Content about Pharmaceuticals policy

MORRISTOWN, N.J. Actavis has received regulatory approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its high blood pressure drug.

The drug maker said its losartan potassium tablets, USP, will be available in 25-mg, 50-mg and 100-mg strengths. The drug is a generic version of Merck's Cozaar.

Losartan potassium tablets, USP, had sales of approximately $940 million for the 12 months ended June 30, according to IMS Health.

WASHINGTON Drug Store News, for the simple reason that the change actually hurts the people health reform was supposed to help—patients looking to save money on healthcare costs. —The new prescription requirement for over-the-counter medicines under flexible spending accounts, part of the new Affordable Care Act, may amount to bad medicine, many industry pundits have told

And the ramifications of that simple requirement also will be felt across the retail pharmacies that those in search of healthcare savings patronize.

WASHINGTON The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America and the Consumer Healthcare Products Association on Wednesday joined forces to kick off their annual National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month to raise awareness of the dangers of youth prescription and over-the-counter medicine abuse.

This initiative, annually held in October, features a coordinated and concentrated effort to educate parents and youth of the potential dangers associated with prescription and OTC medicine abuse.

MORRISTOWN, N.J. Watson Pharmaceuticals has settled a patent lawsuit with Endo Pharmaceuticals concerning an Endo prescription painkiller, Watson said Thursday.

The generic drug maker said its subsidiary, Watson Labs, had received a royalty-free license to Endo’s patents covering the extended-release painkiller Opana ER (oxymorphone).

Watson will have the right to launch its version of the drug in September 2012. Other details of the settlement were not disclosed, Watson said.

NEW YORK Ranbaxy has won the right to sell a generic version of an Alzheimer’s disease drug made by Eisai, according to published reports.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that the Indian drug maker had won 180 days’ exclusivity in which to market a generic version of Eisai’s Aricept (donepezil hydrochloride) tablets, pending final Food and Drug Administration approval, beating out Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.

MORRISTOWN, N.J. Generic drug maker Watson Pharmaceuticals is seeking approval for a generic treatment for Parkinson’s disease, prompting a lawsuit from the drug’s manufacturer.

Watson said Tuesday that Watson Labs, a subsidiary of the company, had filed for approval for rasagiline mesylate tablets, a treatment for Parkinson’s used either alone or with the drug levodopa. The drug is a generic version of Teva Neuroscience’s Azilect.

KIRKLAND, Wash. Privately owned drug-development company ProteoTech will work with a Chinese company to develop a drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease, ProteoTech said Monday.

BENTONVILLE , Ark. (Oct. 1) Walmart and Humana on Friday unveiled a new Medicare Part D prescription drug offering designed to help both companies gain market share and save money for those enrolled in the program.

MUMBAI, India The Food and Drug Administration has given tentative approval to a generic cholesterol drug made by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries.

Sun announced Wednesday the tentative approval of rosuvastatin calcium tablets in the 5-mg, 10-mg, 20-mg and 40-mg strengths.