Orshe

Pfizer is hoping to milk even more dollars from its blockbuster Lipitor by introducing an over-the-counter version of the cholesterol-lowering drug, the WSJ reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

The bad news is that you’ve got nausea, chills and fever. The somewhat cooler news is that your symptoms were traced to a bacterium that had never before been identified.

That’s what happened to 25 people who fell sick with ehrlichiosis in Minnesota and Wisconsin beginning in 2009. Tests showed they weren’t infected by Ehrlichia chaffeensis and E. ewingii, the two species of the bacterium previously implicated as a cause of the disease in humans here in the U.S.

Dimebon, the old Russian cold medicine that held promise as a treatment for Alzheimer’s and potentially other brain diseases, is looking more and more like a dud.

In a late-stage trial in 403 patients with Huntington’s disease, a genetic progressive brain disorder, the drug didn’t significantly improve cognition or global functioning, Pfizer and Medivation announced today. The full results will be presented later this year at a scientific conference.

Cancer rates: Lung-cancer death rates for women fell for the first time in four decades as the overall cancer death rates kept declining, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

Despite the overall positive trend, one negative was an increased incidence of childhood cancer, according to a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. It rose 0.6% a year from 1992 to 2007.

Pfizer may be considering a series of spin-offs that would leave the company with a core group of four pharma businesses, according to Sanford Bernstein analyst Tim Anderson.

Also: governors want Medicaid relief; Virginia asks Supreme Court to review health-care law case; 10% of the world’s adults are obese.

Read more from the original source: A.M. Vitals: Pfizer and Merck Diverge in a Tough Pharma World

Also: Medicare enrollees missing out on drug discounts; Eisai turns to nature for cancer drug; Pfizer underestimates demand.

View post:  A.M. Vitals: With Bill Passed, FDA Crafts New Food-Safety Rules

Merck persisted in developing anacetrapib despite the similarity to a Pfizer drug that was scrapped due to safety concerns.

View post:  Experimental Merck Drug Improves Cholesterol Levels: Study

Also: worries about lung-screening trial after-effects; Pfizer to link with UCSF on research; lawmakers urge the FDA to act on caffeinated alcoholic drinks.

Read more:  A.M. Vitals: Xerox and Other Tech Firms Aiming for Insurance Exchange Contracts

Pfizer’s results — and management’s rosy outlook — depended heavily on Wyeth.

Go here to read the rest: The Bottom Line on Why Pfizer Bought Wyeth