A year after UnitedHealth Group’s board ousted longtime CEO William McGuire over options backdating, the fate of his oodles of options remains undecided.And it may take a while longer to sort out. A board-appointed “special litigation committee” has been deliberating for the past 10 months about whether the health insurer itself has any claims against [...]

  Biogen Idec said its board has given management the green light to find out if anybody would be willing to buy the company “at a price and on terms that would represent a better value” than sticking with the solo course that’s frustrated many shareholders. Hello, Carl Icahn? The board disclosed that the financier has [...]

  Here’s the clearest evidence we’ve yet seen for why the pharmaceutical industry is piling into biotech. Annual growth for the six years ending 2012:0.6% for traditional pills and such14.2% for monoclonal antibodiesLike guided missiles, monoclonal antibodies hit errant cells and other targets in the body to fight disease. These medicines represent the bulk of biotech [...]

  Pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office late Wednesday, seeking to halt new rules set to take effect Nov. 1. Here’s the complaint and a Patent Blog post on the lawsuit.What’s Glaxo’s beef? In short, the company thinks the new rule will compromise its ability to fully prosecute patent [...]

  Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler has donated a couple grand to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, a post over on Brandweek NRX points out. Not terribly surprising, perhaps, given Clinton’s new ideas on health care, and Kindler’s history of donating to Democrats. But it’s sure a switch for Pfizer’s top brass. Kindler’s predecessor Hank McKinnell showered his [...]

  The generics snowball continues to grow, with grocery giant Kroger saying it will now sell more than 300 generic medicines for $4 per prescription. It’s a sweet price for folks without insurance and lower than the co-pays many health plans (including the Health Blog’s) impose for generics.Call it the Wal-Mart effect. The drugs Kroger will [...]

  Going outside to find a new guy to head the largest private biomedical research operation on the planet would have been the conventional choice, so consider Pfizer’s promotion of old hand Martin Mackay the radical approach. Forbes makes the case for Mackay (pictured) as it takes a deep dive on the Pfizer research colossus located [...]

  Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch (pictured, left to right) fired off a letter to the editor in this morning’s WSJ, defending their support of a bill to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. In a sign of how the bill is dividing those on the political right, the senators proclaim their “dismay” [...]

  Yes, this miracle cure is guaranteed to vanquish disease or your money back! This offer is not available in stores, but see your doctor now…With European governments demanding clear proof that new drugs are worth their high cost, drug makers are wheeling and dealing like late-night pitchmen, promising money-back offers to get their new drugs [...]

  John Moores hopes his pet health projects outperform the San Diego Padres, which he’s owned since 1994.Moores, 63, made his fortune in software, but he now spends much of his time on health-care philanthropy. He’s chairman of The Scripps Research Institute and is an influential backer of stem cell research by the San Diego Consortium [...]