Celgene's ($CELG) Abraxane is one of those cancer fighters that has proven effective against many forms of cancer, and so the company has sought approvals far and wide, sometimes successfully and other times not. Now it has been recommended in Europe to treat lung cancer. Already approved in Europe for breast cancer and pancreatic cancer, the New Jersey-based company today reported that the Eur...

  Pfizer R&D chief Mikael Dolsten SAN FRANCISCO--PCSK9 drugs are the next big market waiting to happen, and with rivals Sanofi ($SNY)/Regeneron ($REGN) and Amgen ($AMGN) ahead in the development race, Pfizer ($PFE) wants to make sure it can lock down a solid share of the market. So beyond in-development anti-cholesterol antibody bococizumab, it's working on a wider PCS...

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) accepted Pfizer's ($PFE) application to expand its label for blockbuster vaccinePrevenar 13 back in August, and so far, an advisory committee likes what it sees. Europe's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has backed Prevenar, recommending the European Commission (EC) expand the vaccine's label in adults to include the preventio...

Anyone who's watched a Viagra commercial knows that Pfizer ($PFE) isn't too embarrassed to talk about sex. Anyone who's run across Pfizer's "Get Old" campaign knows it doesn't shy away from aging, either. Now, the drug giant is going equal opportunity on the sex-and-aging talk, and "Desperate Housewives" actress Brenda Strong has the dialogue. With its latest menopause awareness campaign, Pfizer ...

Bayer, which picked up Merck's ($MRK) consumer health unit in a $14.2 billion deal this spring, wanted to fold in all the brands from the New Jersey pharma giant's lineup. But to do so, it had to do some creative assignment shuffling. And its agencies had to take some creative steps of their own. In order for JWT, one of the German pharma's roster agencies, to take on Coppertone--a sizable Merck ...

An FDA snub is never welcome news for a drugmaker. But in the case of last winter'sLemtrada turn-down, Sanofi's ($SNY) Genzyme has found a silver lining. Carole Huntsman, Genzyme VP and MS business unit head "In terms of how we market the product and how we'll market the product logistically, it gave us more time to work on our plans," Carole Huntsman, Genzyme VP and MS busin...

The earnings reports for the biggest of Big Pharma are all in. Bayer reported last week, making it possible to see how they stacked up as they came into the new year. There are no big surprises. Pfizer ($PFE) and Merck & Co. ($MRK), with ongoing patent issues and reorganizations, saw their positions fall a couple of notches, and AbbVie ($ABBV), having been spun off from Abbott Laboratories ($A...

Pfizer and Amgen's Enbrel The good news for Eli Lilly: Its experimental late-stage psoriasis drug has topped Pfizer ($PFE) and Amgen's ($AMGN) blockbuster Enbrel in a head-to-head study. The not-so-good news: It's not the only one. Lilly ($LLY), Novartis ($NVS), Celgene ($CELG), Amgen, AstraZeneca ($AZN) and more are accelerating toward FDA approval, with the first decisions co...

When it comes to selling big, cancer drugs have a lot going for them. Their targets--deadly diseases that in many cases can kill quickly--put them in high demand, even as they continue to redefine "premium pricing." Some newer drugs can be targeted at patient groups who have the best chances of benefiting, helping justify those high costs. And biologics, for now, don't face the same generic onsl...