Content about Piperazines

NEW YORK — Alcon has launched a mobile website designed to facilitate dialogue between patients and pharmacists about eye and ear treatments, the company said Thursday.

Alcon announced the launch of Drops101 Web Tools, which offers access to information about two of its products: Ciprodex Otic (ciprofloxacin and dexamethasone), for acute otitis externa and acute otitis media in children with tymponostomy tubes; and Moxeza ophthalmic solution (moxifloxacin hydrochloride) for bacterial conjunctivitis.

TOKYO — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a once-monthly treatment for schizophrenia.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical and H. Lundbeck announced the FDA approval of Abilify Maintena (aripiprazole) for extended-release injectable suspension, an intramuscular depot formulation indicated for the treatment of schizophrenia.

The companies described Abilify Maintena as the first dopamine D2 partial agonist approved as a once-monthly injection, contributing to a new treatment option to address the ongoing need for relapse prevention in patients with schizophrenia.

NEW YORK — Drug maker Otsuka Pharmaceuticals can keep generic versions of its schizophrenia drug off the market, according to published reports.

Bloomberg reported that the Supreme Court upheld a ruling that allowed Otsuka to block Canadian generic drug maker Apotex from marketing a version of the antipsychotic Abilify (aripiprazole), which Otsuka co-markets with Bristol-Myers Squibb.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — The Food and Drug Administration has accepted a regulatory approval application from Takeda and Lundbeck for an experimental drug to treat depression, the companies said Wednesday.

The FDA will review the companies' application for vortioxetine for the treatment of major depressive disorder in adults. The agency expects to finish reviewing the application by Oct. 2, 2013.

In 2011 and 2012, the steady surge of blockbuster pharmaceuticals falling off the patent cliff became a stampede. An astonishing number of big-selling drugs that had established and sustained branded drug makers’ profits for years fell victim to the expiration of their patent lives and market exclusivity, roiling the pharmaceutical marketplace and redefining the pricing model for many of the most widely prescribed classes of medicines.


PARSIPPANY, N.J. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a generic drug for pulmonary arterial hypertension made by Watson Pharmaceuticals, the drug maker said Monday.

Watson said the FDA approved its sildenafil tablets in the 20 mg strength through a subsidiary. Watson said it would launch the drug "in the near future."

The drug is a generic version of Pfizer's Revatio tablets, which had sales of about $339 million during the 12-month period ended in September, according to IMS Health.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved what it called the second new drug in two months for a form of leukemia, the agency said Friday.

The FDA announced the approval of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries' Synribo (omacetaxine mepesuccinate) for chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML, a disease that the National Institutes of Health expects will be diagnosed in more than 5,400 people this year. The drug is intended for patients whose disease has progressed after treatment with at least two drugs of a class used to treat the disease.

PITTSBURGH — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a generic drug for motion sickness made by Mylan.

The drug maker announced Friday that the FDA had approved meclizine hydrochloride tablets in the 12.5-mg, 25-mg and 50-mg strengths. Mylan said it would launch the drug immediately.

The drug is a generic version of Pfizer's Antivert, which is used to treat nausea, vomiting and dizziness associated with motion sickness. Antivert had sales of about $53.5 million during the 12-month period ended in June, according to IMS Health.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for treating a rare blood and marrow cancer that affects older adults, the agency said Tuesday.

The FDA announced the approval of Pfizer's Bosulif (bosutinib) for chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML. According to the FDA, about 5,430 men and women will be diagnosed with CML this year.

The drug is designed for patients with chronic, accelerated or blast-phase Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML, who can't tolerate other therapies or for whom those therapies don't work.

PEAPACK, N.J. — Greenstone, the generic pharmaceutical subsidiary of Pfizer, has launched olanzapine tablets.

The drug, which is a generic version of Zyprexa — an Eli Lilly drug used to treat psychiatric disorders — in the 2.5-mg, 5-mg, 7.5-mg, 10-mg, 15-mg and 20-mg strengths.

Generic and branded versions of the drug had sales of about $3.28 billion during the 12-month period ended in January, according to IMS Health.

MUMBAI, India — Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has launched a generic version of a drug used to treat psychiatric disorders, the company said.

Sun announced the launch of olanzapine tablets in the 2.5 mg, 5 mg, 7.5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg and 20 mg strengths.

The drug is a generic version of Eli Lilly's Zyprexa, used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The branded drug and generic versions had sales of $3.28 billion during the 12-month period ended in January, according to IMS Health.

HYDERABAD, India — Indian drug maker Dr. Reddy's has launched a drug designed to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, the company said.

The company announced the launch of ziprasidone hydrochloride capsules in the 20-mg, 40-mg, 60-mg and 80-mg strengths.

The drug is a generic version of Pfizer's Geodon, which had sales of $1.34 billion in 2011, according to IMS Health.