Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: pharmaceutical industry

pharmaceutical industry stories: 42 news summaries

21 - 40 of 42 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 Next >>

Switch to grid view »

 Pfizer Snaps Up Wyeth for $68B 

Merger would be largest pharma deal since GlaxoWellcome-SmithKline 2000 merger

Jan 26, 09 6:11 AM CST
(Newser) - The world’s largest drugmaker, Pfizer, is poised to become even more gargantuan after it agreed early this morning to buy rival Wyeth for $68 billion, reports the Wall Street Journal. In the first major merger to hit Wall Street in months, Pfizer will borrow $22.5 billion from... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Citigroup • Bank of America • Goldman Sachs • pharmaceutical companies • mergers and acquisitions • merger • Pfizer • credit • Wyeth • pharmaceutical industry • JPMorgan Chase • financial crisis

 Pfizer in Talks to Buy Wyeth  




Sources say drug maker plans $60B acquisition of rival Wyeth

Jan 23, 09 5:49 AM CST
(Newser) - Pfizer is seeking to create a Big Pharma behemoth with the acquisition of rival Wyeth, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal. The deal, expected to be worth around $60 billion, would make Pfizer—already the world's biggest drug company—big enough to redraw the map of the industry, although sources... More »

MORE ABOUT:
pharmaceutical companies • drug companies • mergers and acquisitions • merger • Pfizer • Wyeth • research and development • pharmaceutical industry

 Pfizer to Can 800 Researchers 

Company must cut R&D spending ahead of Lipitor patent expiration

Jan 13, 09 12:19 PM CST
(Newser) - Pfizer will eliminate the jobs of up to 800 researchers in 2009, starting today, the Wall Street Journal reports. The pharmaceutical giant is attempting to cut costs ahead of a $30 billion reduction in revenue expected in 2011 when its patent on the popular cholesterol drug Lipitor expires. But the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
layoffs • pharmaceutical companies • drug companies • Pfizer • research • generic drugs • Lipitor • pharmaceutical industry

Engineered Goats May
Usher In New Age of Drugs

Animals' bodies act as processors for key protein

Jan 10, 09 12:30 PM CST
(Newser) - Goats could be the pharma factories of tomorrow: Genetic engineering can prompt them to make a protein in their milk to fight excessive blood clotting. A medication culled from the process was greeted warmly yesterday by an expert panel, and now the FDA is looking into it. If approved, the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • medical breakthrough • health • biotechnology • goats • pharmaceutical industry • animal

Drug Companies Agree
to Stop Docs' Free Goodies

Critics charged stacks of free trinkets were attempt to influence doctors' decisions

Dec 31, 08 7:20 AM CST
(Newser) - The piles of freebies drug companies lavish on doctors will go the way of the VHS tape as of tomorrow, the New York Times reports. The industry, facing criticism that it is trying to unduly influence doctors' decisions, has voluntarily decided to stop handing out pens, stethoscope holders, bandages, T-shirts,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
pharmaceutical companies • drug companies • physician • doctor • gift • pharmaceutical industry • doctors

ANALYSIS

Big Pharma Seeks Big Profits in Developing Nations

Drug Makers See Future in New Markets

Nov 15, 08 2:47 AM CST
(Newser) - The pharmaceutical industry is turning away from the US shores that helped fill its pockets and toward the developing world, the Economist reports. Massive growth has made markets like India and China too attractive to ignore, despite lower income levels and weaker patent laws. And many companies fear Barack Obama's... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • India • pharmaceutical companies • Medicare • GlaxoSmithKline • Pfizer • emerging markets • pharmaceutical industry

 Non-Profit Pharma 
 Puts Cures Over Cash 

Institute for OneWorld Health finds cheap, new uses for partially developed meds

Oct 24, 08 7:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - Combating diseases that afflict only the poor doesn't plump the profit margins of pharmaceutical companies; now comes one that sets out to do just that as a non-profit, Good Magazine reports. Using grants to look at long-forgotten compounds, fund clinical trials, and distribute affordable meds to the world’s poorest... More »

MORE ABOUT:
pharmaceutical companies • malaria • drug companies • nonprofit • infectious diseases • pharmaceutical industry • Institute for OneWorld Health

ANALYSIS

Dems Get Higher Doses of Drug Company Donations

McCain's scorn, growth of government programs behind shift in support

Sep 23, 08 4:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - Pharmaceutical firms have been a stalwart Republican ally—$22 million of the industry’s $30 billion in contributions went to GOP congressional candidates in 2002—but drug makers are increasingly supporting Democrats, Jeanne Cummings reports in Politico. Programs such as President Bush’s prescription-drug plan mean half of pharmaceutical sales... More »

MORE ABOUT:
John McCain • Republican • pharmaceutical companies • Senate Republicans • congressional Democrats • pharmaceutical industry • House Republicans • political donations

Drugs Shrinking Psychiatrists' Talk Time: Study

Cost-conscious managed care also seen behind decline

Aug 5, 08 8:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - Psychiatry is increasingly focused on prescribing drugs and less on psychotherapy, a study published in the Archives of General Psychology finds. A reluctance by insurance firms to pay for therapy is one factor, HealthDay reports, along with the wide variety of drugs now available to treat various conditions. More »

MORE ABOUT:
psychiatry • antidepressant • mental health • psychology • pharmaceutical industry • medication • psychotherapy

Bristol-Myers Makes Bid for Icahn's ImClone

Offers 29% premium for biotech partner; shares soar

Jul 31, 08 1:21 PM CDT
(Newser) - Already a 17% shareholder, Bristol-Myers Squibb laid down a $4.5 billion offer to buy the  rest of ImClone shares, the Wall Street Journal reports. The $60-a-share offer, sent to ImClone chairman Carl Icahn today, is a 29% premium on yesterday's closing price and makes Bristol the second pharma... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Carl Icahn • mergers and acquisitions • Bristol Myers Squibb • pharmaceutical industry • ImClone

GLOSSIES

 America: Land of  Doggy Doping 

The business of pet pharmacology is booming

Jul 10, 08 7:07 AM CDT
(Newser) - Americans spent $49 billion on their pets last year, with an ever-growing percentage paying for treatment of  behavioral issues with tailor-made psychotropics, reports James Vlahos in the New York Times Magazine. Frustrated owners are feeding dogs drugs like Reconcile—beef-flavored Prozac—-for "mental illnesses that eerily resemble human ones,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
pets • New York Times • pharmaceutical companies • veterinarian • Prozac • pharmaceutical industry • medicating pets

OPINION

 Big Pharma
 Sickens Universities 

It's too easy for drug companies to skirt lax academic regulations

Jun 22, 08 6:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - Weak legislation allows professors to collect huge under-the-table payments from Big Pharma, and it’s time to fight back, Dan Greenberg writes in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Pharmaceutical companies pay professors to shill drugs and lend their names to industry research, and the only oversight is an honor-system mechanism... More »

MORE ABOUT:
ethics • pharmaceutical companies • pharma • university • academia • pharmaceutical industry • academic research

Deal Delays Generic Lipitor Until 2011

Pact with Indian drug maker stands to net billions for Pfizer

Jun 18, 08 5:11 PM CDT
(Newser) - Pfizer has struck a deal with an Indian generic drug maker to delay a cheaper version of Lipitor in the US until November 2011. The agreement limiting generic versions of the cholesterol-lowering drug will translate into billions more in profits for Pfizer, the New York Times reports. Lipitor, the world's... More »

MORE ABOUT:
pharmaceutical companies • Pfizer • cholesterol lowering drug • Lipitor • pharmaceutical industry

 Court Tosses $32M
 Verdict Against Vioxx 

Says evidence insufficient that it contributed to Texan's death

May 14, 08 1:29 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Texas appellate court threw out a $32 million verdict against Merck today, citing a lack of evidence that Vioxx contributed to a man’s fatal heart attack. Lionel Garza was taking the painkiller when he died in 2001 at age 71, but was also a smoker with high blood... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Merck • Vioxx • lawsuit • painkiller • pharmaceutical industry

FDA Finds Contaminant in Blood Thinner

Substance discovered in heparin, linked to
19 deaths nationwide

Mar 5, 08 9:49 PM CST
(Newser) - The FDA has found a contaminant in samples of heparin, a blood thinner produced mainly in China linked to 19 deaths and nearly 800 allergic reactions in the US, the New York Times reports. The contaminant may be a counterfeit form of heparin added to reduce its manufacturing cost. The... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • FDA • pharmaceutical industry • Heparin • Baxter International • blood thinner • drug manufacturer

Heparin
Supply Chain Shaky in China

Troubles could trace back to vulnerable
raw materials

Feb 28, 08 2:07 PM CST
(Newser) - With at least four US patients dead and hundreds suffering complications from the blood-thinning drug heparin, the New York Times follows the supply chain back to Chinese slaughterhouses that deal with the pig intestines that provide raw material for the drug. Though companies say the chain is secure, the Times... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • medicine • pharmaceutical companies • pharmaceutical • pharmaceutical industry • Heparin • Baxter International • blood thinner • Changzhou SPL • Scientific Protein Laboratories • supply chain • pig intestines

Antidepressants Mostly Useless, Study Finds

Prozac and others make a difference only  in most extreme cases

Feb 26, 08 7:41 AM CST
(Newser) - Big Pharma swallowed a bitter pill yesterday as Prozac and other antidepressants were found in a UK study to be largely ineffectual in all but the most extreme cases of depression. The meta-analysis of 47 clinical trials submitted to the FDA with licensing applications for six popular antidepressants concluded that... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medical breakthrough • depression • antidepressant • GlaxoSmithKline • prescription drugs • therapy • Eli Lilly • Prozac • Wyeth • pharmaceutical industry

Prices Jump for Top Drugs

Drug giants collect now against expected future losses

Feb 21, 08 4:45 AM CST
(Newser) - Drug companies have slapped a series of huge price hikes on some prescription drugs ahead of drug patent expirations, the Wall Street Journal reports. GlaxoSmithKline has raised the price of antidepressant Wellbutrin 44.5%, while Sanofi-Aventis hiked Ambien's price 70%. Wholesale prices for the top 50 drugs increased an average... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • John McCain • antidepressant • drug companies • GlaxoSmithKline • Pfizer • health insurance premiums • price increases • health care reform • Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services • Lipitor • pharmaceutical industry • co-pays • Ambien • Wellbutrin • Adderall XR • Sanofi-Aventis • Shire • patent expiration

FDA Approved Wrong China Firm

Hundreds ill, 4 dead after using heparin from factory never inspected

Feb 19, 08 6:26 AM CST
(Newser) - The Chinese facility that supplied the active ingredient of the blood-thinner heparin, linked to hundreds of adverse reactions and four US deaths, was never inspected by the FDA because the agency confused it with another plant of the same name, the Washington Post reports. The company was given approval based... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • FDA • blood pressure • Government Accountability Office • inspection • House Energy and Commerce Committee • John Dingell • pharmaceutical industry • Heparin • Baxter International • blood thinner • Changzhou • Joseph Famulare • drug manufacturer • Andrew von Eschenbach

Merck Recalls 1M Doses
of Vaccine for Kids

Drug company finds contamination at its Pennsylvania factory

Dec 12, 07 7:14 PM CST
(Newser) - Merck is recalling almost a million doses of a childhood vaccine after it found evidence of contamination at one of its factories, the AP reports. The pharmaceutical giant says no children have been harmed after taking Hib, which prevents meningitis and pneumonia, but the company is recalling its 10 lots... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Merck • Vioxx • meningitis • vaccine • pneumonia • pharmaceutical industry • hepatitis B • hib

21 - 40 of 42 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 Next >>


from our news partners