Margaret McCartney writes
Bribing patients is bad medicineA pen, some Post-it notes, a delicate box of chocolates. As a junior doctor, I am ashamed to admit that I liked the freebies that drug reps offered me, a token of their appreciation for my time while they delivered the latest in their company’s developments. It was only when I read the evidence and realised that these small treats could produce big swings in my prescribing — to more expensive but not better drugs — that I stopped seeing the reps.Last week, the British Medical Journal published a paper showing that when people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are offered £15 to t...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 20, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
GlaxoSmithKline faces quiz over China bribes probe
By Ben GriffithsPUBLISHED: 22:35, 20 October 2013 | UPDATED: 22:35, 20 October 2013Investors are poised to quiz drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline on Wednesday over a damaging bribery probe in China that is set to have an impact on its financial performance.The FTSE 100 company has admitted that four of its local executives may have broken Chinese corruption and bribery laws.It is accused of using more than 700 travel agents to funnel cash to doctors and other medical staff to boost sales.Scandal: China is seen as key growth market for GlaxoSmithKlineThe British former head of GSK in China, Mark Reilly, r...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 20, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Mmmm Danone!
Danone Dumex vows ‘disciplinary action’ in wake of infant formula bribery probeIn a statement sent to DairyReporter.com earlier today, Dumex China accepted “full responsibility” for the illegal payments made by its employees, and promised that “disciplinary actions will be taken according to the relevant company regulations including appointing new management personnel to deal with relevant issues.”Dumex issued the statement following the conclusion of a probe, conducted by police and local health officials in Tianjin, into allegations that hospital staff across the city were paid by Du...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 19, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Senior Doctor Raises Concern Over Advertising of Prescription Drugs
Contact: Dr. Sidney Wolfe (202) 588-7735; Sam Jewler (202) 588-7779
A senior doctor today questions a Los Angeles boutique turning shoppers into cheerleaders for serious drugs like Adderall by selling sweatshirts and T-shirts that look like football jerseys and have the products’ names emblazoned on them with descriptions such as, “Pop one on and you’ll feel better. Doctors orders.”
In his latest regular column in the British Medical Journal, Dr. Sidney Wolfe, founder and senior adviser for Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, explores the contradictions between the medication’s manufacturer Shire protesti...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 18, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Caught in a web?
Woman Sues Johnson & Johnson in Potential $1.7 Billion Class Action Over Prolift Transvaginal Mesh InjuriesA woman has just filed a lawsuit over the Johnson & Johnson Prolift mesh transvaginal mesh device over claims that, among other issues, the device was sold without U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.The lawsuit was brought in the District Court in Lod, Israel, on behalf of the plaintiff and with a request for the court to certify the claim as a class action suit for NIS 6 billion—or about $1.7 billion—on behalf of about 60,000 women in Israel who allegedly experienced similar injuri...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 17, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Slumdog Clinical Trials contd. - Badly run trials behind Indian drug testing freeze
"Foreign companies are treating India as a heaven for clinical trials, but it is proving hell for India." So said an Indian Supreme Court judge on 30 September as he pressed the pause button on the country's clinical trials, ruling that all drug trials must be halted for two weeks. That period is now up, but there is no sign of the ban being lifted.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24421-badly-run-trials-behind-indian-drug-testing-freeze.html?cmpid=RSS|NSNS|2012-GLOBAL|online-news#.UmAZQ9KTjno (Source: PharmaGossip)
Source: PharmaGossip - October 17, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
We Need a Revolution in the Pharmaceutical Drug Industry! By Rabbi Dr.
Shmuly Yanklowitz
Imagine you live in a small village in Africa and your child is dying of a treatable disease. It is brought to your attention that the drug used to treat your child's disease costs less than $1 to produce but you would have to pay more than $1,000 to purchase it (an amount that is impossible for you to pay). Tragically, you watch your child die as you are consumed with grief, confusion, and resentment for global pricing structures.Of course, pharmaceutical drugs cannot be free. Companies need incentives to conduct research and to increase research and development. Without this incentive, unfortunately, we cannot be assured...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 16, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
GlaxoChinaGate contd. - The Return of Reilly
HONG KONG — The former general manager of China operations for the pharmaceutical multinational GlaxoSmithKline has returned to China and remains there to help the authorities investigating corruption and bribery allegations, a spokesman for the company said Wednesday.
Mark Reilly was general manager when he left China in late June after the police raided Glaxo offices there as part of an inquiry that has exposed allegations of using bribes and illicit payments to win customers in the country’s intensely competitive market for drugs and other medical products. Mr. Reilly, who went to London, was replaced in July.
Mr....
Source: PharmaGossip - October 16, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Pfizer funds study: Economic burden of cancer across the European Union: a population-based cost analysis
Background
In 2008, 2·45 million people were diagnosed with cancer and 1·23 million died because of cancer in the 27 countries of the European Union (EU). We aimed to estimate the economic burden of cancer in the EU.
Methods
In a population-based cost analysis, we evaluated the cost of all cancers and also those associated with breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers. We obtained country-specific aggregate data for morbidity, mortality, and health-care resource use from international and national sources. We estimated health-care costs from expenditure on care in the primary, outpatient, emergency, and inpatient s...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 15, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Whistle-blower suit against Bayer over unsafe drug can continue: Court
By Judy Greenwald
A whistle-blower lawsuit against Bayer A.G. alleging it knowingly sold an unsafe drug to the Department of Defense can proceed based on the precision of its allegations, an appeals court has ruled.
Units of Leverkusen, Germany-based Bayer began marketing Baycol to compete with other cholesterol-lowering or statin drugs in early 1998, according to Tuesday's ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis in In re: Baycol Products Litigation.
Certain studies concluded that the drug was less effective at lowering cholesterol than competing drugs when prescribed at the dosage initially approve...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 15, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Spaniards Sue Gruenenthal Over Thalidomide
MADRID (AP) -- Some 200 Spaniards born with severe defects after their mothers used the drug thalidomide during their pregnancies decades ago took the drug's German producer to court Monday to seek 204 million euros ($277 million) in compensation.
Thalidomide was a sedative prescribed between 1950 and 1960 to combat morning sickness. Thousands of children whose mothers took the drug were born with abnormally short limbs and in some cases without any arms, legs or hips. The birth defects were reported in Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan.
Some victims have won compensation cases against drug producer Gruenenthal Group's...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 15, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Big Pharma’s Expansion Into Emerging Markets - a tale of bribery and
corruption
The drug industry is faced with two big challenges: First, declining prescription drug sales, especially in the United States, and second, losing patent protection for many profitable drugs. To make up for these down drifts, the industry is relying increasingly on new markets such as China and Africa. That expansion, however, is tainted by unsavory commercial practices.The Economist Intelligence Unit projects $166 billion in drug sales in China by 2017, making it a natural market for companies looking for further growth.In Africa, the size of the market is still small. However, the rapid growth of many big cities offers in...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 15, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Prescription drugs: are they doing you more harm than good? - by Dr Phil Hammond
How do you react to websites that claim they could save your life? Normally I pass, but having recently and reluctantly become a patient, I'm now the proud possessor of a pre-paid NHS prescription card for my two drugs a day for life. So a website pointing out questions we should ask about prescription drugs that could save your life at least got the click through from me.
To save you the hassle, here they are:
- How does this drug work, how much improvement can I expect, and how soon?
- If I don’t take this drug now, and instead wait for a while, what will happen?
- What are the most likely side effects?
- Are there any...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 14, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Mmmm bacon
(Source: PharmaGossip)
Source: PharmaGossip - October 14, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
1boringoldman hits it out of the ballpark
http://1boringoldman.com/index.php/2013/10/13/just-that-simple/#comments (Source: PharmaGossip)
Source: PharmaGossip - October 14, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
