— Hola, pharma! Spending on pharmaceutical advertising for Spanish-language cable and network television each went up about 400% and 300%, respectively, between 2008 and 2009. According to data from The Nielsen Company, pharma ad spending went up 2% overall, reversing two years of declines. (Pharmalot)

— Dendreon reported further positive results for its prostate cancer vaccine, Provenge. After three years of follow-up with more than 500 patients, those who received the vaccine lived on average four months longer and had a 40% higher survival rate. The US Food and Drug Administration will reportedly make a decision on approval by 1 May. (Reuters)

— An Australian federal court ruled against Merck today in a lawsuit over Vioxx, saying that the company failed to fully warn doctors of the drug’s associated risks. Graeme Jackson claimed that Vioxx led to his 2003 heart attack and he was awarded $287,000. The suit also follows on reports of Merck-sponsored ‘fake’ journals in the region that supported the safety of its products. (Pharmalot)

— Researchers have gone from A to zebrafish in looking at tuberculosis and leprosy. In the study, zebrafish larvae were randomly mutated and injected with mycobacteria similar to those causing tuberculosis in humans. Some zebrafish became severely ill, and this hyper-susceptibility was linked back to the Ita4h gene locus, which seems to encode the inflammatory response. Researchers suggest that people who carry two different versions of the gene have a more effective immune response to the disease.

Image: Azul / Wikimedia Commons