drug companies

Drug Makers Raising Prices On Prescription Medicines Because They Can

Drug Makers Raising Prices On Prescription Medicines Because They Can

Imatinib, a cancer drug sold under the name Gleevec by Novartis, is a life-saving and life-prolonging medication. The question for many patients, however, is: how much are they willing to pay to prolong their lives, and how much profit a company can make from one medication before it becomes immoral. [More]

Pfizer To Pay $60 Million To Settle Bribery Allegations

Pfizer To Pay $60 Million To Settle Bribery Allegations

Drug giant Pfizer will have to squirt out $60 million in order to settle allegations from the feds that it bribed foreign companies, violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which forbids companies from making deals by paying off foreign officials. [More]

Congressman Investigates Possible Drug Distributors' Price Gouging

Congressman Investigates Possible Drug Distributors' Price Gouging

Investigating allegations that several drug distributors are buying scarce drugs and reselling them at massive profit to hospitals, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has started an investigation. The congressman has requested documentation of what the distributors paid for the drugs and the amounts at which they’re reselling them. [More]

Stanford U Investigates A Dozen Docs For Taking Pharma Payola

Stanford U Investigates A Dozen Docs For Taking Pharma Payola

Twelve doctors at Stanford University Medical School are under investigation by the school’s disciplinary board after their names cropped up in a database of docs getting paid big bucks by pharmaceutical companies for speaking gigs, a violation of school policy. [More]

5 Drugs That Will Never Cure You

5 Drugs That Will Never Cure You

If you want to make a lot of money, invent a drug that treats chronic conditions without ridding patients of symptoms entirely. Your customers will be on the hook for your product for the rest of their lives, boosting your bottom line all the while. [More]

Drug Rep Accidentally Emails Consumer Truth About Overpriced Pills

Drug Rep Accidentally Emails Consumer Truth About Overpriced Pills

Reddit user TheKarateKid says he emailed a major drug company asking why their $500 version of a $10 generic is worth the $490 markup. The drug company rep accidentally emailed the customer back this message intended for her colleague. [More]

Counterfeit Drugs Made In China Relabeled "Made In India"

Counterfeit Drugs Made In China Relabeled "Made In India"

The Chinese poison train makes plenty of stops outside of the United States. When those stops are in developing countries, bad things can happen. Even worse things happen when dangerous products from China are intentionally mislabeled as being from another country. Say, India.

Ask The Consumerists: Should Everyone Take Advantage Of $4 Generics?

Ask The Consumerists: Should Everyone Take Advantage Of $4 Generics?

Back in April, reader B. e-mailed the Consumerist tipline about a change to his health insurance plan’s prescription drug schedule. It raised a drug that he’s taken for years, the generic version of Prozac, to a different schedule—more than tripling B.’s co-pay, from $8 to $25.

Pfizer Offers Free Medication To Unemployed Or Uninsured Patients

Pfizer Offers Free Medication To Unemployed Or Uninsured Patients

It’s hard for journalists (and bloggers) to resist a story that they can entitle “Free Viagra,” and pharmaceutical company Pfizer knows it. This recent publicity stunt is still newsworthy even without that headline, because of its purpose, and the problem for drug companies that it illustrates.

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Starting January 1, drug companies will implement a voluntary moratorium on branded goodies from drug companies.

Dem Gains Make Big Pharma Queasy

Dem Gains Make Big Pharma Queasy

In other news, Democratic control of Congress cured our dyspepsia. — BEN POPKEN

Acne Treatment, not Acne, Triggers Suicide?

Acne Treatment, not Acne, Triggers Suicide?

Is that big zit on your nose making you want to die? No, like, really? Because it might be your medicine, and not the fact that when it heals you’re going to look like Tommy Lee Jones.