A federal judge has dismissed Amphastar Pharmaceuticals fourth set of counterclaims against Aventis Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Sanofi-Aventis, ruling that federal regulators must take final action on the generics company's bid to produce its own version of the blood thinner Lovenox before the court can act on competition claims.

Jonathan Symonds, currently managing director of investment banking at Goldman Sachs, will join Novartis on Sept. 1 as deputy chief financial officer (CFO) and as CFO designate, reporting to Raymund Breu, who will retire on March 31, 2010.

In patients with atrial fibrillation for whom vitamin K-antagonist therapy was unsuitable, the addition of clopidogrel (Plavix) to aspirin reduced the risk of major vascular events, especially stroke, and increased the risk of major hemorrhage, according to the ACTIVE trial published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), aspirin use is associated with a statistically non-significant decrease in the combined risk of nonfatal MI, nonfatal stroke and cardiovascular (CV) death, but a significant reduction in the risk of nonfatal stroke, according to a meta-analysis in the May 13 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.

The Medicines Company is discontinuing its phase 3 CHAMPION clinical trial program of antiplatelet drug cangrelor in patients undergoing PCI after failing to prove clinical efficacy as a result of safety findings by the independent Interim Analysis Review Committee (IARC).

Jolife has renewed its exclusive distribution agreement for the Lucas chest compression system with Physio-Control, a provider of external defibrillation and monitoring technology.

Amylin Pharmaceuticals has merged existing primary care and specialty sales forces into a single organization to bring a specialty approach to endocrinologists and diabetes-focused primary care physicians.

Clopidogrel (Plavix) can be compromised by common drugs for the treatment of heartburn and ulcers resulting in a roughly 50 percent increase in the combined risk of hospitalization for MI, stroke and other serious cardiovascular illnesses, according to a study presented May 6 at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 32nd annual scientific sessions in Las Vegas.