Most popular news headlines for Wednesday, August 13 2014

The most-clicked news item for Wednesday was “BMS, Pfizer pull out all the stops to give Eliquis sales a Q2 jolt.”  This Fierce Pharma Marketing article details the reasons behind increased sales of the bloodthinner Eliquis, and how marketing actions have played a role.

The second most popular news item was “Merck Wins U.S. Approval of New Type of Sleeping Pill,” on Bloomberg.  The FDA approved Merck’s Belsomra (suvorexant) yesterday, which is a new type of insomnia treatment considered to have fewer side effects than other treatments.  The pill should be launched later this year or early next year.

The third most-clicked news link was “Amgen Drops in After Hours on Failed Trial, Recall.”  The article details the Kyprolis myeloma treatment trial failure, as well as the recall of pre filled Aranesp syringes.  Analysts see the stock drop as an overreaction.

Fierce Biotech’s “InterMune buyout rumors resurface, with Roche, Sanofi on the short list” was the fourth most-clicked news link Wednesday. InterMune’s stock rose Wednesday on speculation that a buyout was in the works, primarily due to interest in the IPF treatments pirfenidone.