A Texas appeals court has overturned a multimillion-dollar verdict involving Merck's withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Shire received a warning letter from the FDA's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communications (DDMAC) asking the drugmaker to halt distribution of specific professional marketing materials for its end stage renal disease treatment Fosrenol (lanthanum carbonate).

The head of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce subcommittee is calling for tougher restrictions on DTC television advertising for prescription drugs.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to conduct a hearing on DTC advertising on May 8, beginning at 10 a.m.

An FDA advisory panel ruled against expanded use of Cephalon's powerful pain reliever Fentora as a treatment for non-cancer patients.

Healthcare customer relationship management (CRM) firm Cegedim Dendrite has inked a deal with Microsoft in an effort to boost the effectiveness of its software offerings for its pharma marketing clients.

The FDA plans to hire an additional 1,300 scientists and pharmacologists as part of an expansion of its drug approval and safety operations processes.

Search engines continue to be a primary way for US consumers to arrive at healthcare Websites, according to online intelligence firm Hitwise.

Doctors rate Merck's ePromotion efforts as tops in the industry, according to pharma marketing data firm Verispan.

While the overall US pharmaceuticals market grew modestly in 2007, product exclusivity and safety issues continued to weigh heavily on the industry. MM&M charts the trends, products and numbers of the companies that came out on top