The Life Sciences in New York State

Rochester-based iCardiac signs deal with Pfizer

Rochester Business Journal

Medical technology firm iCardiac Technologies Inc. has inked a multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal with Pfizer Inc., which includes an undisclosed equity investment in the local firm.
The alliance will involve the development and validation of electrocardiogram-based biomarkers, using iCardiac Technologies’ software technology platform, Comprehensive Analysis of Repolarization Signal. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Pfizer cuts 10K workers

Bloomberg

Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drugmaker, will fire 10,000 workers as generic copies of its top- selling medicines cut into sales. The job cuts are the equivalent of 10 percent of Pfizer's global workforce and are part of a plan to lower costs by $500 million to $1 billion a year, Pfizer said today in a statement. The New York-based drugmaker will close two U.S. plants and research centers in the U.S., Japan and France. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Kindler is deepening cost- cuts after the company reported a 43 percent drop in fourth- quarter profit. New medicines under development are expected by analysts to generate just half the revenue that will be lost in the next five years as patents expire on older drugs.

Didn't see this coming. Nope. Never. No way....

Eastview-based Emisphere Technologies ousts CEO

Emisphere Technologies Inc. has fired its chairman and chief executive, Dr. Michael M. Goldberg.

FDA approvals hit a new low in 2006

Bloomberg.com: Health Care

U.S. regulators approved 18 new drugs in 2006, close to an eight-year low, as drugmakers struggled to develop products for hard-to-treat disorders.

The number of medicines recommended for sale in 2006 and 2005 dropped from the annual average of 26 drugs recorded in the previous six years, according to U.S. data.