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Total 272 results found since Jan 2013.
Cancer Drugs Fund receives boost but will no longer fund “overpriced” drugs = BMJ
Cancer Drugs Fund receives boost but will no longer fund “overpriced” drugsBMJ 2014; 349 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g5382 (Published 01 September 2014)Cite this as: BMJ 2014;349:g5382Nigel HawkesThe Cancer Drugs Fund has been given a 40% increase in funding and has agreed to remove from its list any drugs that are overpriced or produce little clinical benefit. The fund’s chairman also promised to try to align the fund’s assessments more closely with those of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).NHS England, which is responsible for the drugs fund, has agreed to increase the amount th...
Source: PharmaGossip - September 1, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Novartis fails to report side effects, fatality
6:52 pm, August 30, 2014Jiji PressNovartis Pharma K.K. said it has failed to report to the health ministry at least 2,579 cases of serious side effects, including a fatality, from its drugs for leukemia and other diseases even though its employees were aware of the problems.Of the total, 1,313 cases were related to Glivec and 514 cases to Tasigna, both drugs for leukemia treatment, and 261 cases involved cancer drug Afinitor, said the Japanese unit of Swiss drug giant Novartis AG on Friday.The findings were reported to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry the same day.Marketing employees at the firm had recognized the si...
Source: PharmaGossip - August 30, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
What Types of Health Info Do Mobile Users Seek and Is It Relevant to Advertisers?
You don't hear much about it, but pharma advertises on mobile devices. An Astellas marketing campaign for its overactive blade drug, Myrbetriq, for example, included an interstitial ad in a mobile app that drove viewers to a mobile-optimized product information Web site (listen to this Pharmaguy Audio Snippet).So, which medical conditions are most relevant for advertising by pharma on mobile devices? You might think that no matter what the platform -- PC, tablet, or mobile -- users would seek information about the same medical conditions, more or less. Thus, it's a no brainer for mobile advertisers -- just target t...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - August 6, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Astellas Mobile Mobile Advertising Myrbetriq OAB Source Type: blogs
Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey is 100
Happy 100th birthday to Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, the pharmacologist whose bold stance against inadequate drug testing saved countless newborns from the perils of thalidomide, a drug which caused severe birth defects in over 10,000 infants. On her first month on the job at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1960, the Canadian-born scientist resisted pressure from thalidomide's manufacturer to quickly approve the drug, which was already being widely prescribed in Europe as a painkiller for pregnant women. As a result of Dr. Kelsey's insistence on further safety testing, the drug was never approved in the US, saving a...
Source: PharmaGossip - July 25, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Poetry Corner - Cancer's a funny thing
J.B.S. Haldane retained his wit even while undergoing cancer treatments — he wrote this poem in a hospital in 1964:I wish I had the voice of HomerTo sing of rectal carcinoma,Which kills a lot more chaps, in fact,Than were bumped off when Troy was sacked.Yet, thanks to modern surgeon’s skills,It can be killed before it killsUpon a scientific basisIn nineteen out of twenty cases.I noticed I was passing blood(Only a few drops, not a flood).So pausing on my homeward wayFrom Tallahassee to BombayI asked a doctor, now my friend,To peer into my hinder end,To prove or to disprove the rumourThat I had a malignant tumour.They pu...
Source: PharmaGossip - July 20, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Former Novartis Japan Employee Held for Data Manipulation
A former employee of Novartis AG (NOVN)’s Japanese unit was arrested in Tokyo on charges of manipulating data on a drug study, the latest setback for the pharmaceutical company in the country.Nobuo Shirahashi, who was a director of the unit’s scientific affairs department, violated pharmaceutical law by understating side effects in a study that evaluated hypertension drug Diovan’s efficacy in cutting stroke risk and getting researchers to publish it, the Tokyo prosecutors office said in a faxed statement today.Shirahashi couldn’t be reached and Novartis Japan declined to make contact information for him or his...
Source: PharmaGossip - June 11, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Doctor Glaxo is here to teach you
GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) plans to hire doctors to educate their peers about its drugs instead of paying external speakers, a further change to its marketing practices following a record fraud settlement in the U.S.The drugmaker is also investing in improving its multichannel marketing strategy through media such as online streaming of educational content, Deirdre Connelly, head of Glaxo’s U.S. pharmaceuticals business, said in an interview in Philadelphia. The changes come at a time when London-based Glaxo is introducing products recently approved to treat skin cancer, HIV and respiratory diseases.Glaxo has been re...
Source: PharmaGossip - March 17, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
NJ jury orders drugmaker Roche to pay $1.5M at Accutane trial
Drugmaker Roche must pay more than $1.5 million in damages to a woman who developed bowel disease after using the company’s Accutane acne medicine, a jury ruled in her retrial.Officials of Basel, Switzerland-based Roche failed to properly warn Kamie Kendall’s doctors that Accutane could cause ulcerative colitis and were liable for her injuries, jurors in state court in New Jersey concluded today.It was the second trial of Kendall’s Accutane claims. A New Jersey appeals court overturned a $10.5 million verdict in 2010, ruling that a judge improperly barred Roche from using evidence about the medication’s use. Roche ...
Source: PharmaGossip - March 11, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Las Vegas trial starts Monday in multibillion-dollar liability case against Actos
By CARRI GEER THEVENOTLAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALTwo Clark County women are among thousands of plaintiffs across the country who have filed product liability lawsuits against the maker of the diabetes drug Actos.Delores Cipriano, 81, of Henderson and Bertha Triana, 80, of Las Vegas each filed lawsuits last year in District Court against Takeda Pharmaceuticals, a Japanese company that makes the prescription drug pioglitazone under the trade name Actos. Both women allege their bladder cancer was caused by the medication.Their cases have been combined, and their lawyers are scheduled to present opening statements to a jury this ...
Source: PharmaGossip - March 10, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Medtronic Sued by 1,000 Infuse Patients
by John FauberMedtronic said about 1,000 people have sued the company over its bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) product, Infuse, and that many more lawsuits may be coming.In addition, several states now are looking into sales and marketing practices involving Infuse, which is used in spine surgery.In a statement, company spokesperson Cindy Resman said the cases are in early procedural stages, and none have resulted in a finding of liability against Medtronic.Some court rulings have led to dismissals and others have limited claims."Medtronic stands behind Infuse bone graft and will vigorously defend it in cour...
Source: PharmaGossip - March 5, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
"Underreporting research is scientific misconduct"
The AllTrials campaign is an initiative of Bad Science, BMJ, Centre for Evidence-based Medicine, Cochrane Collaboration, James Lind Initiative, PLOS and Sense About Scienceand is being led in the US by Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice.The AllTrials campaign was launched in January 2013 and calls for all past and present clinical trials to be registered and their results reported. The campaign has published a detailed plan on how all clinical trials can be registered and all results report...
Source: PharmaGossip - March 4, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
As Full Disclosure Nears, Doctors’ Pay for Drug Talks Plummets
Some of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical companies have slashed payments to health professionals for promotional speeches amid heightened public scrutiny of such spending, a new ProPublica analysis shows.Eli Lilly and Co.’s payments to speakers dropped by 55 percent, from $47.9 million in 2011 to $21.6 million in 2012.Pfizer’s speaking payments fell 62 percent over the same period, from nearly $22 million to $8.3 million.And Novartis, the largest U.S. drug maker as measured by 2012 sales, spent 40 percent less on speakers that year than it did between October 2010 and September 2011, reducing payments from $24.8 m...
Source: PharmaGossip - March 4, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
“We deeply regret and apologize for the fact that our promotional activities were partially inappropriate,” - Takeda CEO
The president of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. just acknowledged that the firm engaged in what has been described as so-called “inappropriate expressions” in the marketing of one of its blood pressure medications.Yasuchika Hasegawa, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. president, recently announced in a news conference in Tokyo that the firm used what he described as “inappropriate expressions” in the way in which it promoted one of its drugs used in the treatment of high blood pressure, according to a The Wall Street Journal report. Mr. Hasegawa also said that while “inappropriate expressions” were used, his company did not ...
Source: PharmaGossip - March 3, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Three Ways to Make US Cancer Care More Affordable
By Cathy NewmanNational GeographicPUBLISHED FEBRUARY 14, 2014The malady of rising medical costs is acute, especially in the field of oncology. As populations age, new cancer cases are expected to reach 21.4 million in 2030, while treatment costs are projected to increase 40 percent by 2020.Is there a remedy? In the February 14 issue of the Lancet Oncology, doctors Ronan J. Kelly and Thomas J. Smith of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore suggest that costs can be contained without increasing risk to patients. We spoke with Dr. Smith.The United States spends tw...
Source: PharmaGossip - February 17, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Pharma companies shouldn't conduct clinical trials: Peter C Gøtzsche
Allowing pharmaceutical companies to conduct drug trials is the equivalent of a defendant alone presenting all the evidence to determine whether he is guilty or not, argues Peter C Gøtzsche, co-founder of The Cochrane Collaboration, a global independent network of health practitioners, researchers, patient advocates and others, and author of the recently released Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime: How Big Pharma Has Corrupted Healthcare. In a candid email interview withIndulekha Aravind, Denmark-based Gøtzsche, who is a specialist in internal medicine and has also worked with clinical trials and regulatory a...
Source: PharmaGossip - February 16, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
