FDA Drug Approvals Highest In Three Years
Federal regulators approved more new drugs in 2008 thanin any of the prior three years, a slight consolation to anindustry struggling with greater scrutiny, thousands of layoffsand thinning drug pipelines. The Food and DrugAdministration approved 24 new, or first-of-a-kind, drugs in2008, more than the 18 approved in 2006, the 22 approvedin 2006 and the 20 approved in 2005.Such drugs included Pristiq, an antidepressant from Wyeth(WYE); Treanda, a treatment for certain types of leukemiaand lymphoma from Cephalon Inc. (CEPH); as well asAmgen Inc.’s (AMGN) Nplate and GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s(GSK) Promacta to treat a blood condition that involves lowplatelet counts.