Pfizer

I'm not sure what the twists in the local life-sciences sector in early 2012 portend for the year as a whole. Just after New Year's, Ossianix Inc. , a two-person biopharmaceutical company in Philadelphia, attracted investment from a major European drug company called H. Lundbeck A/S . No dollar signs were attached to what was described as a "strategic investment. " But Lundbeck, which had its U.S. commercial headquarters in King of Prussia for a few months in 2006-07, is a major player in treatments for disorders of the central nervous system.

In the Region Regional unemployment unchanged Unemployment in the Philadelphia- Camden-Wilmington metro area was unchanged at 8.1 percent in November, compared with October, the U.S. Department of Labor said. The department's metro numbers are not seasonally adjusted. The November rate was down from 8.7 percent in November 2010, the department said. The department's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the nation in November was 8.6 percent. It said jobless rates were lower in November than a year earlier in 351 of 372 metropolitan areas, higher in 16, and unchanged in five.

Companies often give employees price discounts for purchasing company products. For instance, Lenovo, which bought IBM's personal-computer line in 2005, allows employees to buy Thinkpad tablets and other gadgets for a discount. Several large pharmaceutical companies with operations in this area go beyond discounts and provide their prescription products with no co-payment to employees who have a script, and the reason is simple: profit. Opaque pricing is one of the systematic mysteries of American health care and, in various marketplaces, pharmaceutical companies are no different from other companies in using such situations to maximize profits.

A Philadelphia jury Tuesday said pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. must pay three women $72.6 million in compensatory damages because the menopause drugs they took gave them breast cancer. The Common Pleas Court jury will begin the punitive phase Friday and could last two weeks, but it might mean even larger awards for the women, who live or had lived in Pennsylvania. Jury awards in such cases can be reduced by judges or changed by appeals courts. "The plaintiffs were pleased with the phase one outcome, and they look forward to presenting phase two evidence beginning Friday," said attorney Tobi Millrood, a partner in the Conshohocken-based firm of Pogust, Braslow & Millrood L.L.C.

A big slice of the U.S. prescription-drug market will change Wednesday, when Lipitor, the world's best-selling drug, gets generic competition. Black Friday-like rushes on pharmacies are not expected, but the change, at least in theory, will lower prices for patients trying to lower their cholesterol. The drug still requires a doctor's prescription. Ian Read, chief executive of Lipitor's maker, Pfizer Inc., said recently that the company hoped to create a nonprescription version.

WASHINGTON - Federal health scientists say Pfizer's best-selling vaccine, Prevnar 13, is at least as effective as rival Merck's at helping prevent sometimes deadly infections in adults. Prevnar 13 is intended to reduce the risk of infection by 13 strains of pneumococcal disease, which causes ear infections, meningitis and pneumonia. Vaccination with Prevnar is recommended for all U.S. infants and young children, because of their vulnerability to infection. But the disease also affects 36,000 older adults per year, killing 5,000 of them, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Smart Devine & Co. L.L.C. has hired Chris Barbier as director of technology services in the firm's business-advisory practice. Barbier had been vice president at JP Morgan Private Equity/Real Estate Fund Services. Stephen W. Krouse has been hired as chief human resources officer at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children . Krouse had been the human resources director at Hahnemann University Hospital. Campbell Soup Co. , Camden, has hired Joshua Anthony , vice president, global nutrition and health.

Exercising daily and skipping french fries probably would do more to improve the health of human hearts, but that medical discussion took a new turn Tuesday when the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said in the strongest terms yet that it would try to create an over-the-counter version of its best-selling cholesterol drug, Lipitor. In the 19 years since Lipitor was approved, more than 17 million Americans have gotten a prescription for it. But this is about more than medicine.

Once, small drug firms dreamed of becoming the next Merck or Pfizer . Now, they seem to have lowered their sights to simply being bought by them. On Monday, Adolor Corp. became the latest Philadelphia-area life-sciences firm to return the embrace from a cash-flush bigger company. Exton-based Adolor, which sells a drug called Entereg, will be acquired by Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $4.25 per share in cash, plus the promise of up to $4.50 per share more should Adolor meet certain milestones.