Novo's Victoza beats Januvia in study; New Actavis chief promises growth by acquisition;

@FiercePharma: J&J recall plant to stay closed through year's end. Article | Follow @FiercePharma

Novo Nordisk said extension data from a study showed its new diabetes drug Victoza provided better blood sugar control and weight reduction than Merck's blockbuster Januvia. Report

Icelandic generic drug maker Actavis aims to become the world's third-largest manufacturer of copycat medicines via acquisitions, CEO Claudio Albrecht told Dow Jones in an interview. Report

Britain's health cost watchdog has changed tack and recommended that rheumatoid arthritis patients should have more options if they do not respond adequately to treatment with a so-called TNF inhibitor drug. Report

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries will stop selling a generic version of Sanofi-Aventis' cancer drug Eloxatin in the U.S. after June 30 following a court order, the Indian drugmaker said. Report

FDA said it does not expect any shortage of children's pain and allergy medications despite Johnson & Johnson's inability to resume production until at least next year. Report

Pharmaceutical sales in France grew 2.7 percent to 26.9 billion euros last year, but retail sales of non-reimbursable drugs advanced 3.6 percent, according to new industry figures. Report

Biotech News

@FierceBiotech: Analysts fret over Pfizer's litany of pipeline snafus. Article | Follow @FierceBiotech

@JohnCFierce: Now the 3 obesity drug developers, Vivus, Orexigen and Arena, have panels lined up, when do partners step up with the big bucks? Why so late? | @JohnCFierce

Eisai blueprints new R&D center in India. Report

As R&D budgets slide, declining output mires pharma pipeline. Item

Doc sentenced to prison for faking research data. Story

Analysts turn bearish on Roche's taspoglutide prospects. Article

New diabetes data highlights promising drug class. Story

AZ will open compound library to malaria researchers. News

Biotech IT News

Symyx software helps bridge biologic/chemical gap. Item

Cloudera, Quest Software to partner. News

Investigators turn to new 3D imaging tech in bone study. Report

Seattle start-up attracts early adopters of cancer drug tech. Story

IBM touts cloud computing's ability to cut trial costs. Item

And Finally... What would happen in a world that accepts no risks in its pharmaceuticals? We would have very empty medicine cabinets. Report