pharmaceutical companies

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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...

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 "...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Scientists Map Common Cold's Genome
Scientists Map Common Cold's Genome
Feb 12, 2009 4:43 PM CST

Scientists Map Common Cold's Genome

Makes creating a cure possible, but still pricey and unlikely

(Newser) - Researchers have completed a “family tree” for the common cold, paving the way for an eventual cure to one of mankind’s most stubborn ailments, the New York Times reports. Scientists mapped the genomes of the 99 variations of rhinovirus, which causes most colds, and have cataloged the weaknesses...

Novartis Acquires Plavix Rival
 Novartis Acquires Plavix Rival 
Feb 12, 2009 8:22 AM CST

Novartis Acquires Plavix Rival

Novartis acquires worldwide rights from a San Francisco biopharmaceutical firm

(Newser) - Novartis AG will pay a San Francisco biopharmaceutical company $75 million—with the potential for an additional $500 million—for the worldwide rights to an experimental anticlotting drug the Swiss drug firm hopes will rival Plavix, reports the Wall Street Journal. Market leader Plavix rang up $8.22 billion in...

FTC Challenges Payments to Delay Generics

Deal to keep generic drug off the market is anti-competitive, regulators say

(Newser) - The Federal Trade Commission, pledging to oppose “pay-for-delay” agreements, filed suit against a brand-name testosterone-replacement drug manufacturer for paying three competitors to delay introductions of generic versions, the Washington Post reports. Nearly half of settlements between brand-name drug-makers and their generic counterparts in 2006 and 2007 resulted in such...

Pfizer Deal's $22.5B in Loans Hasn't Unlocked Credit

$22.5B loan in deal to acquire Wyeth comes at 7-9% interest, and lenders can walk

(Newser) - Think Pfizer’s $68 billion deal to buy Wyeth, financed in part with $22.5 billion in loans, means credit markets have thawed? Think again, the Wall Street Journal reports. Pfizer’s lenders—including JPMorgan, Bank of America, Goldman, and Citigroup—are charging high interest (7%-9%, with loans due in...

Pfizer Snaps Up Wyeth for $68B
 Pfizer Snaps Up Wyeth for $68B 
Jan 26, 2009 6:11 AM CST

Pfizer Snaps Up Wyeth for $68B

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

(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 four...

Pfizer in Talks to Buy Wyeth
 Pfizer in Talks to Buy Wyeth  




Jan 23, 2009 5:49 AM CST

Pfizer in Talks to Buy Wyeth

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

(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...

Eli Lilly to Pay $1.4B, Plead Guilty in Marketing Scheme

Company promoted drug for unapproved uses

(Newser) - Eli Lilly will plead guilty to a federal misdemeanor and pay $1.42 billion to settle investigations into its marketing of an anti-schizophrenia drug, Reuters reports. The company promoted Zyprexa to the elderly as an anti-dementia pharmaceutical, though studies questioned its effectiveness in treating Alzheimer’s. “Eli Lilly had...

Drug Ads Losing Power, Study Says

Most patients don't ask for drugs by name

(Newser) - Maybe it's the extensive warnings at the end of drug commercials, but few Americans request prescription drugs by name, a new study shows. In Colorado, only 3.5% of patients—half the number of 2003—requested specific medicine from doctors. This is despite more than $5 billion pharmaceuticals pay to...

Pfizer to Can 800 Researchers
 Pfizer to Can 800 Researchers 
Jan 13, 2009 12:19 PM CST

Pfizer to Can 800 Researchers

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

(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...

Drug Companies Agree to Stop Docs' Free Goodies

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

(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,...

Researchers Push 'Brain Steroids' for All

Future drugs could boost job, classroom performance

(Newser) - Healthy adults should be able to take brain-boosting drugs for a competitive advantage at work or on an exam, researchers say in a provocative paper. Seven authors say ethical questions about cognitive-enhancement pills are both warranted and imminent, and that such medicinal aid is no less moral than caffeine consumption,...

Drug Companies Hide Data From Docs
Drug Companies Hide Data
From Docs
Nov 26, 2008 10:22 AM CST

Drug Companies Hide Data From Docs

Edited info could mislead those prescribing meds

(Newser) - Pharmaceutical companies aren't as upfront with doctors as they are with the government about their new products, a study finds. Though drug companies must provide the FDA with all of the data from clinical trials, related papers published in medical journals were found to omit info from 20% of the...

Ailing Biotech Firms Need Shot in the Arm

Flatlining economy threatens breakthrough medical research

(Newser) - For the first time in years, the biotech industry is in desperate need of a lifeline, Bloomberg reports, as the economic crisis threatens to shove companies into bankruptcy and derail the development of potentially life-saving drugs. “I’m looking down the barrel of a gun,” admitted one CEO....

Big Pharma Seeks Big Profits in Developing Nations

Drug Makers See Future in New Markets

(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...

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