Is Bristol Out of The Woods??

Good question. The fact that Bristol-Myers Squibb took a major hit in the last quarters earnings, to increase its reserve for legal costs by $110 million, would suggest that the execs are getting prepared for something or the other. Of course I am not the only one to think this way, others do to. There are several analysts quoted in Business Week who seem to believe that Bristol might be getting prepared to settle one of the cases brought against it in the accounting scandal that has clouded its nearterm prospects.

Another negative news, the US Attorney's office in Massachusetts has opened an investigation against marketing Abilify. Hmmmm.

On the positive side, the pipeline is being recognized a bit. A positive article in forbes about it confirms that the Bristol pipeline is better than that of peers in the industry. No wonder, WSJ recently cited BMS as a potential acquisition target for Merck, the injured giant that has its own pipeline woes.

Requip Approved For Restless Leg Syndrome

Glaxo SmithKline announced that its drug Requip (r) ropinirole HCL, has received FDA approval for Restless Drug Syndrome (RLS). Requip (r) is the first and only drug approved for moderate to severe RLS. Requip (r) is a dopamine agonist that stimulates the dopamine receptors in the brain. It is theorized that RLS is caused when the dopamine, which carries the signals between the nerves in the brain, starts functioning poorly. The dopamine receptor agonist is supposed to stimulate the dopamine receptors in the brain alleviating the sudden pain or overwhelmind desire to move caused in the legs of the patients suffering from RLS.

Requip has previously been approved for Parkinsons disease.

New CEO for Merck

Merck has a new CEO, and no, its not the Hollywood/TV celebrity Dick Clark, but another Dick Clark who rose through the ranks, and comes from the Manufacturing ranks. Challenges abound for the new CEO, not the least of which is, what is Merck's strategy to get out of this mess created by Vioxx, and the pipeline funk that looks like won't be delivering anything for the forseeable future. Forbes has a nice article on this that might interest you. Click here for the Forbes article