While You Were Drawing

Depending on your perspective, the US either pulled off hard-won draw on Saturday night with the help of a gift from England keeper Rob Green, or lucked into a point they didn't deserve thanks to the Hand of Clod. We prefer to see the States' cup performance as half-full and 1-all a good reflection of the play on the field, and a draw as frankly the best result. (A win might have resulted in bodily harm to this blogger, well behind enemy lines.)

Without ASCO news the weekend seemed much calmer, much more, well, weekendy. While you were listening to the song of the vuvuzelas ...

• Bayer reports disappointing results for Nexavar in advanced NSCLC this morning; the drug did not meet the primary endpoint of overall survival.
• The NYT reports that sequencing the human genome -- at least in terms of advancing treatment of diseases -- has largely been a bust. Not everyone agrees -- quoth Eric Topol (via Twitter): "NY Times Nicholas Wade discounting progress in genomics for about the 10th time."
• After Gilenia seemingly sailed through its advisory committee last week, lots of ink spilled on what potential approval means for the current market. Yesterday, Haaretz reported on the risks to Teva's Copaxone franchise. Our own position (from an IN VIVO feature last year) is a little more nuanced but we'll sum it up: don't discount the years of safety data amassed by biologics; market share will surely shift, but not suddenly.
• Note to Phillies. Spotting teams 10-run leads isn't working. Time for new tactics.
• UPDATE: Human Genome Sciences said this morning that preliminary feedback from FDA on its Zalbin (albuferon) BLA isn't good, from a risk-benefit perspective, and that "HGS has concluded that licensure of this dosing regimen [900-mcg every two weeks] is unlikely." The drug's European application was pulled from the EMA in April 2010 by HGS partner Novartis.