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NEWS ABOUT: pharmaceutical companies

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US to Big Pharma: Disclose What You Pay Docs

New rules aim to increase transparency

(Newser) - Studies have found that when doctors accept payments from drug companies, it can influence their treatment decisions—so the Obama administration will soon require drug companies to disclose those payments. The New York Times reports that around 25% of doctors receive cash from drug companies for consulting, speaking engagements, and... More »

Woman Found Dead at Historic CA Mansion

'Bizarre' death occurred two days after another 'tragic accident'

(AP) - The girlfriend of a pharmaceutical company executive was found dead at a historic California mansion, her nude body hanging from a rope on a second-floor balcony with her hands tied behind her back and her feet bound. Rebecca Nalepa's body was discovered at the Coronado home of Jonah Shacknai,... More »

Global Patent Pool Scores 4 New AIDS Drugs

It's a major step to benefit poor nations battling disease

(Newser) - Gilead Sciences announced today that it will license four AIDS and hepatitis B drugs to an international patent pool, allowing cheap, generic versions to be produced for sale in low-income countries. The AIDS drugs, which include tenofovir and emtricitabine, represent a major upgrade on the treatments currently available in those... More »

FDA Takes Over 3 Tylenol Plants

Johnson & Johnson division under scrutiny for manufacturing practices

(Newser) - After multiple drug recalls and an FDA safety probe, federal authorities are taking control of three Tylenol plants, CNNMoney reports. The plants, run by Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil division, are in trouble for dodging federal manufacturing rules; now, the company has agreed to let the FDA supervise the three—... More »

US Prescription Drugs Tested on World's Poor

Drugs declared 'safe' on basis of unregulated trials abroad

(Newser) - Prescription drugs that are considered safe kill an estimated 200,000 Americans a year, and investigative reporters Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele have exposed a massive loophole that could help explain why. Some 6,485 clinical trials were conducted abroad in 2008—more than 20 times as many... More »

Disgraced Doctors Land at Big Pharma

Hundreds of pitchmen found to have blemished records

(Newser) - Pharmaceutical companies say they hire highly respected doctors as their white-coat sales force, peddling their drugs to other physicians. But a Pro Publica investigation has discovered that hundreds of these pitchmen have been accused of professional misconduct, been disciplined by state boards, or lacked credentials. Medical board records in the... More »

When Clinical Trials Kill

Journalist sees danger in industry-funded tests

(Newser) - Dan Markingson was a happy, smart 26-year-old from Minnesota, until the day his mother visited him in Los Angeles and found him delusional, even murderous. He was hospitalized in November 2003 and would have been involuntarily committed—but he was granted a stay, on the condition that he comply with... More »

Avandia Woes Mount Ahead of FDA Hearing

Agency flags flawed study, may ban diabetes drug

(Newser) - As the FDA prepares to consider whether to ban Avandia, agency scientists have discovered another problem with the diabetes drug: flaws that disqualify a clinical study sponsored by its maker. The trial, organized by GlaxoSmithKline, sought to evaluate the relative heart risks of Avandia and two other diabetes drugs, but... More »

FDA Considers 'Pink Viagra' to Boost Female Libido

Critics: Drug driven by pharma profit, danger for abused women

(Newser) - Does "pink Viagra" offer much-needed relief to women suffering from low sex drive or is it just a money-making scheme cooked up by the pharmaceutical industry? That's the question the FDA will face next month when it considers whether or not to approve flibanserin, a new drug that—despite... More »

$75M in Prescription Drugs Snatched in Warehouse Heist

Antidepressants, anti-psychotics snatched in brazen operation

(Newser) - Thieves made off with an estimated $75 million in prescription drugs after a well-planned heist at Eli Lilly's Connecticut warehouse. The thieves cut a hole in the huge building's roof and lowered themselves down on ropes before loading multiple pallets of drugs onto at least one tractor-trailer truck, police tell... More »

Drugmakers Hike Prices Ahead of Reform

9% rise, in a year of falling prices, will add $10B to drug spending

(Newser) - Bracing for health care reform, drug companies have been raising prices at the fastest rate in almost 20 years—even as they pledge to support Washington's goal of cutting the nation's drug bill. The pharmaceutical industry is scrambling to get the price base as high as possible before legislation to... More »

Drug Giants Target Cancer

Scientific advances, potentially huge profits attract Big Pharma to cancer fight

(Newser) - Major drug companies are tying their fortunes to cancer like never before, the New York Times reports. The firms—inspired by advancements in science as well as the high prices cancer drugs command—are pouring unprecedented resources into the search for new cancer drugs. The drug giants hope cancer treatments... More »

Pharma Ghostwriters Penned Medical Papers on HRT

Drug firms may play bigger role than thought in medical lit

(Newser) - Ghostwriters funded by a drug firm were deeply involved in writing papers supporting therapies that helped the firm’s sales boom, court papers show. The 26 scientific papers, published in medical journals from 1998 to 2005, highlighted the benefits of hormone replacement therapy over the risks, a boon to Wyeth,... More »

Anti-Smoking Chantix, Zyban Pose Suicide Risk: FDA

Smokers with mental illnesses should avoid them, agency says

(Newser) - The Food and Drug Administration is warning smokers about serious mental-illness risks of two smoking-cessation drugs, as reported suicides among their users increase. Chantix and Zyban must now carry the agency’s strongest warning label, the New York Times reports. The FDA isn’t trying to scare patients, an official... More »

FDA: Get Off Smell-Killing Zicam Nasal Spray, Now

Agency received over 130 reports of loss of smell sense

(Newser) - The Food and Drug Administration is calling on consumers to stop using Zicam nasal treatments because they can permanently kill the sense of smell, the Wall Street Journal reports. Zicam is an over-the-counter cold and allergy medication sold in several forms; customers should reject internasal products that contain zinc. The... More »

Swiss Pharma Won't Donate Swine Flu Vaccine to Poor

Novartis defies WHO calls to give free doses to poor

(Newser) - Swiss pharma giant Novartis is defying the World Health Organization by refusing to donate swine flu vaccines to the world's poor, despite the designation of H1N1 as the first pandemic in 40 years, reports the Financial Times. Last week the WHO's director general called on drug companies to show "... More »

Companies Leak Drugs Into US Drinking Water

(Newser) - Federal regulators have consistently looked away as Big Pharma and other manufacturers poured at least 271 million pounds of drugs into waterways that supply US drinking water, the AP reports. Records kept unintentionally by the FDA and EPA show that 22 compounds, some considered dangerous by scientists, have leaked into... More »

RealAge Quiz Offers Data to Big Pharma

Popular website uses health info to pitch drugs to users

(Newser) - More than 27 million people have gone online to take a quiz called RealAge, which promises to determine your "biological age" and then suggests recommendations on how to feel "younger." But most users are unaware that the site makes its money by selling test results to... More »

Roche Gets Genentech in $46.8B Biotech Deal

(Newser) - Swiss drug giant Roche has succeeded in its quest to own biotech firm Genentech outright, and will purchase the 44% of shares it does not already own for $95 each, the San Francisco Chronicle reports today. The $46.8 billion deal comes after months of haggling, wherein Roche offered as... More »

Pharma Infiltrates Harvard's Ivory Tower

Med school is in ethics crisis, say some students and profs

(Newser) - The tentacles of big pharma have made their way into the upper echelons of academia, the New York Times reports: Harvard Medical School is packed with professors with industry ties, and that has students concerned. With 149 profs connected to Pfizer and 130 to Merck, fears that the influence of... More »

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