/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ en-us derek-lowe@sbcglobal.net 2009-11-19T07:29:41-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/11/19/plavix_vs_effient.php The InVivo Blog has a good article on a controversy in the blood-thinning market. Plavix (clopidogrel) has a very strong share of that, of course, but since Effient (prasugrel) was finally approved, Lilly and Dai-Ichii are looking to take as... 74150@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Cardiovascular Disease 2009-11-19T07:29:41-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/11/16/zetia_takes_another_torpedo.php Over the weekend, the results in a small cardiovascular trial came out that compared Merck's Zetia (ezetimibe/simvastatin) (correction - ezetimibe alone) against Abbott's Niaspan (time-release niacin). Niacin's an underappreciated therapy in the field - it has tolerability problems, mainly irritating... 74143@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Clinical Trials 2009-11-16T07:51:58-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/10/02/placebos_can_work_the_other_way_too.php There's been a lot of valuable research into the placebo effect in recent years. That has interest in and of itself, and it also has a practical side. Understanding how people feel better on their own could tell us more... 74084@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Clinical Trials 2009-10-02T07:46:37-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/09/22/statin_safety.php Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa has sent the FDA a letter asking if the agency has sufficiently considered adverse events from statin drugs. I've been unable to find the text of the letter, but here's a summary at Business Week.... 74069@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Regulatory Affairs 2009-09-22T10:20:51-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/06/08/rolofylline_hits_the_skids.php There is no good way to spin a Phase III failure. By then you've made it past the main reasons for a drug to wipe out (PK and total mechanistic failure). A breakdown at this stage is a more subtle... 73917@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Cardiovascular Disease 2009-06-08T06:33:19-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/06/04/cafepharma_will_now_approach_the_bench.php Here's an interesting situation for you: according to IguanaBio, a shareholder lawsuit over the failed Vytorin ENHANCE clinical trial (that's caused Schering-Plough and Merck so much grief) is going to use posts on CafePharma as evidence. That will be worth... 73912@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Clinical Trials 2009-06-04T10:06:40-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/05/20/mipomersen_it_still_works.php Isis Pharmaceuticals has had a long, tough history developing antisense-based therapeutics. I've lost count of the number of promising candidates they've had (and promising deals they've signed). But the latest one seems to be progressing: mipomersen, designed to block production... 73883@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Cardiovascular Disease 2009-05-20T11:35:33-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/05/13/exercise_and_vitamins_now_wait_a_minute_.php Now, this is an example of an idea being followed through to its logical conclusion. Here’s where we start: the good effects of exercise are well known, and seem to be beyond argument. Among these are marked improvements in insulin... 73866@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Biological News 2009-05-13T07:20:42-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/05/05/farewell_to_acat_and_to_lots_of_time_and_money_too.php Back when I joined the first drug company I ever worked for, the group in the lab next door was working on an enzyme called ACAT, acyl CoA:cholesterol acyltranferase. It’s the main producer of cholesterol esters in cells, and is... 73856@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Cardiovascular Disease 2009-05-05T07:19:33-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/05/01/niacin_no_longer_redfaced.php One of Merck’s less wonderful recent experiences was the rejection of Cordaptive, which was an attempt to make a niacin combination for the cardiovascular market. Niacin would actually be a pretty good drug to improve lipid profiles if people could... 73853@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Cardiovascular Disease 2009-05-01T07:26:45-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/04/02/the_polypill_rides_again.php There are a lot of recommended mediations for people at cardiovascular risk. ACE inhibitors and diuretics for blood pressure, a bit of aspirin for anti-thrombotic activity, most likely a stain for cholesterol levels. There are plenty of people who are... 73818@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Cardiovascular Disease 2009-04-02T07:14:45-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/03/17/takeda_gets_a_surprise.php DPP-IV is short for “dipeptidylpeptidase IV”, understandably, and we need a good abbreviation for it. It’s an important enzyme target for diabetes therapy, since under normal conditions it breaks down glucagon-like-peptide 1. Longer-circulating GLP-1 would actually do a lot of... 73787@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Cardiovascular Disease 2009-03-17T07:35:12-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2008/12/02/torcetrapib_what_was_the_problem_and_does_it_matter.php Ever since the catastrophic failure of Pfizer's HDL-raising CETP inhibitor torcetrapib in late 2006, everyone involved has wondered just what the problem was. There was a definitely higher cardiovascular-linked death rate in the drug-treatment group as opposed to placebo -... 73633@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Cardiovascular Disease 2008-12-02T08:46:28-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2008/11/12/crestor_would_it_save_any_lives.php Should millions more people be taking Crestor? That’s a real balancing act. You have a decrease in heart attacks, but from a fairly small incidence rate. So at a minimum, you’ll need to balance the costs of those coronary events... 73613@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Cardiovascular Disease 2008-11-12T08:25:15-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2008/11/10/crestor_risks_up_risks_down.php AstraZeneca took a pretty big risk in running a trial as big as the JUPITER one, but it seems to have paid off for them. As everyone has been reading, it appears that their Crestor (rosuvastatin), lowers the risk of... 73610@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Cardiovascular Disease 2008-11-10T09:12:09-05:00