WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New cancer medicines typically reach the U.S. market several months before they go on sale in Europe, according to a study published amid a debate about access to new drugs.

The findings released on Thursday counter a common belief among doctors, academics and investors that new oncology drugs often reach European patients first, said researchers from the nonprofit advocacy group Friends of Cancer Research.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New cancer medicines typically reach the U.S. market several months before they go on sale in Europe, according to a study published amid a debate about access to new drugs.

The findings released on Thursday counter a common belief among doctors, academics and investors that new oncology drugs often reach European patients first, said researchers from the nonprofit advocacy group Friends of Cancer Research.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Complaints about drug-company marketing tripled in the past year after U.S. regulators encouraged doctors to report misleading promotions.

The Food and Drug Administration views early results from the “Bad Ad Program” as a success and plans to expand it by reaching out to medical students and more physicians.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Walt Disney Co’s “Cars” is poised to become the company’s largest film licensing property with the upcoming release of the franchise’s second installment, a top executive said on Thursday.

“Cars 2″ debuts in U.S. theaters June 24. Merchandise began hitting stores globally in mid-May and is on track to beat retail sales from mega-hit “Toy Story 3,” said Andy Mooney, head of Disney’s consumer products division.

, May 19 (Reuters) – An Abbott
Laboratories Inc (ABT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) drug should keep its approval for use
with common cholesterol-lowering medicines while a new study
tests the combination’s effects on the heart, U.S. advisers
said on Thursday.

The drug, Trilipix, came under question last year when a
government study found that adding a similar pill to
cholesterol-fighting drugs called statins provided no
additional heart protection.

WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) – U.S. regulators plan to ask
outside experts if the agency should revoke approval of Abbott
Laboratories Inc’s (ABT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) heart medicine Trilipix for use with
a cholesterol-lowering statin drug.

Other actions for the advisory panel to consider are
allowing continued marketing of Trilipix with a statin while
adding results of a study known as Accord-Lipid to the drug
label, or making no label changes. The FDA released draft
questions for the panel on Monday.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) – Merck & Co (MRK.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
won U.S. approval on Friday to sell a new drug considered a
major advance against the liver-destroying hepatitis C virus.

Victrelis is expected to help transform treatment of the
potentially fatal disease with higher cure rates and shorter
courses of therapy for some patients.

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Most states likely will run their own medical insurance marketplaces or partner with neighbors to help expand coverage under the federal health overhaul, U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Wednesday.

The health insurance exchanges are a centerpiece of Democratic President Barack Obama’s healthcare law. While Republican governors have objected to the law, Sebelius said she expected most states to opt to join the program.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Plenty of industry players want a piece of the U.S. market for generic versions of complex biotech drugs, but winners are likely to need the marketing muscle of a big pharmaceutical company.

That is a departure from the traditional generic drug industry, which has given rise to dozens of companies that profit as they churn out copies of big brand name medicines made from chemicals.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Food and Drug Administration is seeing a rising number of new drugs ready for approval and expects a gradual increase in medicines that reach the market, a top agency official said on Monday.

“We are seeing more successful products” coming from advancements in science and research investments made a decade or more ago, Dr. Janet Woodcock, head of the FDA’s drugs center, said at the Reuters Health Summit in New York.