generic drugs

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Mark Cuban Goes Into Generic Drug Business

Online pharmacy cuts out the middleman, company says

(Newser) - Mark Cuban's latest venture is a play designed to go around a segment of the health care industry. The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, an online pharmacy, will sell generic drugs at the manufacturer's price plus a flat 15% markup and pharmacist fee, NPR reports. In a...

States Bring Price-Fixing Suit Against Generic Drug Makers

More than 40 states are involved

(Newser) - Attorneys general from more than 40 states are alleging the nation's largest generic drug manufacturers conspired to artificially inflate and manipulate prices for more than 100 different generic drugs, including treatments for diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and other medical conditions, the AP reports. The lawsuit, filed in federal court Friday,...

Why Insurance Companies Are Saying No to Generic Drugs

And yes, it might be hurting your pocket

(Newser) - It flies in the face of conventional wisdom: insurance companies that won't pay for a generic medicine, essentially forcing patients to opt for pricey brand-name drugs. And yet that's exactly what's happening, report ProPublica and the New York Times . It's "befuddling," says one 41-year-old...

Martin Shkreli Now Praising Kids Who Made Cheap Drug

He makes congratulatory video after belittling their work on Twitter

(Newser) - A bunch of Aussie schoolkids produced a $2-a-pill version of a super-expensive anti-parasitic drug ($750 per dose), and the man behind the latter drug's huge price hike is now praising their efforts, Reuters reports. In a YouTube video directed toward students at Sydney Grammar School, ex-Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin...

Take That, Martin Shkreli: Schoolkids Cook Up $2 Dose

High school students show cheap version of pricey drug is easy to make

(Newser) - Remember Martin Shkreli, the hedge fund manager who last year founded Turing Pharmaceuticals, acquired an essential anti-parasitic drug, and quickly jacked up its price 55-fold, from $13.50 to $750 a pill? Well, he's just been shown up by a group of high school chemistry students in Australia who'...

There's a Cheaper 'EpiPen,' but There's a Catch

Most people aren't trained on more-affordable Adrenaclick, which could lead to injuries

(Newser) - Not since Martin Shkreli has there been such outrage over the spiking costs of a life-saving device or drug. Mylan, the maker of the EpiPen, has bumped up costs by almost 500% over the past few years, and because the drugmaker enjoys a near-monopoly on the epinephrine-delivering device—the AP...

Generic Viagra Is Coming to the US

It's expected to cut into Pfizer's $1.7B per year Viagra profits

(Newser) - Good news for frugal guys with erection troubles: America will soon be up to its eyeballs in generic Viagra. CBS News reports the FDA approved the first generic version of the impotence drug, known as sildenafil citrate, on Wednesday. Israel's Teva, the world's largest maker of generic drugs,...

FDA: Generic Morning-After Pills Available to All

Now generic alternatives can be sold over the counter to teenagers

(Newser) - Morning-after birth control just got cheaper and easier to buy, NPR reports. After a 10-year battle, the FDA published a letter saying that generic versions of the popular Plan B One-Step can be sold to customers without proof of age. That overruled an FDA decision in July granting Teva Pharmaceuticals...

Oxy Maker Won't Share List of Suspicious Doctors

Purdue Pharma has IDed 1,800 suspect doctors, but only told authorities about 154

(Newser) - The maker of OxyContin has a database of doctors it suspects may be prescribing its pills to addicts and dealers—but it isn't sharing that info with cops, reports the LA Times . Purdue Pharma says it has alerted authorities to 154 suspicious prescribers, but that's only about 8%...

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...

Viagra Gum? Drug Makers Get Busy as Generics Near

Makers of erectile dysfunction drugs try to find new niches

(Newser) - Viagra’s chemical patent expires next year, likely opening the playing field to cheaper generic versions of the pill—and in a $5 billion industry, the makers of the erectile dysfunction drug are racing to stay ahead of the competition. Pfizer recently began selling a chewable form of Viagra in...

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...

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 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...

Stocks Tumble as Bayer Loses Patent for Contraceptive

Generic birth control pill could soon steal market

(Newser) - Bayer shares tumbled to a 12-month low yesterday after a US judge ended the pharmaceutical giant's patent on Yasmin, the company’s top-selling birth control pill. The ruling means rival Barr Pharmaceuticals may introduce a lower-priced generic version of Yasmin in the next few months, Bloomberg reports. 

Risky Errors on Rise With Sound-Alike Drugs

Study finds prescription mix-ups more than doubled since 2004

(Newser) - The problem of drug-name mix-ups is growing in the US, with harmful and sometimes even fatal consequences for patients, USA Today reports. A study undertaken by the group that regulates generic drug names found that the rate of mix-ups has more than doubled since 2004. In one case, a 7-year-old...

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...

FDA Promises More Generics
FDA Promises More Generics  
Oct 5, 2007 9:19 AM CDT

FDA Promises More Generics

Commits to reviewing applications faster

(Newser) - The FDA approved about a third more generic drugs in fiscal 2007 than the year prior, and pledged yesterday to speed its review process to accommodate yet more. Sales of generics, which average about one-third the cost of their brand-name counterparts, are up 22%—and one advocacy group says the...

Wal-Mart Expands $4 Drug Program
Wal-Mart Expands $4
Drug Program
Sep 28, 2007 2:29 PM CDT

Wal-Mart Expands $4 Drug Program

Retail giant's list of generic meds now includes birth control

(Newser) - A year after launching its $4 prescription drug program, Wal-Mart yesterday added 24 names to its list of 361 generic medications. The company boasts that it now covers more than 95% of treatable common diseases, the St Petersburg Times reports, but critics call the program a publicity stunt and say...

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.

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