The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency is reminding drugmakers to upgrade the warnings on all antidepressants - not just SSRIs - after reviewing an FDA analysis of the drugs. As a result, the labeling on these meds should be updated to reflect an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior among young adults and the [...]

And so another busy day winds down. We hope yours was as productive as ours. After all, something is always happening. We even had time to catch lunch with a couple of industry types (and, yes, we paid for ourselves). And now, on to the evening and some bedtime reading with one of the short [...]

The rain is still falling heavily this morning in the nation’s medicine chest. So what better way to enjoy the comfort of the indoors than to catch up on events?
Alpharma To Market First Topical Pain Patch (Yahoo/AP)
Bayers Shares Rise - Again - On Novartis Merger Speculation (Bloomberg News)
Lilly Seeks Cymbalta Approval For Fibromyalagia (Yahoo/Reuters)
Forest Labs [...]

After filing reports, answering e-mail, catching those phone calls and sitting through meetings, perhaps now is a good time to catch up on a few events….
The Branding Of A Blockbuster: Last year, Lilly spent $157 million on consumer advertising to push the message that Cymbalta can treat depression and the physical pain it causes. And [...]

There was a cryptic message on CafePharma last week about Quintiles and its NovaQuest division, which was tapped in 2002 to help Lilly promote its Cymbalta antidepressant. The message by a Lilly rep referred to a web site, which contained several studies and other materials about Cymbalta and other meds, and trumpted the Lilly drug.
“My [...]

But ceo Sidney Taurel is very upbeat, anyway. He cites sales of new products, cost cutting and lots of cash on his balance sheet.
Here’s an update from our first post: One Wall Street analyst, Prudental Equity’s Tim Anderson, calls it a ‘good quarter to end the year,’ since most targets were met.
“Lilly successfully delivered on [...]

Here’s another reason antidepressants, specifically SSRI’s, are controversial:
A new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine says they were responsible for a substantially increased risk of fracture. And daily use was also associated with increased odds of falling, lower bone mineral density at the hip, and a trend toward lower bone mineral density at [...]