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PITTSBURGH — A new leader has been named for a maker of shelf-stable seafood products.

StarKist named In-Soo Cho as president and CEO of the company. Prior to joining StarKist, Cho was the principal of his own consulting firm, Insight & Strategy, with a focus on consumer goods and the restaurant industry.

Cho will assume his new office on March 1.

PITTSBURGH — Mylan has launched a generic drug for fungal infections, the company said Tuesday.

Mylan announced the launch, through subsidiary Mylan Pharmaceuticals, of voriconazole tablets in the 50-mg and 200-mg strengths. The drug is a triazole antifungal agent.

The tablets are a generic version of Pfizer’s Vfend, which had sales of $186 million in 2010, according to IMS Health. Mylan launched its version of the drug under a settlement with Pfizer.

PITTSBURGH — Giant Eagle may be a regional player, but the company’s willingness to experiment with its pharmacy formats — including its latest HBW/pharmacy store-within-a-store concept — proves that it can shake things up.


In fall 2009, Giant Eagle put into motion its health, beauty, wellness pilot tests — a new wellness format that helps bridge the prescription files of the pharmacy with the natural health-and-wellness opportunities across the front end.

PITTSBURGH — A Mylan subsidiary has inked a nonexclusive license agreement with Tibotec Pharmaceuticals to manufacture, market and distribute a generic version of an HIV treatment.

Pending the regulatory approval of TMC278 (rilpivirine hydrochloride), Matrix Labs will have the right to manufacture once-daily 25-mg TMC278 as a single-agent medicine and a fixed-dose combination product, Mylan said. Matrix also will be able to market the drug in sub-Saharan Africa, certain developing countries and India.

IRVINGTON, N.Y. — Pittsburgh and Green Bay, Wis., retailers ought to have plenty of sore throat remedies in preparation for the Super Bowl — 28% of sore throat sufferers got that pain by cheering and screaming, according to a new study released Tuesday by Prestige Brands.

PITTSBURGH — The Food and Drug Administration has given tentative approval to an antiretroviral treatment for children with HIV and AIDS under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program.

Mylan announced Thursday that its subsidiary, Matrix Labs, had received the tentative approval for lamivudine and zidovudine tablets in the 30-mg/60-mg strength. The drug is a generic version of Combivir, made by ViiV Healthcare, a company specializing in HIV and AIDS created as a partnership between Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline.

PITTSBURGH — Colin Mackenzie has been appointed the new president of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare North America. Mackenzie succeeds Roger Scarlett-Smith, who is relocating to London to become president of GSK Consumer Healthcare Europe.

Mackenzie has been directing the U.S. oral care business since 2007. Under the leadership of MacKenzie, the business accelerated its net sales growth rate, acquired the leading dry mouth product, Biotene, in 2008, and claimed the No. 1 toothpaste SKU in the United States (Sensodyne Extra Whitening).

BEAVER, Pa. — Supermarket wine kiosks are being reintroduced into the Pennsylvania market in the coming week after being taken offline in the days before Christmas, according to a report published Monday in the Beaver County Times, a newspaper based in Beaver County and northwest of Pittsburgh.

PITTSBURGH — Generic drug maker Mylan has settled a lawsuit concerning Medicaid reimbursements with the federal government and the state of Texas, Mylan said Dec. 24.

Under the settlement, Mylan will pay $65 million.

Several state attorneys general filed lawsuits against Mylan and other drug companies in September 2003 over Medicaid reimbursements, alleging that the companies defrauded the programs by reporting average wholesale prices greater than the prices of their prescription drugs, thus causing the programs to make excessive payments to healthcare providers.

PITTSBURGH — Chinese retailer Bright Food Group is looking to potentially grow its portfolio with the acquisition of specialty retailer GNC, according to several reports.

The Bright Food Group acquisition would be backed by Hony Capital, one of China’s biggest buyout firms. What's more, the global buyout firm the Blackstone Group is expected to join Hony in backing Bright Food Group’s potential GNC bid, published reports have noted.

PITTSBURGH — GNC on Thursday announced the launch of its GNC Longevity Factors, GNC's first and only complete line of nutritional supplements marketed for aging well. The line features supplements that support health and bioavailability enhancement technology to improve the absorption of a key antioxidant important for healthy cell aging.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT — This is a next-generation pharmacy solution for the next generation of seniors, who begin celebrating birthday No. 65 with the coming of the New Year at a rate of one every 10 seconds, and that’s for nearly two straight decades.