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NEWS ABOUT: pharmaceutical industry

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Dangerous Counterfeit Cancer Drug Found in US

Fake Avastin missing active ingredient

(Newser) - A fake version of best-selling anti-cancer drug Avastin has been found in the US. Swiss drugmaker Roche has warned doctors and hospitals to be on the lookout for the counterfeit medication, which lacks the intravenous drug's active ingredient, the Wall Street Journal reports. Samples of the fake drug are... More »

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 »

Abuse Experts Tremble Over Powerful New Painkillers

Drugs with hydrocodone may cause more addiction

(Newser) - A more powerful version of America's second-most abused medicine is likely headed for a doctor's office near you, the AP reports. Four companies are in the patient-testing phase of painkillers that will be up to 10 times more effective than Vicodin thanks to a highly addictive ingredient called... More »

As Lipitor Patent Expires, Pfizer Fights to Keep Users

Cholesterol drug's price should be coming down soon

(Newser) - The biggest-selling drug of all time—Lipitor—is now available for production in generic form as Pfizer's patent on the cholesterol-lowering pill expired today, reports AFP . It's such a huge money-maker for Pfizer, however, that the company is rolling out all kinds of discounts and incentives to keep... More »

Merck Pays $950M to Settle Vioxx Charges

Feds accused company of illegal marketing

(AP) - Drug maker Merck will pay $950 million to resolve investigations into its marketing of the painkiller Vioxx. The Justice Department said Merck will pay $321.6 million in criminal fines and $628.4 million as a civil settlement agreement. The company also will plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge that... More »

Drug Deaths Soar Past Traffic Fatalities

Blame prescription drugs for drug-related deaths doubling over decade

(Newser) - For the first time since the government started tracking drug-related deaths in 1979, narcotics have topped traffic fatalities—37,485 for drugs vs. 36,284 for accidents in 2009 (the most recent year available), reports the LA Times . But the big culprit isn't street drugs: it's prescription pills... More »

Pfizer Hopes to Sell Lipitor Over the Counter

But FDA is leery about letting people use statins on their own

(Newser) - Pfizer hopes to sell an over-the-counter version of its popular cholesterol drug Lipitor, the Wall Street Journal reports. But first it will have to convince a skeptical FDA, which is wary about letting people use such statins without a doctor's supervision. Pfizer loses the patent on Lipitor in November,... 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 »

Drug Labels List an Average 70 Side Effects

Pharmaceutical companies trying to protect themselves from litigation

(Newser) - Take a gander at your typical prescription drug label, and you’ll see a lot more side effects than even the fastest talker could rattle off at the end of a commercial. The average label warns of a staggering 70 side effects, according to a new study that reviewed 5,... 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 »

FDA Restricts Diabetes Drug Over Heart Risk

But regulators stop short of an outright ban on Avandia

(Newser) - The FDA today put severe restrictions on Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline’s embattled diabetes drug, but stopped short of banning it outright. The once-popular drug will now only be available only as a last resort to type 2 diabetes patients who can’t control their glucose levels with any other medication, 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 »

Glaxo Offers Free Access to Malaria Research

Company makes vast database public to help science find a cure

(Newser) - GlaxoSmithKline has opened up its database of compounds with the potential to cure malaria to any scientists who wants to take up the challenge. The move—unheard of in the pharmaceutical industry—comes after company scientists spent a year screening all 2 million compounds in the company's library for those... More »

Obama Helps Kill Cheaper Drug Imports

Sides with big pharma on proposal he backed as candidate, senator

(Newser) - Proving once again that campaign promises are sturdy stuff, Barack Obama yesterday led the charge to kill a health care reform amendment that would have made it easier to import cheaper prescription drugs from places like Canada—even though he touted the idea in the campaign, and co-sponsored a similar... 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 »

Big Pharma Lobbyists Put Words Into Reps' Mouths

We 'didn't know' where the language came from, reps plead

(Newser) - Yep, that's an echo you hear in the House chamber. The New York Times has obtained emails showing that language drafted by lobbyists working for biotech giant Genentech made it almost unchanged into statements and speeches made on health care—by Democrats and Republicans alike. A Genentech lawyer told staffers,... More »

Health Industry Shakedown Imperils Reform

Obama must ignore lobbyists for insurers, doctors, drug makers

(Newser) - In dealing with pharmaceutical companies, insurers, and the AMA, President Obama should take a page from David Letterman's book and not fall prey to blackmail, writes former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. Promises the administration made to those three constituencies in exchange for staying neutral or positive about health care reform... 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 »

Poor Nations Pick Up Tab as Obama Woos Big Pharma

(Newser) - The Obama administration is thwarting poor countries' access to affordable drugs in order to win Big Pharma's support for health care reform, according to Doctors Without Borders and other NGOs. As the Los Angeles Times reports, governments from Asia to Latin America are feeling pressure from Washington on their use... More »

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