Highlights of the important and the interesting from the world of healthcare:
FDA panel to consider pulling Avandia. An expert panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is planning a mid-July meeting to consider whether GlaxoSmithKline’s (NYSE: GSK) diabetes drug Avandia should be pulled from the market. Dr. Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic reported a 28 percent to 39 percent risk for heart attacks in patients taking Avandia in a recent update of his 2007 study, which initiated concerns about the drug. Yet, the American Diabetes Association, American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association have refused to take sides, waiting, instead, for the FDA to decide what to do.
Shame on ev3? A shareholder has sued ev3 Inc. (NASDAQ: EVVV) and its directors, hoping to block the medical device maker’s sale to Covidien Plc (NYSE: COV). On June 1, the companies announced plans for Covidien to acquire ev3 for $2.6 billion, or $22.50 a share, which represented a 19 percent premium for ev3. ev3 shares have risen 18 percent to $22.41 since the announcement and 68 percent for the year. The complaint claims ev3’s directors agreed to a merger with Covidien so Warburg Pincus — ev3’s controlling shareholder — could exit its investment, not for the financial merits of the deal.
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Return of the venture-back IPO. In the second quarter, 17 U.S. venture-backed IPOs launched for a total worth of $1.3 billion, according to Thomson Reuters’ PE Week. That makes the second quarter the best period for venture-backed IPOs since late 2007. The recent quarter was up significantly from five IPOs, with a combined deal value of $720.7 million, in the second quarter of last year.
BioSante aims to boost female libido. BioSante Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: BPAX) in Lincolnshire, Illinois, has closed a $15 million sale of stock and warrants to Deerfield Management Co. and other institutional investors. BioSante plans to use most of the net proceeds of $14.2 million to pay for Phase III clinical study of its female libido aid LibiGel.
OSU lands Higgins. A year after halting its lung transplant program because numbers were too low, Ohio State University Medical Center has recruited Dr. Robert Higgins — a sought-after leader who has been president of the United Network for Organ Sharing and the Society of Black Academic Surgeon — for its transplant center and aims to resurrect the program and boost others.
