pharmaceutical companies

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Merck Will Pay $650M to End Discount Probes

Drug company alleged to have kept Medicaid in dark on lowest prices

(Newser) - Drug company Merck will dish out $650 million to resolve lawsuits and probes into marketing schemes, the Wall Street Journal reports. Central to the investigations is the company’s “nominal pricing,” which slashed some drug prices by 90% for hospitals but hid the discounts from Medicaid, even though...

Eli Lilly Could Pay $1B Settlement
Eli Lilly Could Pay $1B Settlement
Jan 30, 2008 5:40 PM CST

Eli Lilly Could Pay $1B Settlement

Fine for illegally promoting antipsychotic drug Zyprexa would be biggest ever

(Newser) - Drug-maker Eli Lilly could pay more than $1 billion to state and federal authorities to settle an investigation into how the company marketed an antipsychotic drug, the New York Times reports. In 2000-03, Lilly pushed doctors to prescribe Zyprexa as a treatment for age-related dementia—though the drug is approved...

Antidepressant Studies Distort Drugs' Usefulness

New study says negative reports often go unpublished

(Newser) - Roughly half of the medical studies involving antidepressants that found little or no effect on patients have gone unpublished or had their findings mischaracterized as positive, a new study reveals. The emphasis on publishing only studies with glowing reviews gives patients and doctors a false sense of the effectiveness of...

Merck May Pay $700M for Schizophrenia Drug

Pharma giant restocks pipeline by snapping up Swiss psychotherapy

(Newser) - Merck today finalized a deal worth as much as $700 million to license a schizophrenia drug from Swiss biotech firm Addex Pharmaceuticals. Addex will get $22 million up front, and qualify for another $680 million in milestone payments. Such licensing deals are growing commonplace, Reuters reports, as big pharma turns...

Big Pharma Faces Big Plunge
Big Pharma Faces Big Plunge
Dec 6, 2007 4:50 AM CST

Big Pharma Faces Big Plunge

Profits will drop as patents expire, and chemical-based therapies are eclipsed by biotech

(Newser) - Patent protections on some of the pharmaceutical industry's best-selling drugs, like Lipitor, Plavix and Singulair, are due to expire in the next several years, and drug manufacturers have little in the pipeline to replace them. The drug companies will lose billions—as much as half their combined revenue—to generic...

Bristol-Myers to Slash Jobs, Shut Plants

Drugmaker shrinks, says expiring patents will cut profits

(Newser) - Bristol-Myers Squibb said today it will lay off 10% of its work force—totaling 4,300 jobs—and close or sell half its 27 factories in a plan to save $1.5 billion by 2010, the Wall Street Journal reports. The firm also will sell its medical-imaging division and possibly...

Lack of Info Plagues Docs Treating Kids

Limited funding for research on meds puts children at risk

(Newser) - A dearth of information on the effects of prescription drugs on children is putting millions of kids at risk, the Washington Post reports. Two-thirds of the medications prescribed to kids haven't been tested on them, and those that have been tested often produce unexpected results: A migraine drug that works...

Big Pharma Goes East to Test Drugs
Big Pharma Goes East to Test Drugs
Nov 19, 2007 8:09 PM CST

Big Pharma Goes East to Test Drugs

Low costs lure R&D, but critics doubt product safety

(Newser) - Big Pharma is testing more drugs in China, where studies cost less and a big, aging population has more chronic ailments, Time reports. But critics question the country's product safety and ponder the fate of tested patients. Even Big Pharma is concerned—about intellectual property rights—but the lure of...

Battle Brews in Pharma's Market
Battle Brews in Pharma's Market
Nov 3, 2007 6:43 PM CDT

Battle Brews in Pharma's Market

Pfizer launches attack on generic drug that threatens Lipitor's dominance

(Newser) - Pfizer is trying to stave off its own heart attack now that its flagship cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor faces stiff competition from a cheaper generic. Lipitor is still patent-protected, but a very similar drug called Zocor isn't, and since a generic version called simvastatin hit the market, many doctors and insurers...

More Docs Just Say No to Pharma Reps

Barrage of visits, free samples may cloud prescribing practices

(Newser) - More doctors, hospitals, and medical schools are limiting or barring visits from drug-company reps as the calls become more frequent and concerns grow that they may influence prescribing. An organization of doctors who pledge not to welcome pharma reps has only 800 members, but institutional players—including some states—are...

Schizophrenia Drug Offers New Hope
Schizophrenia Drug Offers
New Hope
Sep 3, 2007 3:58 AM CDT

Schizophrenia Drug Offers New Hope

Works on different brain chemical than its predecessors

(Newser) - The first human trial of a new medication to treat schizophrenia that works fundamentally differently from its predecessors has shown promising results, according to this month's Nature Medicine. The drug targets glutamate rather than dopamine, as do other drugs. Scientists have long known glutamate is involved in schizophrenia.

Drug Giant Sues Red Cross Over ... Red Cross

Johnson & Johnson claims trademark infringement

(Newser) - Pharmaceutical behemoth Johnson & Johnson has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the American Red Cross over its signature logo, the Wall Street Journal reports. The suit claims the humanitarian organization is violating the Johnson & Johnson trademark by licensing the signature red cross symbol to companies for use...

Generics Curb Rise in Drug Costs
Generics Curb Rise in Drug Costs
Aug 8, 2007 6:37 PM CDT

Generics Curb Rise in Drug Costs

Cheap alternatives to brand-name meds appear as patents expire

(Newser) - Scores of prescription drugs are getting cheaper, as name-brand patents expire and open the door to generic imitators. That's bad news for pharmaceutical companies, the Times reports, but it means that an aging population ever more reliant on drugs will be paying as much as 80 percent less for them.

Birth Control Prices at US Colleges Skyrocket

Female students may no longer be able to afford the Pill

(Newser) - Many college students may no longer be able to afford birth control come September, thanks to a 2006 bill that discourages drug companies from offering schools deep discounts on contraceptives. The change went into effect this year, but students will feel the crunch only now, as health centers that stocked...

Drug Recall Hurts Poor HIV Patients
Drug Recall Hurts Poor HIV Patients
Jul 23, 2007 5:00 PM CDT

Drug Recall Hurts Poor HIV Patients

In many countries, no life-saving meds

(Newser) - In the wake of a drug recall by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche, tens of thousands of AIDS patients in the developing world no longer have access to lifesaving medicine. Last month, Roche announced a recall of the drug Viracept, after finding a hazardous chemical in some batches. But in...

Merck News Gives Markets Shot in the Arm

Dow rises 92.34 on component's earnings, big oil merger

(Newser) - Stocks rallied across the board today, after a number of major buyouts and earnings reports diverted traders' attentions from the foundering subprime market and an enervated dollar once again. The Dow was up 2.34 to 13943.42 after drug-maker Merck, a major component of the index, reported its best...

Americans Pop Happy Pills in Record Numbers

Antidepressants are most-prescribed drug in the US

(Newser) - Antidepressants are America's most prescribed drugs, according to a new CDC report, clocking in more scripts than meds for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or asthma. Prescriptions for antidepressants rose 48% between 1995 and 2002, accounting for 118 million of the 2.4 billion drugs prescribed in 2005.

Feds OK Alzheimer's Skin Patch
Feds OK Alzheimer's
Skin Patch
Jul 9, 2007 4:58 PM CDT

Feds OK Alzheimer's Skin Patch

New treatment gives patients, caregivers some peace of mind

(Newser) - A patch to treat symptoms of Alzheimer's disease cleared its final federal hurdle today, offering new hope to patients with the memory-sapping disorder—and the caretakers who worry about whether they're taking their meds. Exelon, which treats mild to moderate dementia, enters the bloodstream directly, regulating dosage and reducing the...

Drug Company Nemesis Strikes Again
Drug Company Nemesis
Strikes Again
May 22, 2007 1:32 PM CDT

Drug Company Nemesis Strikes Again

Crusading cardiologist took on Vioxx, now Avandia, for heart risks

(Newser) - The doctor who helped to raise concerns about the painkiller Vioxx is back—with the study released earlier this week linking the same company's popular diabetes drug, Avandia, to higher risk of heart attacks. The Wall Street Journal looks at 58-year-old cardiologist Steven Nissen's role in identifying and publicizing drug...

Diabetes Drug Ups Heart Risk
Diabetes
Drug Ups
Heart Risk
May 21, 2007 3:15 PM CDT

Diabetes Drug Ups Heart Risk

New study documents dangers of Avandia, but company nixes recall

(Newser) - A popular diabetes drug may increase heart attack risks, a study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes. Patients who took Avandia, which treats Type 2 diabetes, were 43% more likely to have a heart attack than those who took a placebo, the Cleveland Clinic study found.

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