Abbott to buy Solvay for $6.6 billion (or million?)

CNNMoney.com has a typo in their story. They state that Abbott is buying Solvay for $6.6 million (maybe by now they've fixed the typo). It's actually closer to $6.6 billion (or maybe over $7 billion - pending other factors). Million instead of billion would have been a real bargain!

Deal news: Abbott Laboratories (ABT, Fortune 500) is buying the drug unit of its development partner, Belgian pharmaceutical company Solvay, for about $6.6 million in cash. Abbot shares rose 3%.

Speaking of acquisitions, Johnson and Johnson bought an 18% stake in biotech firm Crucell for $444 million as part of a deal to develop a flu vaccine.

Generic drugs for BPH from Walmart

I was having a discussion with someone about generic drugs used to treat BPH or Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia. Since you can get $4 drugs Walmart, I decided to write a blog post evaluating generic drugs that are currently available at Walmart. I don't know how much the Walmart generic drug formulary varies from state to state, so this may not be entirely accurate. Plus, I imagine that these formularies are constantly changing.

Alpha-1-adrenergic antagonists

Here are the generic drugs on the Walmart $4 list:

• terazosin (on the $4 Walmart generic drug list) - generic form of Hytrin (made by Abbott)
  
• doxazosin (also on the $4 Walmart generic drug list) - generic form of Carduara (made by Pfizer)
  

Not currently available as generic drugs:

• tamsulosin or Flomax (marketed by Boehringer Ingelheim and Astellas)
  
• alfuzosin or Uroxatral (made by sanofi-aventis)
• silodosin or Rapaflo (made by Watson)
  

5-Alpha-reductase inhibitors


Here is a generic drug, but it is not on the $4 Walmart list:

• finasteride (not on the $4 Walmart list) - generic form of Proscar (made by Merck)
  

Not available as generic drugs:

• dutasteride or Avodart (made by GSK)
  

So, you can't get a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors for $4 at Walmart, but you can find the alpha-1-adrenergic antagonists (and they are listed under "Heart Health & Blood Pressure").

Sensei Launches iPhone Application for Diabetes

If you have diabetes, you're probably used to gadgets. If you have type 1 diabetes, you probably wear an insulin pump and you're really familiar with gadgets. In the world of diabetes, you have glucose monitors (from companies like Accu-Check. LifeScan, and others), insulin pens, insulin pumps that look like pagers, and even continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems (from companies like Medtronic, Abbott, and DexCom). It's great to see advances in healthcare technology and medical devices. I always had a passion for the medical device industry and as a kid, I thought that I would be a biomedical engineer.

The iPhone is a great medical smartphone and there is now a new diabetes application for diabetes. Sensei (a subsidiary of Humana) has released My Diabetes Guide. Looks pretty cool! LifeScan is also coming out with a diabetes application for the iPhone that may sync glucose readings from blood glucose monitors (glucometers). Hopefully, all these gadgets for diabetes will ultimately help patients improve glucose control.