President Obama signed into law major healthcare reform following the passage of the bill by the House of Representatives.

Seventeen pharmaceutical markets are now ranked as "pharmerging," according to market-research firm IMS Health.

FDA issued a new guidance for industry to help new drug applicants write the dosage and administration section of their products' labels.

FDA Issues Safety Warning Regarding Zocor; And More.

Merck Ends Partnership With Dynavax; PhRMA Elects Officers; And More.

After months of increasingly rancorous debate, the House finally approved legislation on Mar. 21, 2010, that makes significant changes in the nation's healthcare system.

A report from Thomson Reuters claims the number of patent challenges in the US almost doubled between 2008 and 2009.

Abbott Agrees to Acquire Facet Biotech; FDA Issues Black-Box Warning For Plavix; and More.

FDA Issues Warning Letter To Paddock Laboratories; And More.

Three companies joined the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's 21st Century Biodefense initiative to establish a flexible vaccine development and production facility.

The European Generic Medicines Association is calling for a reform of the European patent system.

In the final phase of its transparency initiative, the US Food and Drug Administration seeks additional public comments about how it can increase its interactions with regulated industry.

PharmTech's monthly newsletter, Equipment and Processing Report, reviews the Editor's Picks for the March 2010 edition from Munters and NETZSCH.

Recent developments demonstrate the importance of biologicals, which usually are delivered through injections, for the drug industry's future. To find out about the process of manufacturing prefilled syringes, and to learn about innovations in filling lines, Equipment and Processing Report talked to Thomas Otto, managing director of Vetter.

Continuous manufacturing could bring the pharmaceutical industry advantages such as improved product quality, easy scale-up, flexibility, and short cycle times. But how can a company switch from batch to continuous manufacturing?

Following a number of serious adverse events, including infections and fatalities, Roche and Biogen Idec have suspended the late-stage development of Ocrelizumab for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

The World Health Organization released new guidelines this week for the treatment of malaria and the first-ever guidelines on procuring safe and efficacious antimalarial drugs.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, along with eight other pharmaceutical, business, and trade organizations, are calling on Russian authorities to consider policy changes concerning clinical-trial regulation and intellectual property.

Exelixis And XenoPort Announce Job Cuts; GSK Dedicates India Facility; And More.

The US Food and Drug Administration recently published guidance for the characterization and qualification of cell substrates, viral seeds, and other biological materials used to manufacture viral vaccines for human use.

A UK consortium completed pilot runs of a pharmaceutical-safety program that uses electronic tracking and authentication to ensure the safety of drugs in the supply chain.

FDA Published The International Conference on Harmonization S9 Guideline; ISPE Released A New Good Practice Guide On Manufacturing Execution Systems.

The US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency are implementing a streamlined process to help regulators better identify and share information regarding orphan-drug and biologic products.

Merck KGaA has agreed to acquire Millipore for EUR 5.3 billion ($7.2 billion).

Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health unveiled plans to establish a Joint Leadership Council to address important public-health issues.

Astellas Pharma Makes Bid for OSI Pharmaceuticals; Ringo Retiring From Pfizer; And More.

Top pharmaceutical and biotech companies should expect a major slowdown in sales growth between 2008 and 2014, according to business analysts Datamonitor.

Following its $68-billion acquisition of Wyeth, Pfizer is integrating its manufacturing and outsourcing activities (Podcast).