drug companies

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US Makes Big Move on COVID Vaccine Patents

Administration says it supports temporarily lifting patent restrictions

(Newser) - "The extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures," US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Wednesday, announcing that the US will support a measure to suspend patent rules for coronavirus vaccines. With COVID infections and deaths reaching new highs in some parts of the world, India...

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...

Drug Companies Want This Judge Gone
Drug Companies
Target Federal Judge
Sep 14, 2019 5:30 PM CDT

Drug Companies Target Federal Judge

They say Judge Dan Polster is biased

(Newser) - Attorneys for eight drug distributors, pharmacies, and retailers facing trial next month for their roles in the opioid crisis want to disqualify the federal judge overseeing their cases, saying he has shown bias in his effort to obtain a multibillion-dollar global settlement, the AP reports. According to a motion filed...

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...

First Postpartum Depression Drug: Effective, Cumbersome

Women felt improvement within 24 hours, but need to get it via IV for 60 hours

(Newser) - A groundbreaking treatment has been approved for what doctors say is a major medical condition that doesn't get talked about enough. The FDA has approved brexanolone, the first treatment specifically targeting postpartum depression, which will be sold as "Zulresso," USA Today reports. Doctors say it is much...

Founder of Pharma Giant, Wife Found Dead in Home

Police in Toronto say deaths are 'suspicious'

(Newser) - A drug company billionaire and his wife were found dead in their mansion in what police describe as "suspicious circumstances," but investigators in Toronto say there were no signs of forced entry and they are not seeking any suspects. Barry Sherman, 75, and his wife, Honey, 70, were...

Pharma Billionaire Allegedly Paid Doctors to Push Fentanyl

Insys founder faces charges including bribery, racketeering

(Newser) - Sarah Fuller died a little more than a year after she was prescribed a fentanyl spray for her chronic neck and back pain, but her mom doesn't just blame the opioid. She points the finger at "a drug company who couldn't care less about a human life....

Let an Anarchist Teach You to Make Your Own Medicine
Can't Afford Life-Saving
Medicine? Just Make Your Own
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Oct 15, 2017 6:32 AM CDT

Can't Afford Life-Saving Medicine? Just Make Your Own

Anarchist is leading push to upend the pharmaceutical industry

(Newser) - Don't have $600 to spare for a two-pack of EpiPens? Michael Laufer will show you how to make your own for $35. Need a cure for hepatitis C but don't have $84,000 laying around for Sovaldi? The anarchist says his DIY version will run you $800 or...

Sanders Tweet Wipes $387M From Firm's Value

Company raised price of cancer drug to $199K a year

(Newser) - A single tweet from Bernie Sanders was enough to send the share price of Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. to dive 15% Friday, wiping around $387 million off the value of the drug firm, the Hill reports. "Drug corporations’ greed is unbelievable. Ariad has raised the price of a leukemia drug...

Police Chief Wants You to Call These 5 Drug CEOs

Too many people are getting hooked on prescription meds, says Gloucester chief

(Newser) - The police chief in Gloucester, Massachusetts, has employed what the Boston Globe accurately describes as an "unconventional" tactic in his fight to reduce the number of drug addicts. Chief Leonard Campanello's department put up a Facebook post with the phone numbers and email addresses of the CEOs at...

'Unprecedented' Study: Breast Cancer Drug Prolongs Life

Perjeta gives women about 16 extra months, study says

(Newser) - One of the most popular breast-cancer drugs on today's market is giving sufferers a significantly longer life, a new study says—as long as they can afford the $5,900 monthly price tag. In a clinical trial involving 808 women, those who took the drug Perjeta lived almost 16...

Diagnosed With ADHD? You May Have Been Sold a Lie

Drug companies target parents through false advertising: report

(Newser) - The diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has itself become hyperactive, with doctors handing out too many pills, ads creating unrealistic expectations, and drug companies downplaying side effects like insomnia and mood swings, the New York Times reports. "The numbers make it look like an epidemic. Well, it's...

Why Doctors Pick $2K Drug Over Its $50 Cousin

Pricey Lucentis, cheaper Avastin 'same damn molecule': ophthalmologist

(Newser) - The prescription drugs Avastin and Lucentis both fight blindness in the elderly, and they're both made by the same company, Genentech, at what experts say is a similar production cost. The key difference between them: While an Avastin injection costs $50, a shot of Lucentis goes for $2,000....

Big Pharma Paid for Seat at FDA Advisory Table

Gave up to $25K per meeting on painkiller safety

(Newser) - Drug companies shelled out in a big way to get a seat at meetings between the FDA and an advisory panel, paying up to $25,000 per meeting, the Washington Post reports based on hundreds of emails. The panel, which was funded by the money, helped the FDA evaluate painkiller...

Drug Giant's Secret to Success Is Bribery: Cops

China says it busts scheme by Glaxo, travel agencies to bribe doctors

(Newser) - China says it knows how a few Shanghai travel agencies were managing huge revenues without many bookings, and the explanation isn't pretty: They were involved in an extensive bribery scheme with executives from drug giant GlaxoSmithKline, authorities say. The firms are accused of teaming up to bribe doctors and...

Doctors: Cancer Drug Prices 'Astronomical,' Unethical

More than 100 sign piece decrying costs to patients

(Newser) - More than 100 cancer specialists from more than 15 countries are joining together to call for lower drug prices, suggesting that the current prices—which can range as high as $138,000 a year—are unconscionably high, and could be seen as profiteering. "Advocating for lower drug prices is...

India Squashes Novartis Cancer Drug Patent

High court move likely to keep drugs cheap in developing world

(Newser) - A major Supreme Court decision in India could be good news for patients in developing countries, activists say. The court ruled that Novartis couldn't have a new patent for a tuneup to an existing cancer drug, since it's not a new medicine, the AP reports. "Patents will...

Critics Fume as Big Pharma Funds Drug Studies

'The evidence base has been perverted,' expert says

(Newser) - Think studies of new drugs in the New England Journal of Medicine are unassailable? Experts are beginning to wonder, because pharmaceutical companies pay academics to conduct many of those studies—and the approval of high-profile drugs like Vioxx, Avandia, and Celebrex has led to thousands of deaths, the Washington Post...

Drug Company Employee: Don't Believe Our Studies

Anonymous author in medical journal warns of bogus research

(Newser) - Bear this in mind the next time a drug company touts a serious study proclaiming the wonders of its product: A former employee of a "major" pharmaceutical company has written an essay in the British Medical Journal warning that the industry's scientific-sounding studies are sometimes rigged. “We...

Canada OKs World's 1st Stem Cell Therapy

Prochymal may ease complication from bone marrow transplants

(Newser) - Canada has approved the world's first stem cell treatment for a systemic disease, Reuters reports. This week, the nation's health regulators allowed doctors to use the drug Prochymal for children with graft-versus host disease (GvHD), a sometimes deadly side-effect from bone marrow transplants. GvHd kills up to 80%...

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