1. Orexigen Therapeutics launched a new campaign, Brains Behind Weight Loss, for its obesity treatment Contrave, approved in 2014. The campaign emphasizes how Contrave targets the brain to reduce hunger and control cravings. Young & Rubicam New York developed the campaign.
2. In related news, Arena Pharmaceuticals sold its underperforming weight-loss pill Belviq to its marketing partner, Eisai. Analysts had considered Belviq to be a $1 billion drug when it was approved in 2012. (The San Diego Union Tribune)
3. Alexion Pharmaceuticals’ senior management reportedly pressured staff to get customers to order Soliris, its flagship rare-disease drug, earlier than necessary to meet financial targets. The company’s CEO David Hallal and CFO Vikas Sinha left the company last month amid an investigation into the company’s sales practices. (WSJ)
4. Allergan’s Botox graced the cover of this week’s Time magazine. The cover story traces the drug’s rise from wrinkle-smoothing cosmetic injection to a treatment for depression and atrial fibrillation, among others. (Time)
5. Vice President Joe Biden plans to start a country-wide conversation about the costs of cancer drugs through the Biden Cancer Initiative, a new organization. Biden led the Cancer Moonshot Initiative during the Obama administration. (Albuquerque Journal)
