bigpharma

Let Them Eat Zoloft

As the Senate takes up health care reform, we're sure to be treated to yet more scenes of our elected officials bending over backwards to kiss the gold-plated butts of the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. So far, just about every new turn in the health care battle is confirming what many have known for some time: The US health care system is run largely for the benefit of these corporate giants, rather than for the American people, and no piece of legislation is likely to change that fact.

Posted in bigpharma, healthcare

Report Shows Pfizer Fudged Drug Studies

CHICAGO - A study of internal company documents suggests Pfizer Inc altered or omitted unfavorable study findings to expand its epilepsy drug Neurontin's market, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday, offering a look at how drugmakers influence scientific research.

Clinical trials are supposed to answer a specific, predetermined scientific question, but a comparison of Pfizer documents and published studies on Neurontin for conditions other than epilepsy found that eight out of 20 study reports never made it into medical journals.

Posted in bigpharma

Pharma Deal With White House on Course to Net Industry Billions

The deal struck between the pharmaceutical lobby, the White House and Senate Democrats has drastically improved Big Pharma's expected profits, a private industry report finds.

IMS Health, a company that supplies the pharmaceutical companies with sales data, predicts that new health reform legislation -- combined with a projected upswing in the economy -- will result in a net gain of more than $137 billion in total market sales over the next four years. The new assessment was contained in document obtained by the Huffington Post.

Posted in bigpharma

The Swine Flu Vaccine Screw-up

If you can't find any swine flu vaccine for your kids, it won't be for a lack of positive thinking. In fact, the whole flu snafu is being blamed on "undue optimism" on the part of both the Obama administration and Big Pharma.

Posted in bigpharma, public health

Drugmakers, Doctors Rake in Billions Battling H1N1 Flu

Americans are still debating whether to roll up their sleeves for a swine flu shot, but companies have already figured it out: vaccines are good for business.

Drug companies have sold $1.5 billion worth of swine flu shots, in addition to the $1 billion for seasonal flu they booked earlier this year. These inoculations are part of a much wider and rapidly growing $20 billion global vaccine market.

Posted in bigpharma

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 25, 2009
3:09 PM

CONTACT: Center for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health (CPATH)
Massey Media, 202-518-6186; Anne Singer, 202-271-4679

CAFTA Raises Prices, Limits Availability of Life Saving Drugs for US Trade Partners

Pioneering Study of Guatemalan Drug Market Shows Costs of PhRMA-driven Policies

WASHINGTON - August 25 - In a report published online today in the peer-reviewed journal Health Affairs, researchers for the first time demonstrate how the U.S. - Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) keeps lower-priced generic versions of life-saving drugs off the shelves and out of the hands of some of the poorest people in our hemisphere. Guatemala is increasingly unable to produce or import affordable medicines because of intellectual property provisions in the trade deal that were demanded by the U.S. pharmaceutical industry and have been aggressively enforced by the U.S.

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The Center for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health (CPATH) is a project of the Center for Policy Analysis, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving population health in the United States and internationally. CPATH is a widely recognized leader and a reliable resource in the debates on global trade and health. CPATH has encouraged public health leaders to articulate their stake in protecting public accountability.

CPATH conducts multi-disciplinary research, analysis and advocacy about the impact of international trade and increased privatization, deregulation, and decentralization of vital human services on health. Focusing on the relationship between trade and health, CPATH has assessed the impact of trade agreements and proposals, including NAFTA, GATS, FTAA, and World Trade Organization disciplines, on the health care system in the United States, including "safety net" services such as community clinics and public hospitals, and on domestic regulations in the United States that protect population health which might be subject to challenge as unnecessary barriers to trade.

Health Affairs, published by Project HOPE, is the leading journal of health policy. The peer-reviewed journal appears bimonthly in print, with additional online-only papers published weekly as Health Affairs Web Exclusives at www.healthaffairs.org. The full text of each Health Affairs Web Exclusive is available free of charge to all Web site visitors for a two-week period following posting, after which it switches to pay-per-view for nonsubscribers. Web Exclusives are supported in part by a grant from the Commonwealth Foundation.

Posted in bigpharma, Economy/Trade, public health

How the White House's Deal With Big Pharma Undermines Democracy

I'm a strong supporter of universal health insurance, and a fan of the Obama administration. But I'm appalled by the deal the White House has made with the pharmaceutical industry's lobbying arm to buy their support.

Posted in bigpharma, healthcare, Politics

Obama Reverses Stand on Drug Industry Deal

WASHINGTON — Caught between a pivotal industry ally and the protests of Congressional Democrats, the Obama administration on Friday backed away from what drug industry lobbyists had said this week was a firm White House promise to exclude from a proposed health care overhaul the possibility of allowing the government to negotiate lower drug prices under Medicare.

The reversal underscored the delicate ba

Posted in bigpharma, healthcare, lobbyists

Obama Gives Powerful Drug Lobby a Seat at Healthcare Table

Reporting from Washington -- As a candidate for president, Barack Obama lambasted drug companies and the influence they wielded in Washington. He even ran a television ad targeting the industry's chief lobbyist, former Louisiana congressman Billy Tauzin, and the role Tauzin played in preventing Medicare from negotiating for lower drug prices.

Posted in bigpharma

Congress's $1.2 Million a Day Drug Habit—and Pharma's Phony "Gift" to Health Care Reform

Big Pharma pulled off a first-class PR coup last week with its widely celebrated pledge to support health care reform by offering up a package of discounts they claim will run to $80 billion over the next ten years. The highlight of the package, said to be worth about $30 billion, is a 50 percent discount offered to old and disabled people who fall into the "donut hole," the notorious coverage gap in the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, which leaves some of us paying as much as $3,000 out of pocket for our meds.

Posted in bigpharma, healthcare, lobbyists