Earlier this week, we told you how a Senate committee was investigating huge price hikes on a handful of niche-market prescription drugs. The companies involved in those probes are generally newer, smaller operations — but it looks like two much bigger names in the pharmaceuticals industry are also being asked about the prices of their drugs. [More]
eli lilly
FDA Finally Warns Drug Company Against Selling Antibiotic As A Pig-Fattener
By 5.15.15
A year after public health advocates called out drug maker Novartis for continuing to actively market a particular antibiotic as a product farmers could use to fatten up their pigs, the FDA has finally gotten around to issuing a warning. [More]
Here’s Why The FDA’s Antibiotics-In-Agriculture Policy Is A Charade
By 6.30.14
Imagine you’re one of only a handful of businesses in the U.S. making a very profitable and lucrative product. Then come new rules that should have the effect of slashing your business drastically and probably weeding out what little competition there is in the market. You’d fight back, especially if you’re part of an industry that is known for tossing money around to get what you want. So why is the drug industry not up in arms about the FDA policy aimed at curbing the use of antibiotics in farm animals? Because it’s not doing anything. [More]
Cialis One Step Closer To Being Available Over The Counter
By 5.28.14
Good news for couples who enjoy holding hands while sitting outside in separate tubs that have no attached plumbing — the makers of Cialis are going to ask federal regulators to consider an over-the-counter version of the popular erectile dysfunction drug. [More]
Pharmaceutical Companies Face $9B In Punitive Damages For Concealing Cancer Risks
By 4.8.14
A Japanese drug maker is facing higher punitive damages for allegedly concealing the cancer risks associated with a diabetes drug than those dished out in the past by federal juries. [More]
Govt. To Publish Data On What Drug & Device Makers Pay To Individual Doctors & Hospitals
By 2.1.13
Want to know if your doctor is receiving free lunches and other perks from Pfizer, GSK or some other huge player in the pharmaceuticals or medical device business? Starting in Sept. 2014, that information will be made available to consumers courtesy of the federal government. [More]
Stanford U Investigates A Dozen Docs For Taking Pharma Payola
By 12.21.10
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]
Epic Prozac Heist: Thieves Steal $75 Million Worth Of Drugs
By 3.17.10
Police in Enfield, CT say that a “well-planned” burglary of an Eli Lilly warehouse netted some criminals $75 million worth of Prozac, Cymbalta and Zyprexa. [More]
Al Franken: How Many Medical Bankruptcies Are There In Switzerland?
By 10.26.09
We stray into politics often at our peril but I had to share this clip of Sen. Franken kneecapping a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute conservative think tank. In what was supposed to be a hearing on the Medical Bankruptcy Fairness Act, Diana Furchtgott-Roth instead used her testimony to pillory against health care reform proposals not even being discussed. After Sen. Whitehouse asks her if she even read the bill at hand, Sen. Franken goes: “You said the way we’re going will increase bankruptcies…How many bankruptcies because of medical crises were there last year in Switzerland?”
Eli Lilly Promoted Drug For Unapproved Use
By 12.18.06
Drugmaker Eli Lilly pushed physicians to prescribe Zyprexa, a drug for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, to patients having neither condition, NYT reports.
