A large, late scale clinical trial of Avastin in colon cancer has been stopped by Genentech and Roche.  Two thousand patients had already been recruited, with another 1,500 sought. While they evaluate the data, the sponsors have temporarily suspended patient enrollment after several unexpected deaths were reported during one of…more...

The Archives of Internal Medicine is reporting that doctors ignore “black box” warnings. The warnings are an increasingly common way for the FDA to let a drug remain on the market despite worrisome but inconclusive evidence of a drug’s dangers to the public. After looking at the records of 324,548…more...

The U.S. government will fund the collection of patient genetic data in Framingham, Mass. To find the genetic markers for common diseases, including heart disease and stroke, the Framingham Heart Study will spend $13 million to collect detailed genetic information on 9,000 study participants. “We have for a long time…more...

Celera Genomics announced that Abbott has picked two Celera antigen targets for further investigation. The compounds are not yet in the clinic. “This is further validation of the value our proteomics platform has yielded in discovering and validating targets in pancreatic, lung, colon, breast, gastric, prostate and renal cancers,” said…more...

The North Carolina company etrials has begun its life as a public company. It will trade on the over-the-counter exchange under the ticker ETWC. In addition to raising money for the founders, the transaction with CEAC Acquisition Company, a Florida investment company, the deal will give the company a $20…more...

GlaxoSmithKline bought the research institute of the largest Croatian drug maker, Pliva. The deal is worth up to $50 million. Pliva will receive an up-front sum of $35 million with possible further payments of up to $15 million depending on the entry of certain early stage projects into clinical development.…more...

Cleveland’s DataTrak International will buy a small Texas clinical trial technology firm, ClickFind, for $18 million in cash and company stock. The deal freshens the technology portfolio of application service provider DataTrak, which until now has offered clinical trial tools that may not take full advantage of the internet. ClickFind…more...

IBM is moving into the health informatics space. The company announced that it had helped the Western North Carolina Health Network launch a solution that will link 16 area hospitals to share patient information electronically. The network is the first regional health information organization in North Carolina and one of…more...

Allscripts and Advanced Clinical Software (ACS) announced a partnership. The deal was publicized at the annual HIMSS conference, the mega-event sponsored by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. The integration of ACS Study Manager and Allscripts TouchWorks Electronic Health Record provides physician practices with the tools to be more…more...

The patient diary company invivodata has announced a record year. While reporting no specific financial data, the privately held company said it ended 2005 with three times its revenues in 2004. The company said it won 60 percent of the competitive situations in which sponsors of clinical trials asked for…more...