Blaming Obamacare is the wrong diagnosis
The Wall Street Journal began the week by publishing a provocative essay in which a young man suggested Obamacare kept his mother from getting appropriate medicine for her cancer. The writer crafted a poignant story about his mother, who sounds like a good person with a bad disease.
Mainstream media buzzes with these types of stories. The Obamacare-is-the-problem narrative fits quite well on conservative news outlets.
The problem, as it so often is, is in the details.
The story here begins with a familiar first chapter: the writer’s mother had good insurance coverage but then it was cancelled. Next came her struggle...
Source: Dr John M - February 25, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr John 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
GlaxoChinaGate contd. - Behind the China Bribery Scandals
By Adeline Siew, Editor, Pharmaceutical Executive Europe.
The last few weeks have seen the media swamped with stories about the rampant bribery clawing the pharmaceutical industry in China. Big names were engulfed in the scandal, including GSK, AstraZeneca, Sanofi, Novartis, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and UCB amongst others.
Last month, four GSK executives were put under investigation for allegedly paying up to $480 million to doctors, hospital administrators, government officials and medical groups to promote the use of its medications. The limelight then shifted to Sanofi when some of its employees were accused of paying ...
Source: PharmaGossip - August 28, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Li Li Gate contd. - Novartis Says Employee Alleging Kickbacks Asked for Compensation
Novartis AG (NOVN) said a former employee who alleges the Swiss drugmaker asked her to give doctors kickbacks for sales has made a 5 million-yuan ($817,000) compensation claim against the company.
Novartis spokesman Eric Althoff confirmed the woman has filed a complaint with Chinese authorities, without further specifying the nature of the accusation, citing an internal investigation at the Basel-based drugmaker.
The former employee, identified by the pseudonym Li Li, said her manager told her to spend 50,000 yuan to sell 50 doses of the Sandostatin LAR stomach cancer medication, according to a r...
Source: PharmaGossip - August 14, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
ChinaGate Now Engulfs Novartis As A Sales Rep Alleges Bribes
The latest drugmaker to become implicated in the bribery scandal overtaking the global pharmaceutical industry in China is Novartis. A former sales rep alleges the drugmaker offered bribes to doctors in some hospitals to drive sales of its Sandostatin LAR medication, which is used to treat cancers of the stomach, intestine and pancreas, The Shanghai Daily writes, citing a report in the 21st Century Business Herald.
The rep, who was only identified as ‘Li Li,’ claims she was ordered to ensure that nearly $105,000 in sales were achieved by providing about $8,000 to doctors. The bribe was purportedly suggested by a superv...
Source: Pharmalot - August 13, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
ChinaGate latest. Novartis Saleswoman claims she was told to bribe doctors. By Ding Yining and Cai Wenjun
SWISS drug giant Novartis is alleged to have offered bribes to doctors in some Chinese hospitals to drive sales for one of its oncology medicines.
A sales representative who used to work for Novartis claimed she was ordered by her manager to secure 650,000 yuan (US$104,839) of sales of Novartis’ Sandostatin LAR by providing 50,000 yuan of “funds” to doctors, the 21st Century Business Herald reported yesterday.
Sandostatin LAR is used to treat rare cancers of the stomach, intestine or pancreas.
The saleswoman, only identified by the pseudonym “Li Li,” told the newspaper that the sales targets for Sandostatin LA...
Source: PharmaGossip - August 13, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
