Gilead wrestles with Roche for Tamiflu rights at The Biotech Weblog

The Foster City-based Gilead Sciences, best known for its AIDS drug Viread, notified Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche on Thursday that it was terminating the 1996 agreement that gave the Swiss company exclusive rights to make and sell Tamiflu. In tests of laboratory animals, Tamiflu has proven to be one of the only drugs effective against the strain of bird flu known as H5N1, now endemic among the waterfowl populations of [...] Read More


Novartis Buys Rights to Intecell's Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine Candidate at The Biotech Weblog

Novartis is buying rights to Austrian biotech firm Intercell AG's IC51 experimental vaccine against the tropical disease Japanese encephalitis. IC51 will be an addition to Novartis' portfolio of travel vaccines, which include prophylaxis against diseases such as Hepatitis A, cholera and typhoid fever. Intercell recently announced favorable results for IC51 in Phase III clinical trials and the vaccine is currently under regulatory review in Europe with an orphan drug status. Further [...] Read More


Novartis Acquires Rights to Cytos' Smoking Vaccine at The Biotech Weblog

Novartis AG has acquired worldwide exclusive rights to a novel vaccine candidate against nicotine addiction from Cytos Biotechnology AG for up to 600 million Swiss francs (US$500 million; €366 million) for the exclusive right to develop, produce and market an experimental drug it hopes will help cure smokers of their habit. Phase II trials have indicated that this potentially first-in-class vaccine, called CYT002-NicQb ("NicQb"), has the potential to promote abstinence from [...] Read More


U.S.-Based Supply Chain for Tamiflu becomes Fully Operational at Supplychainer

Roche announced this thursday that a Tamiflu® (oseltamivir phosphate) supply chain is now fully operational in the U.S., with an annual production capacity of 80 million treatment courses. According to PRNewswire, the U.S. supply chain is part of Roche's global production network, which will be capable of producing 400 million treatment courses of Tamiflu annually by the end of 2006, a more than ten-fold increase since 2004. Established by Roche [...] Read More


Flu Vaccine Recommended for Asthmatics at Allergies

Have you had your flu shot yet? If you have asthma or other chronic health conditions, you consider having the shot soon, before the peak of the flu season starts. By the time December rolls in, you'll have developed immunity from the vaccine to fend of the virus. Why is it important for those with asthma to get a flu vaccine? Research has found that the flu shot decreases the risk of [...] Read More