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April 2008
- Cancer Drug Sales Push Genentech Profits Up 12%
  
  Wall Street Journal | Apr 11, 08 8:28 CDT
  
  (Newser) - Biotech firm Genentech said sales of its blockbuster cancer drug Avastin fueled a first-quarter profit increase of 12%, reports the Wall Street Journal, but the $600 million in sales was below analysts’ projected $622 million, causing some to grumble the drug may have reached a sales plateau. Genentech stock edged up 0.3% in after-hours trading. More »
- J&J Hid Birth Control Patch Risks: Suit
  
  Bloomberg | Apr 6, 08 4:40 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Johnson & Johnson doctored data to get its birth control patch FDA-approved, according to a class action lawsuit that claims Ortho-Evra caused blood clots, heart attacks, and strokes. A J&J scientist allegedly doctored the data with a "correction factor" for the FDA, lowering estrogen-related risk by 60%: He "presented a truly misleading picture of the amount of estrogen delivered by the patch,'' the suit said. More »
- Firms Hid Bad News on Heart Drugs 2 Years: Doc
  
  New York Times | Apr 1, 08 10:49 CDT
  
  (Newser) - A scientist hired by two drug companies to conduct trials of cholesterol-lowering drugs accused the firms of deliberately delaying release of the results, the New York Times reports. The results for the Vytorin and Zetia trials—which showed the drugs don't work to reduce plaque in arteries—were not released until almost two years after the medical trials wrapped up. More »
March 2008
- 2 Top Cholesterol Drugs, Vytorin and Zetia, Don't Work
  
  New York Times | Mar 31, 08 3:55 CDT
  
  (Newser) - Two top-selling cholesterol drugs proved in a recent study to be largely ineffective in slowing the clogging of arteries, a panel of cardiologists said yesterday. Doctors should only prescribe Vytorin and Zetia if other medications don't work, and should rely instead on statins such as Lipitor and Zocor, they said. “The strongest recommendation we can make is to go back to statins,” said one of the doctors. “They work.” More »
- FDA Probes Suicide Link to Asthma Drug
  
  USA Today | Mar 28, 08 7:09 CDT
  
  (Newser) - The FDA has opened an investigation of anecdotal links between the popular asthma and allergy drug Singulair and suicidal thoughts. In the past year, manufacturer Merck has added warnings of several possible side effects of the pill related to the nervous system, including anxiety, depression, tremors, and suicidal thinking. The FDA says its review of the drug, which had sales of more than $4.3 billion last year, may take up to nine months. More »
- 'Little Blue Pill' is 10 Years Old
  
  St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Mar 24, 08 3:00 CDT
  
  (Newser) - The little blue pill that rescued the sex lives and saved marriages of couples worldwide is 10 years old this month. Viagra, which has been used by some 35 million men, moved the treatment of impotence out of the shadows to lead a multi-billion-dollar industry. The drug has also triggered other, unforeseen benefits, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch . More »
- Feds ID Extra Drug in Baxter's Recalled Heparin
  
  Wall Street Journal | Mar 19, 08 1:44 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Food and Drug Administration has identified the extra ingredient found in samples of Baxter’s blood-thinning drug heparin, the Wall Street Journal reports today. Some batches of the drug—recalled in January after reports of allergic reactions—contained over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate, but it is not certain that was the cause of the hundreds of reactions or 19 deaths linked to Baxter’s product. More »
- Quaid Speaks Out on Medical Mistakes
  
  CBS | Mar 15, 08 1:11 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Dennis Quaid has gone on record about the frightening ordeal of his newborn twins receiving massive overdoses of blood thinners, and now he's going on 60 Minutes to ratchet up his information campaign. Quaid's interview, which will be broadcast tomorrow evening, uses his own harrowing story to highlight medical errors that kill 100,000 people a year in the US. "Our kids are bleeding from every place that they've punctured," he recalled. "It was blood everywhere." More »
- FDA Finds Contaminant in Blood Thinner
  
  New York Times | 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 FDA is fine-tuning tests to better detect it. More »
- Stocks Tumble as Bayer Loses Patent for Contraceptive
  
  Financial Times (UK) | Mar 5, 08 4:27 CST
  
  (Newser) - Bayer shares tumbled to a 12-month low yesterday after a US judge ended the pharmaceutical giant's patent on Yasmin, the company’s top-selling birth control pill. The ruling means rival Barr Pharmaceuticals may introduce a lower-priced generic version of Yasmin in the next few months, Bloomberg reports. More »
February 2008
- Feds OK Wyeth's New Antidepressant
  
  New York Times | Feb 29, 08 7:41 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Antidepressant Effexor XR will soon lose patent protection, and maker Wyeth is hoping Pristiq, the successor drug approved today by the FDA, will soften the financial blow. Higher-ups at the company gush over Pristiq's advantages, including zero acclimation time and no liver interaction, and hope that sales will offset losses to generic versions of Effexor, the New York Times reports. More »
- Possible Heparin Deaths Increase; Recall Expands
  
  New York Times | Feb 29, 08 8:07 CST
  
  (Newser) - Baxter International has expanded its recall of heparin products as the FDA said the number of deaths possibly linked to the blood thinner rose from 4 to 21, the New York Times reports. The agency said it found "deficiencies" at a Chinese plant that supplied the active ingredient. Baxter, which produces about half of the nation's supply, has now recalled virtually all of its heparin products. More »
- Antidepressants Mostly Useless, Study Finds
  
  Independent (UK) | Feb 26, 08 7:41 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 they should be prescribed only when all other treatments fail to yield results, the Independent reports. More »
- Pfizer Pulls Lipitor Ads After Probe
  
  New York Times | Feb 25, 08 7:55 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Pfizer said today it will drop its ads for cholesterol drug Lipitor due to criticisms of the TV spots, the New York Times reports. US lawmakers recently probed whether the campaign had inflated the credentials of artificial heart developer Dr. Robert Jarvik. "The way in which we presented Dr. Jarvik in these ads has, unfortunately, led to mis-impressions and distractions," said Pfizer president Ian Read. More »
- Prices Jump for Top Drugs
  
  Wall Street Journal | Feb 21, 08 4:45 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 of nearly 8% last year. More »
- FDA Approved Wrong China Firm
  
  Washington Post | Feb 19, 08 6:26 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 on an earlier FDA inspection of the other factory. "The wrong firm was put into the database," said the FDA's deputy director. More »
- Deaths Spark FDA Review of Botox Safety
  
  Reuters | Feb 8, 08 5:05 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The FDA is investigating the safety of Botox and a competing medication after learning that the drug might have caused death and breathing problems in children being treated for cerebral palsy, Reuters reports. That's not an approved use for the cosmetic drug; docs administer it because it can block nerve impulses and relax spasmodic muscles. No adult deaths were reported, according to the Wall Street Journal . More »
- Puerto Rican Drug Plants Shipped Tainted Pills: FDA
  
  Associated Press | Feb 6, 08 1:38 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The Caribbean island that produces 13 of the 20 best-selling drugs in the US has sold tainted pills and is struggling with quality control at its pharmaceutical plants, AP reports. FDA inspections of 13 Puerto Rican plants between 2003 and 2007 revealed problems such as machinery pins left in drug bottles and foreign material embedded in tablets. More »
- Epilepsy Drugs Increase Risk of Suicide: FDA
  
  San Francisco Chronicle | Feb 1, 08 6:11 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Taking epilepsy medication can double risk of suicidal behavior, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Results of a government study showed the increased risk for 11 specific drugs, including Pfizer’s Neurontin and Lyrica, but the Food and Drug Administration warned that the findings probably apply to all epilepsy medications. Labels for the drugs will be changed to reflect the risks. More »
January 2008
- Abortion Pill Maker in Tainted Drug Scandal
  
  New York Times | Jan 31, 08 5:00 CST
  
  (Newser) - A Chinese pharmaceutical giant which exports the abortion pill RU-486 to the US is accused of producing tainted cancer medication and of attempting a cover-up. Shanghai Hualian's tainted drugs left 200 Chinese leukemia patients hospitalized, some paralyzed, reports the New York Times . There's no indication US shipments of RU-486 are also tainted. The company is the sole supplier of RU-486 to the US. More »