West Palm Beach, Fla.-based firm will discontinue sales of ephedra products because supplier Garden State Nutritionals lost product liability insurance, HNS says Dec. 19. GSN reported in September plans to phase in ephedra-free offerings, but said it still intended to sell the botanical (1"The Tan Sheet" Sept. 9, 2002, p. 4). HNS expects an 18% drop in quarterly sales due to the announcement, noting 19% of 2002 sales came from ephedra-based products, such as Thin Tabs, Fat Cutter Plus. Company retains $10 mil. of liability insurance. Plans to release clinically-tested-for-safety ephedra product with single-dose packaging have been shelved, but firm may launch "after dust settles" on the ingredient...

Two European pharmaceutical companies, UCB and Merck KGaA, are exploring artificial intelligence in different ways, the first for drug discovery and the second on a fundamental level.

The final text brings some changes, including the introduction of an escalation process when companies and NHS England cannot agree.