Quoted from http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a3D7cQXuMZXk
Amylin Falls as Analyst Says FDA Wants Byetta Study
By Rob Waters
Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. fell the most in more than eight months in Nasdaq trading after a Citigroup analyst said U.S. drug regulators are requiring more studies of the diabetes drug Byetta to assess its safety.
San Diego-based Amylin and Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co., which co-market the drug, announced Oct. 30 that the Food and Drug Administration had cleared the drug for use as standalone therapy for Type 2 diabetics and that prescribing information would warn about the risk of pancreatitis, an inflamed pancreas, in patients with severe kidney disease. That statement didn’t say the FDA wanted more studies.
Citigroup analyst Yaron Werber said today in a note to investors that he had obtained a copy of the FDA’s approval letter and that the agency was requiring animal and human studies aimed at clarifying the risk of pancreatitis posed by the drug. A statement e-mailed by Lilly and Amylin today said most of the requested studies are under way and have shown no increased risk of pancreatitis in patients taking Byetta.
“The FDA considers post-marketing reports of acute pancreatitis (fatal and non-fatal hemorrhagic or necrotizing pancreatitis), acute renal failure and thyroid neoplasms as ‘new safety information’ and is requiring Amylin to conduct additional studies,” Werber said in his note.
