Health Care

Gilead's Quad Pill for AIDS May Overtake Atripla Sales, COO Milligan Says Gilead Sciences Inc., the world’s biggest maker of AIDS medicines, will begin three final-stage tests in 2010 for a four-drug combination pill against HIV that has the potential to generate $4 billion a year by 2014.

Amgen's Denosumab Helps Bones of Prostate Cancer Patients More Than Rival Amgen Inc.’s experimental drug denosumab reduced the rate of fractures in patients with prostate cancer, a use that may help the drug gain a broad market as a bone-strengthening treatment.

Biogen Fourth-Quarter Profit Rises on Sales of Multiple Sclerosis Drugs Biogen Idec Inc., the world’s largest maker of medicines for multiple sclerosis, said fourth-quarter profit jumped 48 percent, helped by higher sales of its fastest- growing drug, Tysabri.

Stomach-Band Weight-Loss Surgery May Help Severely Obese Teens, Study Says Weight-loss surgery was more effective at slimming severely obese teens and improving their health than two years of diet and exercise, a study found.

AstraZeneca's Crestor Cleared by U.S. to Prevent Heart Attacks, Stroke AstraZeneca Plc’s widely used cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor was approved by U.S. regulators to prevent heart attacks and strokes for a broader group of patients, the Food and Drug Administration said on its Web site.

ChemGenex Falls in Sydney After FDA Questions Data on Leukemia Treatment ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Ltd., the Australian drugmaker seeking to sell its first drug, fell the most in more than seven years in Sydney trading after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration questioned the clinical significance of the medicine.

Pfizer, Medivation Drug May Help Memory in Huntington's Disease Patients A 27-year-old hay fever treatment being studied by Pfizer Inc. and Medivation Inc. for Alzheimer’s disease may also help patients with Huntington’s disease.

Cochlear Forecasts 15% Annual Profit Growth on New Products, Cost Measures Cochlear Ltd., maker of the world’s best-selling hearing implant, forecast full-year profit growth of at least 15 percent on sales of new products. The shares rose the most in seven weeks.

Richter Fourth-Quarter Nett Beats Forecasts on Higher Russian, U.S. Sales Net income at Gedeon Richter Nyrt., Hungary’s biggest drugmaker, beat analysts’ expectations on rising sales in Russia and the United States.