Current medical news from today, including Pfizer’s birth control recall, John Johnson is Dendreon’s new CEO, and drug for treating cause of cystic fibrosis gets FDA nod.

Meningitis vaccine HibTITER, acquired from Wyeth, has been licensed to MitsubishiTanabe Pharma Corp. for the Japanese market.Nuron Biotech acquired the vaccine from Wyeth, a subsidiary of Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) in January of last year. Wyeth stopped making the vaccine in 2004, according to a spokesman for the Exton, Pennsylvania-based biologics and vaccines company.Currently, the market for [...]

Antares Pharma (AMEX:AIS) has inked a licensing agreement with Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) to provide one of its drug-delivery technologies to Pfizer’s consumer healthcare business arm for an unnamed product for North America.Pfizer, in New York, will be responsible for clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization of the product. Ewing, New Jersey-based Antares will receive up-front payments, development [...]

At the mHealth Summit taking place in Washington, D.C. this week, a panel discussion on mobile health and pharmaceutical companies talked about how companies are using mHealth in developing nations, particularly for their supply chains.Susan Shiff of Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) focused on how the pharmaceutical company was developing an epidemiological database with Lagos University Teaching Hospital [...]

Three U.S. senators are raising questions with Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) over its deal making for its mega-blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipitor as generic drug makers step up to market the drug, most recently Ranbaxy Laboratories, an India-based generic drug developer.Max Baucus (D-Montana), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin) are concerned that Pfizer’s deals with pharmacy benefit [...]

Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:WPI) has launched its generic version of Pfizer’s (NYSE:PFE) blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipitor, as part of an agreement for what it calls the largest generic drug launch in U.S. history.The launch of the generic Lipitor follows the end of Pfizer’s exclusive patent on the drug, but how much market share it will be [...]

Current medical news from today, including Pfizer’s deal with insurance companies to retain up to 40 percent of Lipitor sales, the FDA’s (good) decision on Avastin for breast cancer, and Big Pharma’s R&D troubles.

Smoking can kill you. But trying to quit with Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) smoking-cessation drug Chantix can be deadly too, new research suggests.Chantix raises the risk of depression or suicidal behavior and should be a drug of last resort, according to a study co-authored by Dr. Curt Furberg, professor of public health sciences at Wake Forest Baptist [...]

Watson Pharmaceuticals’ (NYSE:WPI) strategy for launching its generic version of Lipitor was the topic of conversation in its third-quarter results as Pfizer’s (NYSE:PFE) exclusive patent to the cholesterol drug nears its expiration date.During Watson’s conference call to discuss its quarterly earnings, CEO Paul Bisaro said:“Regarding the launch of generic Lipitor later this month, which will [...]

Lipitor, Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) best-selling drug, could be the first of the statins brought to the over-the-counter market when the company’s patent on it ends Nov. 30, according to Business Week.The news magazine cited comments made by Pfizer’s CEO Ian Read in a conference call discussing the pharmaceutical company’s third-quarter earnings.Pfizer CEO Ian Read: On [...]