Biotech drugs may go generic
Congressional support is building to bring generic competition to life-saving biotech drugs that can cost thousands of dollars a year.
Legislation introduced Wednesday in the House and Senate would give the Food and Drug Administration the ability to approve cheaper copies of biotech drugs. Biologics, such as insulin and cancer drug Herceptin, are based on living cells, while traditional drugs are made from chemicals.
The FDA approves generic versions of traditional drugs once they lose patent protection.
But biologics have been immune from generic competition partly because the FDA doesn’t have authority to approve copies.
The proposal is likely to face opposition from biotech companies. They say true generics aren’t possible because biologics come from complicated living organisms. Small manufacturing changes can also produce significant changes in final products, they add.
Omaha, Neb.
Berkshire bought Bancorp shares
Billionaire Warren Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. revealed Wednesday that it bought $774.3 million in U.S. Bancorp stock last year, adding to the bank holdings already in the company’s $52.8 billion stock portfolio.
The documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission are the first to mention Berkshire’s 23.31 million shares of U.S. Bancorp, which claims to be the sixth-largest bank in the nation with $219 billion in assets and 2,472 offices. Berkshire already owned sizable stakes in Wells Fargo & Co. and M&T Bank Corp.
Austin, Texas
Judge dismisses MySpace lawsuit
A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the social networking Web site MySpace filed by the family of a 13-year-old girl who says she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old man she met online.
The $30 million lawsuit accused the site of having no measures to protect children who use it. The lawsuit also named MySpace’s parent company, News Corp., and the 19-year-old, whose criminal case has not yet gone to trial.
In a ruling issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks said MySpace is protected under the Communications Decency Act and cannot be expected to verify the age of every user because that “would of course stop MySpace’s business in its tracks.”
Washington
Port Authority wants payback
Dubai Ports World, the company whose planned takeover of major port operations in New York and other U.S. cities ignited a political firestorm last year, may be headed for a new storm in its plan to sell off those operations to a U.S.-based company.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is seeking tens of millions of dollars from the prospective new owner, AIG Global Investment Group, for improvements the port agency has made to the Port Newark Container Terminal in Newark, N.J., which AIG would operate.