A.M. Vitals: Lilly, Amylin Scrap Diabetes-Drug Partnership

End of an Alliance: Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals yesterday said they’d scrapped their diabetes-drug partnership, with Amylin paying $250 million to Lilly upfront and as much as $1.2 billion later depending on sales of drugs containing the molecule exenatide, the WSJ reports. The original drug, Byetta, hasn’t been as successful as was originally hoped; a longer-acting version, Bydureon, is up for U.S. approval in early 2012. Amylin gets all U.S. rights to the molecule at the end of the month, with rights outside of the U.S. passing over sometime between late next year and the end of 2013, the paper says.

Bypass Surgery Doesn’t Improve Outcomes: A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that a bypass surgery to improve blood flow to the brain didn’t prevent strokes in high-risk patients with blocked carotid arteries, the New York Times reports. The study was ended early after it became clear that while the surgery did improve blood flow to the brain, it caused strokes in the first month after the operation, the paper says. In September researchers reported that drugs were more effective in preventing a recurrence of stroke than were stents used in arteries in the brain.

‘Personhood’ Measure Defeated: Mississippi voters rejected the so-called “personhood” measure that would have given legal rights to fertilized eggs, the WSJ reports. As the paper reported last month, opponents had argued the amendment would not only outlaw abortion, but would also lead to the banning of some birth-control methods and medical procedures and would affect in vitro fertilization.

Checkup at Walmart?: Walmart wants to be a big player in primary healthcare, NPR and Kaiser Health News report, citing a request for information seeking partners in the effort sent out by the mega-retailer. (A Walmart spokeswoman confirmed the proposal to KHN and NPR but wouldn’t give details.) Analysts say Walmart may want to expand the services now offered by its in-store clinics, possibly to include management of chronic conditions like asthma and arthritis, the news organizations report.

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