Pharma Roundup: Dendreon's Success, King Closer to Buying Alpharma, and More

(MoneyWatch)  A good day for Dendreon? -- On a day of bad financial news, people hailed Dendreon as a ray of sunshine: the company's prostate cancer treatment Provenge produced encouraging results during clinical trials. But don't be too happy, warns the WSJ Health Blog. The drug still faces hurdles, with at least one analyst putting its chances of approval at just 50/50. [Source: WSJ Health Blog]

King closer to buying Alpharma -- Last week, Alpharma delivered a flat "no" to King's takeover bid. The two companies are now talking. [Source: MSN Money]
Supreme Court to hear Wyeth liability case -- The nation's high court expects to hear Wyeth v. Levine by early November. The case will set an important precedent for how much liability drug companies have when patients suffer injury while using a pharmaceutical. [Source: Medical News Today]
Pharmaceutical shipments suffer theft -- Pharm Aid reports that several drug shipments have been hijacked from trailer trucks, suggesting that an organized crime ring is stealing pharmaceuticals for sale on the black market. Sensationalist it may sound, but last June, the FBI did warn the drug industry of just this. [Source: Pharm Aid]

In case you didn't hear -- Lilly officially bought ImClone. [Source: AP]