WestChesterBuzz.com

To let West Chester and Liberty Township residents catch up with the news that they need to know, WestChesterBuzz.com will list and link to all of last week’s top local stories every Monday.

Lakota West senior Zak Farmer pitches during a 9-2 loss against Mason Monday, March 26, 2012. Photo by Adam Kiefaber.

High school baseball begins – Last Monday, both Lakota West and Lakota East began the 2012 baseball season with a loss during the inaugural Reds Future High School Showcase at Prasco Park Legacy Field in Mason. Lakota West lost by the score of 9-2 against rival Mason, while Lakota East lost to Hamilton 4-2.

Scholarship created to honor student involved in fatal wreck – The Community Foundation of West Chester/Liberty announced last Monday that it has established a scholarship fund to honor a Lakota West student, who died after being involved in a fatal car wreck March 16. The Ezekiel “Zeke” Stepaniak Memorial Scholarship will be awarded annually to a student at Lakota West High School that exhibits Stepaniak’s qualities.

Lakota Superintendent Karen Mantia. Photo taken by Tony Jones.

Lakota seeks students’ input on cuts – Cincinnati Enquirer Michael D. Clark reported that Lakota Superintendent Karen Mantia is reaching out to some of those hardest hit by Lakota’s recent $10.5 million in budget cuts – students. Mantia said during Monday evening’s Lakota school board meeting that she will invite students in May to discuss in person the sweeping changes.

Jack in the Box could open in mid-July – A spokesperson with Jack in the Box said last week that it is “only a matter of days” before the company breaks ground on its first restaurant in Ohio. The location, off Tylersville Road near I-75 in West Chester, is expected to be open by mid-July. The target date of the opening could be changed to due weather.

Rogers declared winner after recount – Last week’s recount in the Butler County commission race confirmed that T.C. Rogers of West Chester Township won the Republican primary for Butler County commissioner. Rogers finished 13 votes ahead of former commissioner and State Rep. Courtney Combs. Rogers will face Democratic candidate Jodi Billerman of Liberty Township and Libertarian Daryl Olthaus of Somerville in the November election.

Lakota West pitcher Ashley Sharp pitches in a 6-2 win against Lakota East Friday, March 30, 2012. Photo by Joseph Fuqua II.

Amylin shares soar on takeover bid – Cincinnati Enquirer’s Mike Boyer reported that shares of drug-maker Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. in West Chester Township soared 54 percent Wednesday after a report that the company rejected a $3.5 billion unsolicited takeover bid from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Shares of the San Diego-based company closed at $23.77 – up $8.38 in more than 10 times normal trading – after Bloomberg News reported the company had rejected the $22-a-share offer.

Lakota West defeated Lakota East in softball – On Friday, Lakota West won its fourth straight against its school district rival. The latest coming by way of a 6-2 victory over the Thunderhawks. Last season, Lakota East was ranked No. 1 in the state for most of the spring and lost only three of its 31 games. All three losses came at the hand of the Firebirds, including one that eliminated Lakota East in the state quarterfinals.

Posted in: Board of Education, Business, Election, Government, Levy news, News, Schools, Sports, Spring sports |

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Mike Boyer reports

Shares of drug-maker Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. soared 54 percent Wednesday after a report that the company rejected a $3.5 billion unsolicited takeover bid from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

Shares of the San Diego-based company closed at $23.77 – up $8.38 in more than 10 times normal trading – after Bloomberg News reported the company had rejected the $22-a-share offer. Bloomberg, citing two unnamed sources, said the offer was made and turned down last month.

Both companies declined comment. But the premium, about 43 percent more than Amylin’s Tuesday close of $15.39, spurred a buying spree on Wednesday.

Bloomberg said Bristol-Myers hasn’t approached Amylin since it rejected the offer, which excluded Amylin’s $2 billion in debt.

In late January, after several years of trying, Amylin got Food and Drug Administration approval to begin U.S. marketing of the first once-a-week diabetes injection drug Bydureon.

It’s produced at the company’s $700 million manufacturing plant and distribution center off Port Union Road in West Chester, where 400 are employed.

The FDA approval came after two previous rejections in 2010, when the agency asked Amylin for a new study of the drug’s effects on the heart.

Bydureon is part of a class of drugs that work by increasing the body’s insulin production to treat Type 2 diabetes. Amylin says Bydureon’s once-a-week injection is more convenient than other treatments requiring daily injections.

Diabetes, mostly Type 2, affects nearly 26 million people in the U.S. and 347 million adults worldwide. In this country, diabetes costs more than $174 billion a year in direct and indirect medical expenses, Amylin says.

Some analysts believe Bydureon could generate revenues approaching $1 billion in a few years. The drug has been on sale in Europe since last year.

Amylin is looking for a new marketing partner for the drug after severing its business relationship with Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. last November after Lilly struck a deal with an Amylin competitor.

Two years ago activist investor Carl Icahn, who owns 10 percent of Amylin, waged a proxy fight that gave him two seats on Amylin’s board.

Posted in: Business, News |

Tags: Tags: Alkermes, Amylin, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., business, business news, Bydureon, Bydureon diabetes, Bydureon type 2 diabetes, diabetes, Eli Lilly and Co., FDA, Type 2 diabetes, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, West Chester business

Reports from The Cincinnati Enquirer:

Diabetes drug maker Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., which employs 300 in West Chester, reported a larger fourth-quarter loss after it ended a partnership with Eli Lilly & Co., giving Amylin all the rights to the newly approved, once-weekly diabetes injection Bydureon.

San Diego-based Amylin said it lost $461.5 million, or $3.15 per share, including $431.6 million in charges related to the re-acquisition of its Byetta and Bydureon drugs.

A year ago it reported a loss of $19.2 million, or 13 cents per share. Excluding the payments to Eli Lilly and other one-time charges, Amylin said it lost 9 cents per share in the most recent quarter. Revenue declined 5 percent to $164.9 million from $174.2 million.

Amylin and Lilly announced in November that they were ending their collaboration. Amylin agreed to pay $250 million to Indianapolis-based Lilly, and dropped a lawsuit regarding a newer collaboration between Lilly and German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim. Amylin will also pay Lilly 15 percent on global sales of Byetta and Bydureon up to $1.2 billion, plus interest.

Byetta is injected twice a day, while Bydureon is taken once per week. Sales of Byetta, which was approved in 2005, fell 3 percent to $132.6 million during the quarter. The Food and Drug Administration approved Bydureon on Jan. 27. European Union regulators approved the drug in June, and Amylin is looking for a new partner to help market the drug in other countries.

For all of 2011 Amylin reported a loss of $543.4 million, or $3.73 per share, compared to a loss of $152.3 million, or $1.06 per share, in 2010. Revenue fell 3 percent, to $650.7 million from $668.8 million.

West Chester firms cutting 375 jobs: Nearly 400 workers in West Chester will lose jobs later this year as result of termination notices filed with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Liz Claiborne Inc. confirmed an announcement last year that it will shut its distribution center at 8741 Jacquemin Drive by Sept. 1, eliminating 365 jobs. All but 63 of the workers are represented by Workers United, Chicago and Midwest Regional Joint Board. The company said the cuts will be made over the next several months in phases.

Separately, Schneider Logistics Inc. said it would eliminate 10 positions by the end of March due to ceasing services for General Motors Corp.’s distribution center at 8752 Jacquemin Drive.

Posted in: Business, News |

Tags: Tags: Amylin, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amylin West Chester, Bydureon, Bydureon diabetes, Bydureon type 2 diabetes, Eli Lilly & Co., West Chester business, West Chester business news, West Chester jobs

The first once-weekly treatment for type 2 diabetes will be made in West Chester Township, according to a recent press release from Amylin Pharmaceuticals.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Amylin Pharmaceuticals’ drug Bydureon Jan. 27. The new drug is expected to be available in pharmacies nationwide in February.

“As the first and only once-weekly diabetes treatment, Bydureon represents an important milestone in Amylin’s promise to bring to market innovative therapies to help improve the lives of people with type 2 diabetes,” said Daniel M. Bradbury, president and chief executive officer of Amylin Pharmaceuticals.

“Bydureon builds upon the proven benefits of Byetta, offering significant improvements in glycemic control in a single weekly dose.”

Byetta, Lilly and Amylin’s diabetes drug, contains the same ingredient as Bydureon. Alkermes created the technology that releases the drug over the course of a week for more convenient dosing.

The Amylin Pharmaceuticals $500 million manufacturing plant, 8814 Trade Port Drive, is already producing the drug which was approved by European Union regulators in June. Spokeswoman for Amylin, Alice Izzo, told the Dayton Daily News that Amylin will increase hiring as the demand for Bydureon increases.

Posted in: Business, News |

Tags: Tags: Alkermes, Amylin, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., business, business news, Bydureon, Bydureon diabetes, Bydureon type 2 diabetes, diabetes, Eli Lilly and Co., FDA, Type 2 diabetes, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, West Chester business

Cincinnati Enquirer’s Mike Boyer reports:

After unsuccessfully knocking on doors for two years looking for a job, single mom Wendy Terwilliger says she now wakes up every day excited about her life.

Since August, the West Chester woman has been working in the manufacturing area of Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s $700 million diabetes drug manufacturing plant in West Chester, which expects FDA approval of its drug Bydureon later this month.

Terwilliger, who lost her job at an insurance company, was retrained to work in Ohio’s growing bioscience manufacturing industry with the help of a $5 million Department of Labor program. The Ohio Bioscience Industry Workforce Peparedness project was developed by BioOhio, which represents bioscience employers, and six Ohio community colleges including Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, and Sinclair Community College in southwest Ohio.

Biotech companies are one of the growth industries in this region. BioOhio, which monitors hiring activity by the state’s largest biotech companies, estimated last year that at any given time about 1,000 jobs in the industry were available across Ohio.

Retraining workers like Terwilliger is a way to fill those jobs and help address Ohio’s unemployment rate, which was 8.5 percent in November. Terwilliger, 43, who has a 14-year-old daughter with Type 1 diabetes, said she particularly wanted to work at Amylin because it is providing a once-a-week injectable diabetes treatment.

“Amylin is a great place to work. I love what I do,” said Terwilliger, who is continuing her training by pursuing an associate’s degree in biotechnology at Cincinnati State. (more…)

Posted in: Business, News |

Tags: Tags: Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cincinnati State, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, Sinclair Community College, Wendy Terwilliger, West Chester business, West Chester business news

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to make a decision Jan. 28 on the once-weekly diabetes drug to be produced at Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s $500 million plant in West Chester Township, according to Cincinnati.com.

Below is a portion of the report from the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Amylin and its partners Eli Lilly and Co. and Alkermes, Inc. said the FDA has accepted their approval resubmission and set an action date of Jan. 28 for the drug Bydureon, the proposed brand name for exenatide extended-release injectable treatment.

“If approved, we believe Bydureon will be an important new option for type 2 diabetes patients, as the first once-weekly treatment available in the U.S.,” said Christian Weyer, Amylin’s senior vice president, research and development. “We will continue to work with the FDA through this stage of the review process.”

The FDA declined to approve Bydureon in October. It asked the companies to run a thorough study that evaluated the effects of high doses of Bydureon on patients’ heart rates. It also asked for data from a study that tested the effectiveness and the labeling of the safety and effectiveness, of the commercial formulation of the drug.

The FDA is reviewing the data from those studies submitted in May.

 Bydureon contains the same ingredient as Lilly and Amylin’s diabetes drug Byetta, and Alkermes created the technology that releases the drug over the course of a week for more convenient dosing. European Union regulators approved Bydureon in June.

For the entire report, visit Cincinnati.com’s post “FDA to decide on once-weekly diabetes drug.”

Posted in: Business, News |

Tags: Tags: Alkermes, Amylin, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., business, business news, Bydureon, diabetes, Eli Lilly and Co., FDA, Inc., Type 2 diabetes, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, West Chester business