Profits Up: The recently acquired Alcon eye-care business, growth in new drugs and cost-cutting helped Novartis boost second-quarter profit 12% to $2.7 billion, with sales up 27% to $14.92 billion, the WSJ reports . As the WSJ’s The Source blog notes , sales of new products, including MS pill Gilenya, grew 46%, helping to compensate for drugs set to lose patent protection and for European austerity measures that are pushing down the price of drugs there. Label Changes: The label for AstraZeneca’s Seroquel will now advise against combining the antipsychotic with at least a dozen other drugs due to a higher risk of a potentially dangerous heart arrhythmia, the New York Times reports. An FDA spokeswoman tells the paper the new language, sparked by 17 new reports arrhythmia in people who took higher-than-recommended doses of Seroquel, isn’t an outright ban on combining the drugs. Meantime, Bloomberg News reports AstraZeneca will next year face a trial in Arkansas over claims Seroquel’s label didn’t warn about the risks of weight gain and diabetes, thus defrauding the state’s Medicaid program. An AZN

spokesman tells BN the company believes it will be vindicated. Getting to Sleep: Drug makers including Merck and Neurim Pharmaceuticals are attempting to tackle insomnia, the sleep disorder that affects 10% of Americans on a chronic basis, the WSJ reports . Somaxon Pharmaceuticals has already launched an anti-insomnia drug called Silenor. But it can be a tough road, the WSJ says: GlaxoSmithKline, Actelion, and Sanofi have shelved experimental insomnia drugs, while Transcept Pharmaceuticals failed to win approval for a dissolvable form of generic Ambien. Easy Fix?: Legislators are pointing out that fixing a provision of the health-care overhaul law could save $13 billion without increasing the number of Americans without insurance, the Associated Press reports . Two senators from opposite sides of the aisle have introduced similar bills to fix a glitch that allows some middle-class early retirees to qualify for Medicaid coverage because Social Security benefits are not counted as income for purposes of eligibility, the AP says. Image: iStockphoto

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A.M. Vitals: Eye Care Helps Novartis See 12% Increase in 2Q Net Profit