A new arthritis pain medicine developed by a small Chapel Hill company is starting to get some major marketing.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Vimovo in late April. The drug was developed by researchers at Pozen, founded in 1996 by CEO John Plachetka, a former Glaxo executive.

Pozen's larger partner AstraZeneca, which is marketing Vimovo and will keep most of the drug's revenue, began promoting the drug in September.

That effort now includes advertising in print media, including a two-page ad in the News & Observer on Friday. AstraZeneca spokeswoman Sandra Heinig said she couldn't comment on specifics of the promotional efforts for competitive reasons but that the ads also are running in other newspapers.

Pozen reported weaker results and warned that it won't start key clinical trials of a new drug this year as expected.

The Chapel Hill company's net loss of $8.6 million during the third quarter was slightly worse than analysts had anticipated. Revenue, which includes royalties on sales of its Treximet migraine drug and Vimovo arthritis pain medicine, fell to $4.3 million.

Cheryl Eckard, the whistleblower whose lawsuit led to this week's announcement that GlaxoSmithKline will pay a $750 million settlement, once worked for the drug maker in Research Triangle Park.

GSK is based in London, but employs about 5,000 people in the Triangle, mostly at its North American headquarters in RTP.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Eckard is originally from North Carolina and was a manager of global quality assurance in RTP when GSK sent her to a problematic drug factory in Cidra, Puerto Rico. When she arrived there in 2002, she found a long list of issues that were leading to mix-ups with drugs such as the antidepressant Paxil.

PPD, a Wimington-based drug-research firm, reported stronger third-quarter results late Tuesday.

The company's revenue rose to $365.4 million, up 7 percent from the same period last year. Operating income of $56.8 million was a 10 percent improvement.

PPD, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this summer, has a large Triangle operation with about 1,400 local employees. The company conducts clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies developing experimental drugs, and provides other services.

GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay $750 million to settle a federal lawsuit claiming that the company sold tainted drugs, including the popular antidepressant Paxil.

The medicines were made at a GSK plant in Cidra, Puerto Rico and misidentified in product mix-ups, according to court papers filed in Boston federal court under the U.S. False Claims Act. Federal officials announced the settlement today in Boston, according to media reports.

GSK agreed to pay $150 million in criminal fines and $600 million in civil penalties, U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said today. The settlement is the largest whistleblower award yet in a health-care fraud case, officials said today.

GSK is based in London, but has its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park.

GlaxoSmithKline reported a decline in third-quarter profit, hurt by weaker sales of its controversial diabetes drug Avandia and its pandemic flu vaccines.

The British drug maker also disclosed this morning that it is responding to a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice and several states' Attorneys General "relating to the development and marketing of Avandia."

"These enquiries are at an early-stage, and GSK is cooperating with these offices," the company wrote.

In September, GSK announced that it would stop promoting Avandia after European regulators ordered the drug pulled from the market and U.S. regulators required additional restrictions because of an increased risk of heart attacks.

Salix Pharmaceuticals, which raised more than $300 million on Wall Street in May, is putting some cash to use by buying an experimental drug to detect colon cancer.

The Morrisville-based company announced this morning that it acquired the rights to Lumacan from Photocure of Norway. Salix will pay $4 million now and up to $126.5 million more if the drug wins regulatory approval and hits various sales milestones.

Salix also will pay Photocure royalties on net sales of Lumacan. The prescription product is designed to test for precancerous and cancerous lesions in the colon.

Inspire Pharmaceuticals is an attractive stock, partly because it may be a takeover target, celebrity investor Jim Cramer said during his "Mad Money" TV show on Friday.

Inspire's larger partner Allergan has said it's interested in expanding and could consider buying promising products and companies. It would be easy for Allergan, with a $20 billion market cap, to absorb the much smaller Inspire, with a market cap of $560 million, Cramer noted.

Buying the Durham company would give Allergan new revenue from Inspire's treatments for eye diseases. It's also working on an experimental medicine for cystic fibrosis with the hopes of expanding into the market for pulmonary diseases.

Inspire "gives you two ways to win," Cramer said. Allergan already pays royalties to Inspire for the dry-eye drug Restasis, "so a merger here just makes sense."

While Cramer's rapid-fire rants and speculation don't cause big stock jumps as much as they once did, he remains popular with some investors who follow his recommendations.

GlaxoSmithKline plans to donate more of its medicine to treat children at risk for intestinal worms.

The British company, which has its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park, will donate an additional 400 million albendazole tablets a year for the next five years. The latest commitment brings GSK's total donation to the World Health Organization to 1 billion tablets a year.

The additional pills will cost GSK about $19 million a year and the company will spend another "couple million" to increase production at drug factories in South Africa and India.

Neglected tropical diseases are “a priority” for GSK, CEO Andrew Witty said during a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. “We are very keen to do more."

Such donations help to polish GSK's image as a global drug maker that gives back, and to deflect criticism over the prices of its medicines.

Pfizer will gain another Triangle operation when it buys King Pharmaceuticals for $3.6 billion.

The deal announced today is Pfizer's largest since it bought rival Wyeth for $68 billion in 2009. That acquisition included Wyeth's vaccine plant in Sanford, where Pfizer plans to cut 400 workers over the next five years.

King has a research office in Cary. The Bristol, Tenn.-based company, which employs about 2,600 people worldwide, doesn't disclose employee totals at its regional offices, said spokesman Jack Howarth. He also declined to comment on what type of research is done at the Cary offices.