Biotechnology blow

Amgen says it will cut between 2,200 and 2,600 jobs in response to falling sales of its anaemia drug, Aranesp (see Nature 447, 899; 2007). These will be the first-ever layoffs at the Thousand Acre, California-based company, whose phenomenal rise has — together with that of Genentech in San Francisco — provided the dominant corporate model for the biotechnology industry worldwide. But Amgen has come under pressure from Wall Street to cut costs: announcing a restructuring on 15 August, the company said that the proportion of revenue spent on R&D would drop from last year's 23% to about 20%.

Wind-energy boom

The United States is set to install more than 3,000 MW of wind-power capacity this year, up from 2,450 MW last year, according to figures compiled by the American Wind Energy Association. Total installed capacity now stands at about 12,600 MW: just over 1% of total US electrical generating capacity. Analysts say that the wind-energy market is maturing, with lenders and investors increasingly happy to support new projects.

Painkiller pulled

A Novartis painkiller that is a rare surviving member of the COX2 inhibitor class of drugs has been withdrawn from the market in Australia, where an estimated 60,000 people were taking it. Australian regulators cancelled the registration of the drug, Prexige (lumiracoxib), on 11 August, saying that they had received eight reports of serious liver toxicity, including two deaths and two people who required liver transplants. The Swiss company sells the drug in over 50 countries including the United Kingdom, and is applying for marketing approval in the United States (see Nature 448, 400–401; 2007.)