New York State Attorney General's Office subpoenas "documents related to Amgen's promotional activities, sales and marketing activities, medical education, clinical studies, pricing and contracting, license and distribution agreements and corporate communications," company discloses in a May 22 SEC filing. It is unclear whether the documents are related to a specific product, although the likely suspects are erythropoiesis-stimulating agentsAranesp (darbepoetin alfa) and Epogen (epoetin alfa). The firm also recently has come under scrutiny from Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who is looking into Amgen's marketing practices for its EPO products, and how well it is providing drug safety information to FDA...

The independent, family-controlled German group has signed a third R&D pact with Danish biotech Gubra to develop poly-agonist peptides for obesity.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals has reported promising initial data from its first Phase III study of its electrical current-driven DNA plasmid-based immunotherapy, VGX-3100, in virus-associated cervical dysplasia; it is heading a small group of companies evaluating novel therapies in the condition, which often advances to cancer.