A federal judge has upheld a Takeda Pharmaceutical and Abbott Laboratories patent for the drugmakers' jointly marketed heartburn drug Prevacid.

Federal investigators are zeroing in on individual hip and knee surgeons in an investigation into kickbacks to doctors by orthopedic device manufacturers, The New York Times reports.

Former CEO of biotech firm InterMune, W. Scott Harkonen, has been indicted on federal wire fraud and felony charges for his alleged role in the off-label marketing of InterMune's drug Actimmune (Interferon gamma-1b).

Eli Lilly has denied the assertions of a recent New York Times article alleging that incoming CEO John Lechleiter encouraged off-label promotion of the company's embattled schizophrenia treatment Zyprexa (olanzapine) in an e-mail he sent in 2003.

The Supreme Court split 4-4 on a narrow pre-emption case Monday, giving the green light to suits against Pfizer predecessor Warner Lambert.

In a major test of the preemption principle, the US Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that patients can't file common-law claims challenging the safety and effectiveness of an FDA-approved medical device.

The FDA has issued draft guidance on "Good reprint practices" for distribution of journal articles involving unapproved uses of FDA-approved drugs and medical devices.

An article in The New York Times says that Lilly is considering a $1 billion settlement of a four-year federal investigation into Zyprexa marketing, but the company cast doubt on the Times' reporting.

Wyeth said this week that it would begin shipping an authorized generic version of Protonix (pantoprazole), its ulcer drug, through Prasco.

It's been a roller coaster week for Gilead Sciences as the company posted strong fourth quarter 2007 results Tuesday and had four patents for its combination AIDS drug Viread (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) rejected Wednesday.