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AMGEN GAINS EU DRUG APPROVAL

THOUSAND OAKS - A European Union committee on new drugs has reportedly recommended approval for Amgen Inc.'s drug Mimpara, which is used in treatments for patients with kidney disease or parathyroid carcinoma.

Recommendations from the Geneva, Switzerland-headquartered Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use are normally endorsed by the European Commission within 90 days.

The US Food and Drug Administration in March approved the drug, which is known generically as cinacalcet HCl and marketed in the US as Sensipar.

Amgen, based in Thousand Oaks, California and considered the largest biotechnology company in the world, said the drug is used to treat secondary hyperparathyroidism in chronic kidney disease patients on dialysis, and to lower elevated calcium levels in the blood of patients with parathyroid carcinoma.
 
LABOR ACCOUNTS FOR 30% OF CAL AGRICULTURE COSTS

SAN LUIS OBISPO - Labor costs account for nearly a third of California farm expenses, according to a new study compiled by the California Institute for the Study of Specialty Crops at California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo.
 
According to the study, nearly $6 billion a year is spent on direct-hire and contract-labor expenses - a figure equal to about 30% of the state's total farm and ranch expenses.

The labor expenses included wages, Social Security contributions, workers' compensation, insurance and pension plans, it said, adding that only Florida spends more on hired and contracted labor as a percentage of total farm production expenses.
 
The study also said California farms have among the highest workers' compensation costs and that the state also has the highest percentage of farms employing migrant workers, with wages averaging $9.25 an hour.

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