pharmaceutical industry

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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...

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...

Obama Helps Kill Cheaper Drug Imports
Obama Helps Kill Cheaper Drug Imports
Dana Milbank
Dec 16, 2009 8:58 AM CST

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...

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...

Big Pharma Lobbyists Put Words Into Reps' Mouths
Big Pharma Lobbyists Put Words Into Reps' Mouths
Puppetmasters
Nov 15, 2009 8:37 AM CST

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,...

Health Industry Shakedown Imperils Reform
Health Industry Shakedown Imperils Reform
OPINION
Oct 19, 2009 3:32 PM CDT

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...

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...

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...

Docs Debate Male Menopause
Docs Debate Male Menopause
Aug 10, 2009 8:38 AM CDT

Docs Debate Male Menopause

Low testosterone can make you grumpy, impotent—and a great target for drugmakers

(Newser) - If you’re a guy in your late 40s or 50s, and you’ve been feeling unusually grumpy, borderline impotent, and all around miserable lately, you might just have male menopause, ABC News reports. Many physicians believe men experience a drop in testosterone as they get older, which can result...

Pharma to Push Obama Plan in $150M Ad Blitz

Drug companies get behind health care reform, to Congress' concern

(Newser) - Drug companies have authorized their lobbyists to spend up to $150 million on TV ads supporting Barack Obama's health care reform plan—a surprisingly large sum that suggests the industry still has a deal with the White House on capping pharma's costs, reports the New York Times. A few spots...

Number of US Antidepressant Users Doubles

(Newser) - The number of Americans on antidepressants doubled from 1996 to 2005, a new study finds, but fewer are seeing psychiatrists, and most aren’t using the drugs to affect their mood. As of 2005, the last year for which data were available, 27 million Americans—roughly 10% of the population—...

Docs Weigh Longer Chemo in Cancer Battle

Experts say tumors could be treated as chronic diseases

(Newser) - Instead of waiting for cancer to return, some doctors are keeping up patients’ chemotherapy even when the threat has lessened, the New York Times reports. With maintenance therapy, some in the medical and drug industries say, it may be possible to treat cancer as a chronic disease, with tumors kept...

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 "...

Drug Trials a Lot Like Reality TV
 Drug Trials a Lot Like Reality TV 
OPINION
May 14, 2009 12:51 PM CDT

Drug Trials a Lot Like Reality TV

(Newser) - Only one couple from The Bachelor has actually gotten married. No Apprentice winner has become fabulously wealthy. American Idol produced Taylor Hicks. Reality shows don’t always make good on their real-world promises, and in that way, they’re a lot like clinical drug trials, writes pediatrician Darshak Sanghavi in...

Pfizer Offers Free Lipitor, Viagra to Jobless

70 drugs available to those who lost jobs since Jan. 1

(Newser) - Pfizer is unveiling a new program that will let people who have lost their jobs and health insurance keep taking some of its medications—including Lipitor and Viagra—for free for up to a year. The world’s biggest drugmaker will provide more than 70 of its prescription drugs free...

She'd Still Rather Have the Arm, But the $6.7M Will Help

$6.7m award will make life easier, but is no substitute for arm lost in botched injection

(Newser) - Millions of dollars and a landmark Supreme Court victory is great—"The fact that the justice system worked, it's pretty impressive"—but it's still no substitute for a right arm, musician Diana Levine tells the AP. Levine, whose arm was amputated in 2000 after she developed gangrene from...

Justices Reject Limits on Drug Lawsuits
 Justices Reject Limits 
 on Drug Lawsuits 
supreme court
Mar 4, 2009 1:59 PM CST

Justices Reject Limits on Drug Lawsuits

Ruling makes pharma responsible for labels

(Newser) - In a strong blow to drugmakers, the Supreme Court ruled today in favor of a Vermont woman who lost her arm after taking an anti-nausea drug made by Wyeth, the Wall Street Journal reports. The court upheld the ruling of a Vermont court that awarded guitarist Diana Levine $6.7...

Glaxo to Cut Drug Prices in Developing World

No. 2 pharma firm will open 'patent pool' to outside scientists

(Newser) - GlaxoSmithKline’s new boss has proposed a radical rethinking of big pharma in developing countries: He plans to cut prices, offer portions of profits to hospitals, and loosen his firm’s grip on patents that keep prices up, the Guardian reports. “I think it's absolutely the kind of thing...

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...

Seven Medications With Second Careers

Cosmetic and medicinal treatments overlap

(Newser) - Medications are commonly advertised for a single use, but they often gain popularity for others. Here are a few examples from ABC:
  1. Viagra: Famous for its ability to increase blood flow to a specific part of the body, Viagra also has been used to increase blood flow in patients with
...

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