June 12, 2006 – A lot of news about diabetes came from the American Diabetes Association meeting. Amylin touted positive results from a long-acting form of Byetta, while also releasing positive numbers from a two-year study of regular Byetta; Lilly showed good numbers about a drug for diabetic retinopathy and for its inhaled insulin product; Sangamo reported encouraging data for a diabetic neuropathy medication; Nektar and Pfizer reported positive data from a long-term study of Exubera inhaled insulin; Merck said Januvia reduced glucose levels in type 2 diabetes patients; and CombinatorRx reported preclinical data a new insulin sensitizer. Outside the diabetes field, MGI Pharma received priority review for Saforis, an oral mucosis treatment; Alexion said that Soliris produced positive interim results against an inherited genetic disorder; Sunesis earned a $4.25 milestone from Merck in their Alzheimer’s disease collaboration; Theravance said GlaxoSmithKline has begun enrolling patients in an asthma trial; Merck reported that Vytorin outperformed Lipitor from Pfizer; and NPS Pharma will cut its staff by 53% and stop all its efforts to commercialize Preos. The Centient Biotech 200™ fell 37 points to 3595.26, a loss of 1.01%. More details...
