pharmaceutical companies

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Pharma Industry Hopes AI Can Help Develop New Drugs

Drug development is still costly and takes a long time—but AI could change that

(Newser) - Artificial intelligence is changing the way companies do business—helping programmers write code and fielding customer service calls with chatbots. But the pharmaceutical industry is still waiting to see whether AI can tackle its biggest challenge: finding faster, cheaper ways to develop new drugs. Despite billions poured into research, new...

On Popular Asthma Pill, 'Something That's Concerning'

FDA ties Singular (aka montelukast) to mental health issues; it's not necessarily cause-effect

(Newser) - When Merck debuted its Singulair asthma pill in the late '90s, an appealing alternative to asthma sufferers who relied on inhalers, the pharmaceuticals company compared it to a "sugar pill" in terms of side effects, calling any distribution of the drug to the brains of the millions of...

RFK Jr. Pick Wipes Billions Off the Value of Vaccine Firms

Companies including Pfizer, Moderna dropped sharply after Trump announcement

(Newser) - Thursday was a good day for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a bad day for companies that make vaccines. As President-elect Trump announced that Kennedy will be his nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, stocks in top vaccine makers dropped sharply, wiping billions of dollars off...

Report: FDA Has Fallen Far Behind in Drug Plant Checks

More than 2K plants are overdue for inspection

(Newser) - Federal regulators responsible for the safety of the US drug supply are still struggling to get back to where they were in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic upended factory inspections in the US and across the world. An AP analysis of Food and Drug Administration data shows that agency staffers...

CVS Is Planning a Big Change to How It Prices Drugs

Company says new system will be much more transparent

(Newser) - The nation's biggest drugstore chain is planning a massive overhaul of how it prices prescription drugs. CVS Health says it is shifting from the current complex and opaque pricing model to a simpler, more transparent system based on what its pharmacies actually pay for the drugs, plus a set...

Medicare Will Target These 10 Drugs for Price Cuts

Biden administration to negotiate 'lowest maximum fair price' for Jardiance, Eliquis, others

(Newser) - The popular diabetes treatment Jardiance and the blood thinner Eliquis are among the first drugs that will be targeted for price negotiations in an effort to cut Medicare costs, reports the AP . President Biden's administration on Tuesday released a list of 10 drugs for which the federal government will...

Pfizer Buys 'Goose That Is Laying the Golden Eggs'
Pfizer Buys 'Goose That Is
Laying the Golden Eggs'
the rundown
Mar 14, 2023 10:10 AM CDT

Pfizer Buys 'Goose That Is Laying the Golden Eggs'

It will acquire cancer biotech firm Seagen, which specializes in ADC treatments, for $43M

(Newser) - It's not Pfizer's priciest acquisition by a long shot , but the numbers are staggering anyway: The pharma giant will pay $43 billion in cash for Seagen, a cancer biotech company that has yet to be profitable. What you need to know:
  • What Seagen does. The Washington-based company uses
...

FDA Finally Gets Its Way on Drug It Wanted Pulled
FDA Finally Gets Its Way
on Drug It Wanted Pulled
the rundown
Mar 8, 2023 10:25 AM CST

FDA Finally Gets Its Way on Drug It Wanted Pulled

Covis, maker of Makena, will voluntarily remove its preterm birth drug from the US market

(Newser) - The number of drugs available to US women who've had a spontaneous preterm birth and are trying to prevent another once again stands at zero. Makena had been the sole drug on the market and was used by about 350,000 women over the last 10 years, but maker...

2 More Conglomerates Are Breaking Up

J&J, Toshiba announce plans to separate their businesses in coming years

(Newser) - Johnson & Johnson plans to split into two publicly traded companies. And in case you're wondering, no, they won't be called "Johnson I" and "Johnson II." Johnson & Johnson will keep its name and its title as the world's largest health-products company by sales...

Deaths Spike as OD Antidote Price Soars

Expert attributes thousands of deaths to greed amid naxolone supply issues

(Newser) - The US has seen a record high in overdose deaths during the pandemic, and an addiction expert says "we can expect even more fatal overdoses" now that a medication that reverses overdoses has jumped up to 30 times in price. The Opioid Safety and Naloxone Network Buyers Club, a...

Merck's COVID Pill Trial Went So Well It Was Halted Early

Emergency use authorization could be next for antiviral drug molnupiravir after positive results

(Newser) - The makers of what could be the first antiviral pill for COVID-19 said Friday that they will request emergency use authorization in the US as soon as possible. An independent board of experts monitoring the clinical trial of molnupiravir from drug-maker Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics recommended it be halted early...

Johnson & Johnson Settles For $230M, Quits Opioid Business

Deal takes the pharmaceutical giant out of huge New York trial

(Newser) - Johnson & Johnson is going out of the opioid business in the US. It's also going to pay the state of New York a $230 million settlement, the New York Times reports. The agreement takes them out of a trial of several pharmaceutical makers slated to start next week....

Bayer: We'll Settle Suit With $10.9B Payment

The German company faces a lawsuit that involves subsidiary Monsanto

(Newser) - German pharmaceutical company Bayer says it's paying up to $10.9 billion to settle a lawsuit over subsidiary Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup, which has faced numerous lawsuits over claims it causes cancer, the AP reports. In a statement Wednesday, Bayer said it was also paying up $1.22 billion...

Shkreli Once Again in Hot Water Over Pricey Drug

'Pharma Bro' sued by FTC, New York AG over Daraprim

(Newser) - Martin Shkreli's original controversy is back in the headlines. The disgraced CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals first gained infamy back in 2015 when his company jacked the price of Daraprim, a lifesaving drug that treats the parasitic infection toxoplasmosis, by 5,000%. Then he went to prison over an unrelated...

State Sues Walgreens, 3 Other Firms Under Drug Dealer Law

'They knowingly and deliberately distributed drugs in our state without controls'

(Newser) - Michigan on Tuesday sued four companies over the deadly painkiller epidemic, becoming what state Attorney General Dana Nessel says is the first state to sue major opioid distributors under a liability law that is typically used to go after drug dealers. The lawsuit was filed in Wayne County and names...

FDA: Data Manipulated Before Approval of $2.1M Drug

Novartis could face civil, criminal penalties

(Newser) - US regulators want to know why Novartis didn't disclose a problem with testing data until after the Swiss drugmaker's $2.1 million gene therapy was approved. The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday the manipulated data involved testing in animals, not patients, and it's confident that the...

Trump Administration Makes Big Move on Pharmaceuticals

Americans will be allowed to import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada

(Newser) - The Trump administration said Wednesday it will set up a system to allow Americans to legally import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada, weakening a long-standing ban that had stood as a top priority for the politically powerful pharmaceutical industry. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar made the announcement Wednesday...

A Tweak to TV Ads for Prescription Drugs Is Coming

Prices will have to be included

(Newser) - Those ever-present TV ads for prescription drugs will soon reveal prices, too, the nation's top health official said Wednesday, responding to a public outcry for government action to restrain medication costs. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the Trump administration has finalized regulations that will require drug...

Pharma Exec Convicted in Sensational Opioid Case

John Kapoor's Insys Therapeutics used illegal tactics to sell its fentanyl spray

(Newser) - A pharmaceutical company founder accused of paying doctors millions in bribes to prescribe a highly addictive fentanyl spray was convicted Thursday in a case that exposed such marketing tactics as using a stripper-turned-sales-rep to give a physician a lap dance. John Kapoor, the 76-year-old former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was...

Professor Accused of Selling Student's Research for $1.5M

University of Missouri is suing pharmacy professor

(Newser) - The University of Missouri system is suing a pharmacy professor at its Kansas City campus over allegations he stole and sold a student's research, claiming that the school is the rightful owner of work it believes could be used to make a billion-dollar drug. The university has filed a...

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