Content about Interferon

LONDON — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug for a condition that can complicate treatment for hepatitis C.

GlaxoSmithKline said Monday that the FDA had approved Promacta (eltrombopag) for treating low blood-platelet counts, also known as thrombocytopenia, to allow patients with hepatitis C to undergo and maintain interferon-based therapy. The drug already had FDA approval to treat chronic immune thrombocytopenia. 

JERUSALEM — Multiple sclerosis patients treated with a drug made by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries showed a "significant" reduction in their loss of brain volume, according to a new study.

Results of a five-year study published in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences found that Copaxone (glatiramer acetate) produced significant reductions in patients' loss of brain volume compared with other disease-modifying therapies.

PHILADELPHIA — Hemispherx Biopharma and Armada Health Care have entered a sales and marketing agreement for a drug designed to treat genital warts.

The two companies announced Tuesday an agreement under which Hemispherx will manufacture and supply Alferon N injection (interferon alfa-n3 [human leukocyte derived]) to physicians and patients through Armada's national specialty pharmacy network. Specialty distributor BioRidge Pharma will warehouse, ship and distribute the drug, the companies said.

LAKE MARY, Fla. — Specialty pharmacy provider Axium Healthcare Pharmacy has introduced two recently approved hepatitis C drugs to its HepVisions therapy management program, the company said Thursday.

Axium announced the addition of Merck ’s Victrelis (boceprevir) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Incivek (telaprevir) to the program, through which it provides comprehensive compliance support, patient education, side effect management, clinical interventions and communication with the patient and physician.

The $290 billion that poor medication adherence costs the U.S. economy every year cuts across every imaginable disease state, but one in which it can be particularly problematic is mental health.


BALTIMORE — Medication adherence among hepatitis C patients may improve when patients take antidepressants, according to a new analysis by pharmacy benefit manager Medco Health Solutions presented Monday at the International Conference on Viral Hepatitis.

BOSTON An investigative treatment for hepatitis C got strong results in patients who had failed previous treatments or who were new to treatment, according to results of a late-stage clinical trial program announced this week.

SEATTLE Bristol-Myers Squibb will acquire Seattle-based biotech ZymoGenetics, Bristol said Wednesday.

The New York-based drug maker will acquire ZymoGenetics for $885 million, or $9.75 per share. The boards of both companies approved the deal unanimously.

The buyout gives Bristol ownership of Recothrom, used to control bleeding during surgical procedures, pegylated-interferon lambda, an investigational treatment for hepatitis C in mid-stage clinical trials, and IL-21, a treatment for melanoma also in mid-stage trials.