pharmaceutical companies

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Sofa-Treating Chemical Reborn as Major MS Drug

Analyst predicts $1.7B in Tecfidera sales by 2015

(Newser) - As a sofa-treating agent, dimethyl fumarate gave people blisters and rashes, but now it's getting a second chance—as a much ballyhooed multiple sclerosis drug called Tecfidera, whose sales could be enormous. Among doctors, there's "a strong consensus that Tecfidera offers a more favorable clinical profile than...

Jack Klugman's Quiet Legacy: Lifesaving Crusader

Actor shoved Congress to pass Orphan Drug Act of 1982

(Newser) - Most obituaries of Jack Klugman remember him for his roles on The Odd Couple and Quincy, M.E., but the actor had another legacy that few people remember, reports the Washington Post . Klugman was a fierce advocate of the Orphan Drug Act of 1982, a bill that aimed to provide...

Rise in Food Allergies Means Big Business for EpiPen

Mylan lobbies to relax prescription rules for epinephrine injections

(Newser) - With severe food allergies on the rise in the United States, anaphylactic reactions are an increasing problem, especially at schools. But, in most states, school nurses risk losing their license if they give an epinephrine injection to a student who does not have a prescription—even though up to a...

50 Years Later, Thalidomide Maker Apologizes

Morning sickness drug caused birth defects in the 1950s

(Newser) - The German pharmaceutical company that created the drug thalidomide apologized for the first time—after more than 50 years—for the thousands of children worldwide born with deformities because their mothers took the popular morning sickness medication. The CEO of Gruenenthal read the apology at a dedication of a statue...

Glaxo Buying Human Genome Sciences
Glaxo Buying
Human Genome Sciences
Jul 16, 2012 4:00 AM CDT

Glaxo Buying Human Genome Sciences

After big drug failure in 2011, Human Genome failed to find higher bid

(Newser) - British pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline is poised to announce a $2.8 billion takeover of Human Genome Sciences, perhaps as early as today, reports Reuters . US-based Human Genome, which uses the human DNA sequence to develop drugs, balked at Glaxo's original $2.6 billion offer and said it would go...

White House Made Deal With Big Pharma on Health Bill

Whether that's good or bad is open for debate

(Newser) - The White House cut a deal with the pharmaceutical industry to get health-care reform passed, a revelation getting renewed attention thanks to emails released by House Republicans, reports the New York Times . In one from 2009, Obama adviser Nancy-Ann DeParle tells a top industry lobbyist that the administration has agreed...

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...

Woman Found Dead at Historic CA Mansion

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

(Newser) - 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,...

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...

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—...

US Prescription Drugs Tested on World's Poor
US Prescription Drugs
Tested on World's Poor
INVESTIGATION
Dec 5, 2010 6:02 PM CST

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...

Disgraced Doctors Land at Big Pharma
 Disgraced Doctors 
 Land at Big Pharma 

investigation
Oct 19, 2010 7:59 AM CDT

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...

When Clinical Trials Kill
 When Clinical Trials Kill 
Sep 13, 2010 11:36 AM CDT

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...

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...

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...

$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...

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...

Drug Giants Target Cancer
 Drug Giants Target Cancer 
Sep 2, 2009 2:16 AM CDT

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...

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,...

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...

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