Big pharma News

Op-Ed: Congress and Big Pharma lobby created opioid epidemic in U.S. By Karen Graham The opioid epidemic in the U.S. is getting worse by the day and to many of us, Big Pharma has Congress by the short hairs in order to protect their $9 billion a year in profits. Well, apparently, this is exactly what's happening.

Peeking at the payments made to doctors By Tim Sandle London - New figures, relating to the U.K., reveal some of the payments made by pharmaceutical companies to the medical profession. The key word is “some”, since the declarations remain voluntary.

Pharma News: New products and new health initiatives announced By Tim Sandle In the latest pharmaceutical news round-up there is a new push to eliminate polio, a new treatment for COPD, and unfortunate news that a patient has died after taking an anti-psychotic medication.

AstraZeneca to sequence 2 million genomes By Tim Sandle Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is to embark on an ambitious project that will see the drugs giant sequence 2 million genomes in the quest for new candidate drug products.

Mixed news for Novartis By Tim Sandle Pharmaceutical company Novartis experienced mixed results during the first quarter of 2016. Sales showed a decline, however the company is preparing to launch a significant new anti-seizure medication.

Pharmaceutical sector round-up: Legal action dominates By Tim Sandle As we do at regular intervals, Digital Journal dips into the latest news stories relating to the colorful world of pharmaceuticals. This week there are new drugs announced and old scores to settle.

GSK fined for making deals with competitors By Tim Sandle London - Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), together with several generics companies, has been fined for being anti-competitive and keeping the price of an anti-depressant drug artificially high.

Medical devices begin to harness wireless technology By Tim Sandle Medical devices are becoming the latest equipment to utilize the Internet to collect data and to send alerts. Here ‘smart inhalers’ are leading the way, with the first commercial units expected within a year. We take a look at the latest developments.

Big Pharma wants governments to pay for new antibiotics By Tim Sandle Human society needs a new generation of antimicrobials to overcome the problem of multi-drug resistance. A key question stemming from this is who should pick up the bill?

Most clinical trials today are funded by Big Pharma By Tim Sandle Concerns have been expressed over the past few years about the independence of clinical trials, due to the funding of some trials by corporations with vested interests. New data suggests this is now the norm rather than the exception.

The world’s biggest pharma company created By Tim Sandle Two big deals in the world of pharmaceuticals have been announced this week. Pfizer has announced it is to merge with Allergan; and Shire is making a bid for Baxalta.

Many pharma companies failing the clinical trials test By Tim Sandle London - The Good Pharma Scorecard is a system that ranks drugs based on their transparency and ethical practices. A review of some big pharma companies reveals several inconsistencies.

Bernie Sanders rejects pharma CEO Martin Shkreli's donation By Phyllis Smith Asinyanbi Washington - Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders campaign received a maximum individual donation of $2,700 from Mark Shkreli, Turing Pharmaceutical CEO, who's been branded as the Big Pharma "poster boy" by a Sander's staffer.

Lubrizol, GSK and Purdue announce takeovers and partnerships By Tim Sandle It has been a busy week in the pharmaceutical sector, with big players Lubrizol, GSK and Purdue announcing acquisitions or partnerships with other pharmaceutical companies.

Declaring links to drug companies to become mandatory By Tim Sandle London - Medical doctors and other health officials could be instructed to declare all financial links to pharmaceutical companies. New plans are being drawn up in the U.K. to make this mandatory.

High figures paid by pharma companies to doctors revealed By Tim Sandle The latest figures for the amount of money spent by the pharmaceutical industry on the medical profession for the U.K. has been revealed — £41 million ($60 million). This is dwarfed by the amount spent in the U.S.

Mix of successes and failures for Big Pharma By Tim Sandle It has been a mixed week for the pharmaceutical sector in terms of drug development, with success for Novartis and disappointing news for Boehringer and Vitae Pharma. Digital Journal reports on the latest news.

Big Pharma: Alexion buys Synageva By Tim Sandle Pharma company Alexion, which specializes in rare disease research, has purchased a smaller drug developer, Synageva biopharmaceuticals, for over $8 billion.

Op-Ed: The patent gene debate: who owns your genes? By Tim Sandle The Federal Court of Australia has rejected an appeal of a ruling that allows companies to patent isolated human genes. This reignites the debate: who owns your genes - you or the company that extracts them?

U.K. drug companies more open on animal research By Tim Sandle Several U.K. research groups have agreed to publicly disclose more information about their animal subjects and the number of animal experiments undertaken each year.

Is government needed for antibiotic development? By Tim Sandle Major pharmaceutical companies are hindering the development of new antibiotics, according to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (U.K.).

Drugmakers ordered to pay $9 billion for hiding cancer risks By Jeannie Stokowski-Bisanti Japan's biggest pharmaceutical company has been hit with a $6 billion penalty for concealing cancer risks associated with its Actos diabetes drug while Eli Lilly and Co, Takeda's co-defendant in the case, was ordered to pay $3 billion in punitive damages.

You might not be able to afford this life-saving Hepatitis C drug By Kaiser Health News There's a new drug regimen being touted as a potential cure for a dangerous liver virus that causes hepatitis C. But it costs $84,000 -- or $1,000 a pill.

'Big pharma' is not necessarily the most successful By Tim Sandle The size of a company and its economic resources is not tied to getting a drug to market, according to a new report. The success of small companies sometimes challenges the might of "big pharma."

Op-Ed: Can 'Big Pharma' move towards greater transparency? By Tim Sandle In a move described as 'transparent', the major drugs companies have agreed to share data from clinical trials with researchers, patients, and the public.

Campaign launched for African healthcare workers By Tim Sandle A campaign has been launched to provide training for healthcare providers in sub-Saharan Africa. This is part of UN sustainable development initiative.

Big Pharma pays record money to medical doctors By Tim Sandle Spending by major pharmaceutical companies to U.S. doctors exceeded $1 billion in 2012, according to some newly released figures.

Cancer drug prices 'could put patients at risk' By Tim Sandle A group of medics have warned that the inflated prices charged by pharmaceutical firms for drugs to treat cancer are threatening patients' lives.

AstraZeneca announces massive job cuts By Tim Sandle The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has announced two rounds of significant job cuts in an attempt to boots its profitability.

Missouri pharma company fined $2.5 million for polluting river By Tim Sandle The pharma company Teva has been fined by U.S. authorities for pumping a fluorescent green discharge into a river at its plant in northeast Missouri.

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