Diuretic or Calcium Channel Blocker for CKD
It has been suggested by researchers that the diuretic clorthalidone should be the first line of antihypertensive therapy with a few caveats. Firstly in the presence of certain co-morbidities other drugs with a proven track record of reducing end organ damage should be instituted as first line instead. Thus it has been suggested that in patients with diabetic kidney disease and angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) be commenced early due to its proven reno-protective effects in type 2 diabetics with kidney disease.
The results of the ACCOMPLISH trial as reported in the LANCET may change the above approach. From the available ...
Source: All Kidney News - September 29, 2015 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: jadhavbca Tags: Kidney News ACCOMPLISH Calcium Channel Blocker CKD DIOVAN Source Type: blogs
Novartis Kickback Case Will Continue, Rules Federal Judge; What We Can Glean From the Ruling
Novartis must continue to litigate over its speaker programs, District Court Judge Paul G. Gardephe ruled earlier this month. Judge Gardephe denied Novartis’s Motion to Dismiss the U.S. Government’s allegations that the company's cardiovascular division violated Federal and New York anti-kickback statutes. The case started out in 2011, when a former Novartis sales rep, Oswald Bilotta, targeted lavish Novartis-sponsored speaker programs in a qui tam whistleblower case the government later joined.
As we have written about on many occasions, kickbacks to doctors constitute per se “false claims” for purposes of the Fal...
Source: Policy and Medicine - October 29, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Novartis gave doctors thousands to prescribe pills, feds allege
By KATHLEEN KERR kathleen.kerr@newsday.comDr. Howard Brand says he had one goal when he gave a speech at a Miami hotel in the early 2000s -- to tout the diabetes pill Starlix for the pharmaceutical company Novartis.The giant Swiss drugmaker, which reported $57.9 billion in global sales in 2013, paid the Stony Brook endocrinologist $1,500 for his talk at a doctors' meeting, Brand said in an interview. Novartis also paid for Brand's airfare and his weekend hotel stay, he said."It was self-serving, but I also thought it was a benefit to patients," said Brand, who explained that his expenses-paid weekend in Flo...
Source: PharmaGossip - March 16, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Novartis gave doctors thousands to prescribe pills, feds allege
GooglePin ItOriginally published: March 15, 2014 7:41 PMUpdated: March 15, 2014 8:26 PMBy KATHLEEN KERR kathleen.kerr@newsday.comAn illuminated logo sits above windows at Novartis AG's headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, on Tuesday, July, 16, 2013. (Credit: Bloomberg / Gianluca Colla)Dr. Howard Brand says he had one goal when he gave a speech at a Miami hotel in the early 2000s -- to tout the diabetes pill Starlix for the pharmaceutical company Novartis.The giant Swiss drugmaker, which reported $57.9 billion in global sales in 2013, paid the Stony Brook endocrinologist $1,500 for his talk at a doctors'...
Source: PharmaGossip - March 16, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Summary of Recent Settlements Novartis, Amgen and Boehringer Ingelheim
Discussion
In light of these cases, and in particular, the Novartis kickback case, Jose Sierra, a white collar lawyer who writes for the blog pharmarisc, proposed several factors for companies to consider.
Companies must ensure close monitoring of speaker programs to ensure compliance with internal policies and CIA requirements
For "front-end" controls, he recommends that companies should adopt a system in which no speaker program is scheduled without 6-10 "RSVPs" from invited doctors. "You need this many RSVPs because half the doctors never show up and 3-5 attendees are needed to pass the laugh test....
Source: Policy and Medicine - July 19, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Novartis Wines -- er, Beers -- and Dines Docs at Hooters!
The U.S. Justice Department announced yesterday that it has filed a second civil false claims lawsuit against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. involving alleged kickbacks paid by the company to health care providers (read the details here).DOJ claims that Novartis violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying doctors to speak about certain drugs, including its hypertension drugs Lotrel and Valturna and its diabetes drug Starlix, at events that were often little or nothing more than social occasions for the doctors. The payments and lavish dinners given to the doctors were, in reality, kickbacks to the speakers and attendees t...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - April 27, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Physician Education Physician Marketing DOJ Gifts to Physicians Novartis Source Type: blogs
U.S. files second lawsuit accusing Novartis of kickbacks
via dailypress.com The government accused Novartis of causing the Medicare and Medicaid programs to pay millions of dollars in reimbursements based on kickback-tainted claims for drugs such as hypertension drugs Lotrel and Valturna and diabetes drug Starlix. Posted via email from Jack's posterous (Source: PharmaGossip)
Source: PharmaGossip - April 26, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
