Cubist which Merck acquired on Monday has lost four out of five patents on its best-selling skin infection drug, Cubicin, a US District Court ruled, according to Bloomberg. This will allow drug co. Hospira to begin offerings its generic version of the drug as early as 2016. Cubist is currently ramping up its portfolio to feature five antibiotics.
The best selling drug in the world, AbbVie’s Humira, now has a biologic on the market in India, the Economic Times reported Tuesday. The firm–Zydus Cadila–launched its biosimilar known as Exemptia (adalimumab) and it will be offered at $1,000 per vial, or at one-fifth of Humira’s cost.
Three vaccines for the Ebola virus now have immunity under U.S. law against legal claims related to their manufacturing, testing, development, distribution and administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Health services decreed Tuesday, according to Reuters. The measures are meant to encourage drugmakers to develop and manufacture treatments for the West African epidemic. HHS’s ruling, however, does not grant immunity for charges levied in courts outside the U.S.
Mylan announced Wednesday it has launched its generic version of Pfizer’s pain pill Celebrex. A court ruled Pfizer’s 2015 patent extension invalid this past April, in a move which was estimated at the time to cost the drugmaker $1 billion. Pfizer saw $3 billion in sales for Celebrex in 2013.
Shire announced Wednesday that it believes its current pipeline could translate to an additional $3 billion in revenue by 2020, Bloomberg reported. The announcement comes two months after its deal with AbbVie to merge fell through, with the company’s top executive Fleming Ornskov trying to make the case for Shire as an independant company.
