Bloomberg -- Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca Plc stopped studies of experimental painkillers over concerns that a class of drugs once expected to generate as much as $11 billion in annual sales may raise the risk of joint damage. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration notified J&J last week that the development program for the drug fulranumab had been put on hold, Jeffrey Leebaw, a spokesman for New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J, said in an e-mail. London-based AstraZeneca said yesterday it has voluntarily stopped early- stage research of a similar medicine.
