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| Isotope supplier Nordion to go private in $727 million deal Friday, Mar 28, 2014 06:33 PM PDT (Reuters) - Sterigenics, a sterilization services provider owned by private equity firm GTCR LLC, has reached a deal to buy Canadian medical isotopes supplier Nordion Inc for $727 million. The offer of $11.75 per share represents a 12 percent premium to Nordion's closing price on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, the companies said. "That's basically what our fair value was (for Nordion), so we think they're getting a fair price," Morningstar analyst David Krempa said. Nordion's U.S.-listed stock trades at 8.3 times forward earnings, a slight discount to the sector median of 11.4. Full Story | Top |
| Louisiana faced with revealing lethal injection details to inmate Friday, Mar 28, 2014 05:19 PM PDT The Louisiana Department of Corrections does not plan to appeal a U.S. Court decision this week that compels it to reveal to inmates on death row the content and maker of drugs used in lethal injections, a prisons official said on Friday. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Thursday was one in a series in favor of inmates who have sought delays for their execution while they seek information about the contents of lethal injection cocktails and clarity on who would be supplying the drugs. The decisions are likely to delay executions across the country as lawyers for inmates in other states launch similar efforts on their behalf in states looking to develop new means of lethal injection after supplies of drugs they have once used have run dry. "The state will not appeal the decision," Darryl Campbell, the executive management officer of the Louisiana Department of Corrections, told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Sterigenics to buy isotope supplier Nordion for $727 million Friday, Mar 28, 2014 02:19 PM PDT (Reuters) - Sterilization services provider Sterigenics will buy Canadian medical isotopes supplier Nordion Inc for $727 million. The offer of $11.75 per share represents a 12 percent premium to Nordion's closing price on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, the companies said. (Reporting By Sneha Banerjee in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian) Full Story | Top |
| U.S. FDA approves Biogen's hemophilia B drug Alprolix Friday, Mar 28, 2014 02:11 PM PDT Biogen Idec Inc has won U.S. approval for its long-acting hemophilia B treatment Alprolix, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday. Hemophilia B is a rare, inherited disorder in which a person's blood does not clot properly, which can lead to prolonged bleeding and bruising. Biogen is developing the drug in partnership with Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB. Patients with hemophilia A lack or have reduced levels of coagulation factor VIII. Full Story | Top |
| Mild head injuries linked to risk of death years later Friday, Mar 28, 2014 02:01 PM PDT By Shereen Jegtvig NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Adults hospitalized with mild head injuries have almost double the risk of dying in the next 15 years compared to similar people with no history of head injury, according to a new UK study. It's not clear whether lifestyle before and after a head injury is to blame for the increased risk, if the injury itself has lingering effects, or both, researchers say. "There is evidence in the study that points to lifestyle factors and health before and after the head injury," said lead author Tom McMillan, of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow. High rates of death in the year following a severe head injury have been well documented, McMillan and his colleagues write in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. Full Story | Top |
| Court finds fault with federal water transfer regulation Friday, Mar 28, 2014 01:57 PM PDT By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday threw out a federal regulation that allowed government agencies to transfer water between different water bodies, such as rivers and lakes, without needing to safeguard for pollution. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas of the Southern District of New York ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to go back to the drawing board on one aspect of the 2008 regulation. The regulation, known as the water transfers rule, exempts transfers from the national water discharge permit program that is administered by the EPA. Full Story | Top |
| Wall Street ends higher but biotech selloff weighs Friday, Mar 28, 2014 01:49 PM PDT  By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended up on Friday but off their session highs as a late afternoon selloff in the biotechnology sector weighed on the overall market. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell nearly 3 percent for the week, marking its worst week since October 2012. The three major U.S. stock indexes had been significantly higher in most of the morning and early afternoon trade following comments from China's Premier Li Keqiang indicating that the country's government was ready to take steps to support its slowing economy. But a 2.8 percent drop in the Nasdaq biotechnology index led the major indexes to session lows. Full Story | Top |
| Canada to remove foreign investment limit on Nordion Friday, Mar 28, 2014 01:31 PM PDT  OTTAWA/WINNIPEG (Reuters) - The Canadian government will remove the 25-percent foreign investment cap on medical isotope provider Nordion Inc in cases that are deemed to be of net benefit to Canada, under legislation introduced on Friday. "The foreign ownership restrictions with respect to the company were put in place when it was privatized in the early 1990s, and do not serve an ongoing purpose," said Melissa Lantsman, spokeswoman for Finance Minister Joe Oliver. "The removal of the foreign ownership restrictions will allow Nordion to access more investment capital, enabling it to better grow and create jobs, but is conditional on approval of a transaction under the Investment Canada Act." Nordion shares were down slightly in Toronto and New York in late Friday trading. Full Story | Top |
| Los Angeles couple get three years in jail in Qatar for death of adopted child Friday, Mar 28, 2014 01:24 PM PDT  A Los Angeles couple was sentenced to three years in jail in Qatar on Thursday for causing the death of their adopted African-born daughter, who was found to have died of starvation, in a case that has raised concern in Washington. Matthew and Grace Huang were arrested in January last year after their 8-year-old daughter, Gloria, died unexpectedly. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. FDA moves to offset shortage of common saline solution Friday, Mar 28, 2014 12:17 PM PDT (Reuters) - Moving to offset shortages of a common saline used in hospitals and dialysis centers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that it will temporarily allow Fresenius Kabi USA LLC to distribute normal saline from its manufacturing facility in Norway. The FDA said the initial shipments would help but not resolve shortages of 0.9 percent sodium chloride injection, also known as normal saline. The FDA said it is continuing to work with Baxter Healthcare Corp, B.Braun Medical Inc. and Hospira Inc to restore their supplies to hospitals and health clinics. Full Story | Top |
| Pot-smoking style linked to addiction risk Friday, Mar 28, 2014 12:06 PM PDT  By C.E. Huggins NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Marijuana smokers' behavior is more important than the potency of their pot or how much of the psychoactive ingredient THC they take in for predicting who will become dependent, according to a small new study. Researchers have debated whether smokers of high-potency cannabis varieties are at greater risk of addiction because they get more THC, or if they compensate for the pot's strength by using or inhaling less of it. But it's their style of pot smoking that predicted who was most likely to become dependent. Most previous research into cannabis dependence has looked mainly at how frequently a person uses cannabis, Van der Pol and her team note in the journal Addiction. Full Story | Top |
| Massachusetts bans sale of FDA-approved Zogenix painkiller Friday, Mar 28, 2014 11:25 AM PDT  By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Officials in Massachusetts have blocked sales of Zogenix's controversial but U.S.-approved painkiller Zohydro, prompting the drugmaker to criticize what it called an "unprecedented action." The state's ban "only serves to unfairly restrict patient access," the company said in a statement late Thursday. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced the Zohydro ban in a speech on Thursday, formally declaring a public health emergency stemming from the abuse of opioids in the New England state. Bradley Galer, chief medical officer of Zogenix, said Massachusetts officials are misguided about Zohydro's potency and dosage, and noted that other painkillers without abuse-resistant technologies are already on the U.S. market. The drug has since come under further scrutiny from members of Congress, dozens of state attorney generals, medical groups and drug treatment experts seeking to block the drug even as the FDA's top official has defended its action. Full Story | Top |
| FDA staff review raises questions about MannKind diabetes device Friday, Mar 28, 2014 10:08 AM PDT  By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A review of MannKind Corp's experimental inhaled insulin device by U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff raised questions about its safety and effectiveness but was less damning than some investors had expected. The company's shares initially rose as much as 10.6 percent before falling back amid conflicting opinions from analysts on how the FDA will likely rule. The reviewers issued their report ahead of a meeting on Tuesday of outside advisers to the FDA, who will discuss clinical trial data and advise on whether the product, Afrezza, should be approved. The FDA is not obliged to follow the advice of its advisory panels but typically does so. Full Story | Top |
| GM stops selling some Cruze small cars, offering no reason Friday, Mar 28, 2014 10:06 AM PDT  By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co said on Friday it had told its dealers to stop selling certain Chevrolet Cruze small cars without saying why, in another blow to a company already facing a crisis over defective ignition switches linked to at least 12 deaths. The automaker said the affected Cruze cars, 2013 and 2014 models equipped with a 1.4-liter turbo engine, are not being recalled. The action only covers the affected models that are unsold on dealer lots, which make up about one-third of the vehicle's inventory at dealers, a GM spokesman said. The 1.4-liter gas turbo engine accounts for about 60 percent of the Cruze's retail sales mix in any given month, a GM spokesman said. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. wants at least $1 billion from drugmakers who delay generics Friday, Mar 28, 2014 08:52 AM PDT By David Ingram WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission seeks a settlement of $1 billion or more from pharmaceutical companies it has sued for delaying the sale of cheaper medicines after patents on brand-name drugs may have expired, an FTC official told a legal conference on Friday. In the settlements, makers of brand-name drugs pay millions of dollars to generics companies while they delay putting their products on the U.S. market. A panel moderator at the American Bar Association's spring antitrust meeting asked Deborah Feinstein, the director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, what developments to expect in the coming year. "The consumer harm there is extremely significant, and so we have a tremendous amount of resources there and hope to come out with a victory one way or another in those cases." Defendants in the lawsuits include Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc, owned by AbbVie Inc; Full Story | Top |
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