Industry Update

June 2014, the period covered by this article, was characterized by continued prospective and actual acquisition activity and, although the very big potential merger between Pfizer and AstraZeneca was now quiet, some big possible deals such as AbbVie and Shire were still in prospect. Conference season was very much in full swing with news of clinical success in delivering therapeutic entities being reported at European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and American Diabetes Association (ADA) meetings and with a number of drug approvals employing delivery technologies being announced during the month. Finally, after a long journey, a new pulmonary delivery approach to insulin therapy, in the form of Alfrezza ® , from MannKind, finally got approved by the US FDA.