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A Food and Drug Administration meeting next month about a copycat version of a biotech drug likely will provide a public forum for simmering fights between brand-name pharmaceutical companies and generic drug manufacturers. The FDA on Monday announced that its panel of cancer advisers will meet Jan. 7 to review a pending application from Novartis AG for its version of Amgen Inc.’s Neupogen, or filgrastim, a medicine used to fight infections in people undergoing cancer treatment. The product is viewed as the leading contender to be the first generic biologic drug to be cleared for the United States. (Young, 12/9)

Ever since the days of castor oil laxatives and mercury syphilis tablets, pharmacists and patients have had a tacit understanding: whatever you buy, the information is confidential. No longer. Drugmakers and Internet companies are quietly joining forces to link U.S. pharmacy records with online accounts to target ads to people based on their health conditions and the prescription drugs they buy. In a little-known process, third-party companies assign patients unique numerical codes based on their prescription-drug records, a practice websites also rely on to track their registered users.(Robertson and Pettypiece, 12/10)