Pharma Roundup: Lilly's Prasugrel in Europe, AstraZeneca's $900 Million Deal, and More

(MoneyWatch)  European Medicines Agency recommends Lilly's prasugrel for approval -- The blood thinner has run up against a brick wall of delays from the FDA, but on the other side of the Atlantic, it's gotten a nod from the EMEA (see Jim Edwards's BNET post for the full story). That endorsement will inform the European Commission's eventual approval decision for the drug, which usually comes within two or three months of a EMEA reccomendation. If approved, Lilly will market the drug as Effient. [Source: FiercePharma]

AstraZeneca pays $900 million for MAP asthma drug -- The deal will grant AZ development and commercialization rights for Unit Dose Budesonide (UDB), a phase III compound developed by MAP Pharmaceuticals, a Mountain View, Calif.-based drug maker. [Source: FierceBiotech]

Targanta cuts 85 jobs -- The cuts to the workforce at Targanta Therapeutics, based out of Cambridge, Mass., amount to a whopping 75 percent of staff. The FDA recently rejected Targanta's entry in treating "superbug" infections; the company says it's going back to the drawing board as it returns to phase III, rather than pre-commercial, status. [Source: Boston Business Journal, via Pharmalot]

Vertex's $75,000 hepatitis C drug? -- At least one analyst thinks it's possible. The race to get a new treatment for hep-C to market is tight; Vertex and Schering-Plough are closest. A Bernstein analyst checked out research data on Vertex's entry and deemed it a potential commercial success. [Source: Pharma's Market]

Pharma Roundups will be on hiatus until after the holidays. See you in 2009!