While You Were Upsetting

Big upset at the Olympics last night, but before we get to that there is of course the latest industry news. Until you can get biopharma wrap-ups at ESPN, we'll keep on keepin' on.

While you were pondering reconciliation ...

• A bad weekend for GSK (after a tough week): a report released by Sens Baucus and Grassley that notes FDA reviewers' 2008 recommendation that diabetes drug Avandia get pulled because it causes "500 additional heart attacks per month" was the subject of about six thousand articles. Oh look, here's one.


• A good weekend (a good Monday morning, anyway) for Novartis. Oral MS drug candidate Gilenia (f.k.a. FTY720) received notice of FDA priority review and meningococcal disease vaccine Menveo received FDA approval.


• The NYTimes begins a new three-part series, Target Cancer, with a moving, in-depth look at oncologist's attempts to push forward new targeted therapies for melanoma: earlier failures and hopefully a success story of Plexxikon/Roche's PLX4032.

• It's almost time for that health care summit at the White House. Reuters reports on the administration's updated proposals, expected out on Monday. Here's a Bloomberg piece on a proposal to limit insurance price hikes.


• HOCKEY: USA 5 - 3 Canada. Wow.
  
• You're probably reading this at about 7am. You know, if you stay up late to watch olympic hockey, it's never too early for a nap.
• UPDATE: The board battle you've all been waiting for... Icahn v Genzyme. Adam Feuerstein at TheStreet.com has the scoop.
  
  image © VANOC/COVAN