A 'no blame' culture gives room for lack of accountability in healthcare Dubai, UAE: Medical errors continue to happen in hospitals across the UAE because there is a dependence on human element at every process of care, and errors are bound to happen because human beings are fallible. Experts believe that medical errors are often hidden by staff, especially those lower in the professional hiera...

DUBAI, 12th July, 2014 (WAM) -- The Ministry of Health, MoH, and Bee?ah, a Sharjah-based waste management company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, to recycle materials that are used by the former. According to the MoU, the ministry will improve the friendly environment policy and use wastes after their treatment and recycling.   Awadh Seghayer Al Kitbi, Assistant Under-S...

AbbVie has been forced to retract claims recently made by CEO Richard Gonzalez that Shire shareholders are "generally supportive" of an acquisition by the US drugmaker for 51.15 pounds ($87.54) per share, or around 30.1 billion pounds ($51.5 billion). Under UK takeover rules, a company cannot claim to have support for its bid unless it has this in writing from shareholders. AbbVie said Wednesday ...

According to people close to the matter, Allergan plans to cut costs and end development of some pipeline compounds in an effort to boost profit and lift forecasts, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. Allergan, which sources noted will also overhaul management incentives, is trying to convince shareholders that the company has better prospects as a standalone business as it looks to fend off a takeover ...

Celgene reported Phase III study results Wednesday demonstrating that its oral PDE4 inhibitor Otezla (apremilast) failed to significantly improve symptoms in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) at 16 weeks, compared with placebo, but displayed "meaningful efficacy" at 24 weeks in a "large subset" of patients with early-stage disease. The company said that, based on the data obtained for the ...

Baxter said Wednesday that it acquired AesRx, obtaining the latter's experimental prophylactic treatment for sickle cell disease Aes-103 (5-hydroxymethylfurfural). Although the terms of the agreement were not disclosed, Baxter indicated that it made an initial payment to purchase the drugmaker, while future payments are linked to specific milestones. Baxter BioScience president Ludwig Hantson comm...

July 9th, 2014 By: Joe Barber Salix Pharmaceuticals announced a definitive agreement to combine with Cosmo Pharmaceuticals' Irish subsidiary in an all-stock deal the company said will establish a "tax-efficient corporate structure" and boost its US-market position for products treating gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. Salix CEO Carolyn Logan added that "the new corporate structure greatly enh...

July 9th, 2014 By: Matthew Dennis The European Commission announced Wednesday that Servier and five other companies, including Teva, have been fined a total of 427.7 million euros ($582.2 million) for entering deals that delayed the launch of generic versions of the hypertension drug Coversyl (perindopril) in the EU. European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said "Servier had a strat...

July 9th, 2014 By: Simon King Two recent developments appear poised to shift the typical US-based treatment regimen for first-line metastatic colorectal cancer in patients with wild-type KRAS gene mutations: approval of Amgen's Vectibix in this setting and study data presented at the ASCO annual meeting from the CALGB80405 study comparing Bristol-Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly's Erbitux with Roc...