. It assesses problems associated with concussions by integrating software applications, a portable computer, and an LCD display. Possible uses include determining whether a football player is ready to reenter a game. It could also be used to determine if a soldier is in good enough shape to reenter a combat zone following a head injury. More than 750,000 mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) occur in the U.S. every year, according to Georgia Tech. And second-impact occurrences can lead to long-term problems and have a mortality rate of up to 50 percent.
Impella to Be Acquired by Abiomed
DANVERS, Massachusetts – Abiomed announced plans on Wednesday to acquire Impella CardioSystems AG in a deal estimated at $44.8 million in cash and stock. The pact should help Abiomed further its stake in interventional cardiology. With an estimated market cap of nearly $240 million, Abiomed makes devices that aid or even replace the pumping function of a failing heart. Impella is a privately held company in Aachen, Germany, that makes small blood pumps used in coronary surgery and cardiology. As part of the deal, Abiomed may make extra payments to Impella shareholders based on stock performance, sales, and FDA approval milestones.
Drug Commercials Work
A study in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports that patients who request prescription drugs they’ve seen on TV are more likely to get them. Researchers from the University of California, Davis, sent white, middle-aged, female actors to visit the doctor complaining of identical symptoms. Some 55 percent of those who said they’d seen GlaxoSmithKline’s antidepressant Paxil advertised on the TV and specifically requested it were prescribed the drug. But only 39 percent of those who asked generally for medication got it. Pharmaceutical companies spent $3.2 billion on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs in the United States last year.