Supply problems for Endo pain med
Chadds Ford-based Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. said there would be short-term supply problems for its Opana ER pain pill and possibly other medications. The cause is a temporary shutdown of a manufacturing plant run by Novartis Consumer Health in Lincoln, Neb. Among problems there, the Food and Drug Administration said, over-the-counter Novartis pills may have found their way into packages of prescription drugs sold by Endo. Novartis said on Sunday it was recalling products such as Excedrin, NoDoz, and Bufferin. Endo said the disruption in Opana production was "not related to the efficacy or safety" of its products, and the company planned to ramp up production at other manufacturing plants. - Mike Armstrong
Air Products sells a European unit
Air Products & Chemicals Inc. of Allentown is selling its Continental Europe home-care business to the Linde Groupe of Germany for $749.9 million, the company said. The business being sold provides oxygen therapy, sleep therapy, and infusions, and operates in Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, and Belgium. - AP
Driller cited for well pollution
Cabot Oil & Gas Co. was cited by Pennsylvania officials in September for "improper" well construction after natural gas polluted drinking water. Inspectors found defects in the liner intended to prevent oil and gas from leaking into groundwater at a Susquehanna County well, according to a Sept. 19 notice of violation from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The violation was reported by the Scranton Times-Tribune. The company immediately vented the household wells to eliminate risk of fire and explosion and "tightened down" its wells, Cabot spokesman George Stark said. Methane levels in the household wells fell over two weeks, Stark said. - Bloomberg News
Elsewhere
Health spending seen stabilizing
