pharmaceutical industry

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Report: FDA Has Fallen Far Behind in Drug Plant Checks

More than 2K plants are overdue for inspection

(Newser) - Federal regulators responsible for the safety of the US drug supply are still struggling to get back to where they were in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic upended factory inspections in the US and across the world. An AP analysis of Food and Drug Administration data shows that agency staffers...

Summer Heat Is a Big Problem for Mail-Order Medication

High temperatures in transit cause medications to lose potency

(Newser) - Hotter summer temperatures and the expansion of delivery of medication by mail have made a longstanding problem worse. Doctors and pharmacists are warning that many medications being sent through the mail are being overheated, which could have dangerous consequences, the New York Times reports. Dr. Mike Ren at the Baylor...

Asthma Sufferers Brace for 'Huge Shock to the System'

As of Monday, popular Flovent inhaler will no longer be available in US; generic version will replace it

(Newser) - An inhaler commonly used by people with asthma has just a few days left on drugstore shelves. Fast Company reports that as of Monday, Flovent will be officially discontinued in US pharmacies, though manufacturer GSK says an authorized generic version will take its place. In a November statement , the drugmaker...

CVS Is Planning a Big Change to How It Prices Drugs

Company says new system will be much more transparent

(Newser) - The nation's biggest drugstore chain is planning a massive overhaul of how it prices prescription drugs. CVS Health says it is shifting from the current complex and opaque pricing model to a simpler, more transparent system based on what its pharmacies actually pay for the drugs, plus a set...

Pfizer Buys 'Goose That Is Laying the Golden Eggs'
Pfizer Buys 'Goose That Is
Laying the Golden Eggs'
the rundown
Mar 14, 2023 10:10 AM CDT

Pfizer Buys 'Goose That Is Laying the Golden Eggs'

It will acquire cancer biotech firm Seagen, which specializes in ADC treatments, for $43M

(Newser) - It's not Pfizer's priciest acquisition by a long shot , but the numbers are staggering anyway: The pharma giant will pay $43 billion in cash for Seagen, a cancer biotech company that has yet to be profitable. What you need to know:
  • What Seagen does. The Washington-based company uses
...

'Pharma Bro' Is Making Headlines Again

FTC wants Martin Shkreli held in contempt for impeding probe into ban on working in industry

(Newser) - It's been awhile since Martin Shkreli dominated the headlines, but he appears to be making somewhat of a comeback after his release from prison last year. In January 2022, the former pharmaceuticals executive deemed "Pharma Bro" by the media was ordered by a federal judge to return nearly...

Labor Shortage Affects Drugstores' Adderall Supply

Chains report no problems, but many independents have to adapt

(Newser) - A supply interruption is making it difficult for some independent pharmacies in the US to fill prescriptions for Adderall. There's no shortage overall of the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder medication, the Food and Drug Administration has found. But one manufacturer, Teva Pharmaceuticals, said it's had a labor shortage on its...

Deaths Spike as OD Antidote Price Soars

Expert attributes thousands of deaths to greed amid naxolone supply issues

(Newser) - The US has seen a record high in overdose deaths during the pandemic, and an addiction expert says "we can expect even more fatal overdoses" now that a medication that reverses overdoses has jumped up to 30 times in price. The Opioid Safety and Naloxone Network Buyers Club, a...

Experts Wary as Date Rape Drug Wins New Approval

GHB will be used for a rare sleep disroder

(Newser) - Imagine how cranky and tired you'd feel after a bad night's sleep. Now imagine that's your daily reality. For the estimated 37,000 Americans diagnosed with idiopathic hypersomnia , who never feel fully rested even after a long night's sleep, it is, per Reuters . But according to...

Pharma Memos Mocked Customers as 'Pillbillies'

Disparaging rhymes and emails show contempt as opioid problem grew: lawyer

(Newser) - Pharmaceutical executives mocked their customers as hillbillies, disparaging them in rhymes even as the companies poured pills into Appalachia and opioid addiction rates and overdoses rose. One email told of Jed, for example, "a poor mountaineer" who "barely kept his habit fed." Another rhyme referred to Kentucky...

Shkreli Once Again in Hot Water Over Pricey Drug

'Pharma Bro' sued by FTC, New York AG over Daraprim

(Newser) - Martin Shkreli's original controversy is back in the headlines. The disgraced CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals first gained infamy back in 2015 when his company jacked the price of Daraprim, a lifesaving drug that treats the parasitic infection toxoplasmosis, by 5,000%. Then he went to prison over an unrelated...

Lawsuit: Drug Firms Acted Like a Cartel. Now, a $260M Deal

Ohio's Summit, Cuyahoga counties to be paid by 4 major companies for their role in opioid epidemic

(Newser) - Two counties in Ohio could have pulled in $8 billion if they'd won their legal battle in court against Big Pharma. Instead, in an 11th-hour deal, they've settled for $260 million against three major distributors and a manufacturer for their role in the opioid epidemic, the Wall Street ...

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...

Trump Administration Makes Big Move on Pharmaceuticals

Americans will be allowed to import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada

(Newser) - The Trump administration said Wednesday it will set up a system to allow Americans to legally import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada, weakening a long-standing ban that had stood as a top priority for the politically powerful pharmaceutical industry. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar made the announcement Wednesday...

This Is the First State to Cap the Price of Insulin

'The days of insulin price gouging are over in Colorado'

(Newser) - With the soaring price of insulin forcing some diabetics to ration the drug , Colorado has become the first state to introduce a price cap. The state has introduced a law that caps the price of co-pays for insured patients to $100 a month, USA Today reports. "The days of...

A Tweak to TV Ads for Prescription Drugs Is Coming

Prices will have to be included

(Newser) - Those ever-present TV ads for prescription drugs will soon reveal prices, too, the nation's top health official said Wednesday, responding to a public outcry for government action to restrain medication costs. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the Trump administration has finalized regulations that will require drug...

Pharma Exec Convicted in Sensational Opioid Case

John Kapoor's Insys Therapeutics used illegal tactics to sell its fentanyl spray

(Newser) - A pharmaceutical company founder accused of paying doctors millions in bribes to prescribe a highly addictive fentanyl spray was convicted Thursday in a case that exposed such marketing tactics as using a stripper-turned-sales-rep to give a physician a lap dance. John Kapoor, the 76-year-old former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was...

Popular Diabetes Drug Gets Half-Priced Alternative

Eli Lilly announces 'authorized generic' version of Humalog insulin

(Newser) - Drug-maker Eli Lilly is coming out with a half-priced version of its popular insulin Humalog. In fact, the drug called Insulin Lispro will be identical to Humalog except for its packaging and its price—it will cost $137.50 per vial, or 50% less than Humalog, reports the New York ...

Drugmaker Makes Big Change to TV Ads

Johnson & Johnson will do what has never been done before

(Newser) - Johnson & Johnson said Thursday it will start giving the list price of its prescription drugs in television ads, the AP reports. The company would be the first drugmaker to take that step. The health care giant will begin with its popular blood thinner, Xarelto, says Scott White, head of...

Sanders Demands to Know Why Drug Went From Free to $375K

The medication, Firdapse, treats a rare neuromuscular disease

(Newser) - Calling it corporate greed, Bernie Sanders wants a pharmaceutical company's justification for why it charges $375,000 per year for a drug that used to be free. "I am profoundly concerned that Catalyst's actions will cause patients to suffer or die," the Vermont senator and possible...

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