(PharmPro / AP) — Following fatal shootings in two New York pharmacy robberies, a U.S. senator is warning that a new batch of “super painkillers” now under review could force repeats of recent violent robberies that left six people dead.
“It’s tremendously concerning that at the same time policymakers and law enforcement professionals are waging a [...]

[NYTimes] ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals found out the hard way how important it is to have a trustworthy companion.

 The Food and Drug Administration last year rejected the company’s drug to treat a subset of leukemia patients whose tumors had a particular genetic mutation. The main problem was not the drug itself, the agency said. Rather, ChemGenex had [...]

This past week both Merck and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd. faced legal complications concerning select drug products. Merck received a subpoena from U.S. regulators regarding marketing techniques of three drugs: Temodar, PegIntron, and Intron A in addition to dealing with problems from the Enviornmental Protection Agency. Similarly, TEVA was sued by GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer for [...]

[Boston.com]- A survey of top executives of U.S. drugmakers indicates mergers and acquisitions should pick up in the next couple of years, as companies aim to offset rising generic competition.
The survey by audit and advisory consultants KPMG LLP found 83 percent of pharmaceutical executives believe their company likely will be a buyer or a seller [...]

[WSJ]- The vast majority of U.S. hospitals have restricted the use of life-saving chemotherapy drugs and other critical-care medications in the past six months to cope with unprecedented shortages, according to a survey released Tuesday.
More than 80% of hospitals surveyed by the American Hospital Association reported they had to delay treatment, and nearly 70% [...]

[GenomeWeb News]- The National Human Genome Research Institute will provide up to $10.8 million in grants next year to fund three new programs that will support investigators seeking to develop new high-throughput technologies for identifying, validating, and characterizing sequence encoded elements in eukaryotic genomes.
The goal of the new grant program is to build upon and [...]

[Boston Globe]- After years of focusing on common diseases afflicting mostly middle-class and affluent patients, drug companies are devoting more resources to rare disorders, illnesses that are prevalent in the developing world, and medical conditions that affect minority populations in rich countries.
The trend, which is slowly gaining momentum, is being driven by several factors, including [...]

Above: Testing a G.M. vehicle. The Transportation Department says each life saved is worth $6 million.
[NYTimes] — As the players here remake the nation’s vast regulatory system, they have beengrappling with a subject that is more the province of poets and philosophers than bureaucrats: what is the value of a human life?
The answer determines [...]

[newswise] Growing up poor can suppress a child’s genetic potential to excel cognitively even before the age of 2, according to research from psychologists at The University of Texas at Austin.
Half of the gains that wealthier children show on tests of mental ability between 10 months and 2 years of age can be attributed to [...]

[WSJ] Christopher G. Wayne doesn’t look like a typical family-practice doctor. Known to admirers as the “Rock Doc,” he wears his hair spiked, punk style, and festoons himself with chains, bangles and leather bracelets.
He uses his upscale Miami Beach home as a production studio for Playboy photo spreads, and his MySpace page shows him posing [...]