drug companies

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Combo Heart Pills Enter Trials in London

The cheap drugs could halve deaths from heart attack, stroke

(Newser) - Trials begin this week in London on a cheap "polypill" that could cut heart attack and stroke deaths in half worldwide, the Guardian reports. The pill combines four drugs—aspirin, a cholesterol-lowering statin, an ACE inhibitor, and thiazine to battle high blood pressure. The aim is to sell it—...

Scientists Still Question Popular Drugs Zetia, Vytorin

Much-prescribed cholesterol medicines may not reduce risk of heart disease, death

(Newser) - Some cholesterol medicines have shown no indication they actually work—but that hasn’t stopped doctors from heavily prescribing them, the New York Times reports. Short trials of Zetia and Vytorin, known generically as ezetimibe, showed no evidence they reduced risk of heart attack or cardiovascular disease, while tests raised...

FDA Orders Urgent Warning About Cipro

'Black box' caution on tendon rupture includes similar antibiotics

(Newser) - The FDA today mandated urgent “black box” warning labels on Cipro and other antibiotics of the powerful flouroquinolone family of drugs. The antibiotics carry a risk of tendinitis and tendon rupture, which could leave patients severely disabled, the AP reports. Particularly vulnerable are those over 60 and patients who...

Study: Drug Ads Misleading. No, Really.

Big pharma uses tricks, distractions to veil harmful side-effects

(Newser) - Drug ads are multiplying on TV, and manufacturers are starting to advertise medical equipment used in invasive procedures, so now might be a good time to wonder what the spots are telling us. Not as much as they should, Time reports. An independent researcher has found drug companies are using...

'Experts' Too Often Feeding From Industry Troughs

Press misses, ignores where funds come from

(Newser) - Media consumers, beware: that assertive, well-versed, trustworthy "expert" may in fact be an industry shill, Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer write on Slate. Journalists across the board, and even some radio hosts, are failing to disclose financial ties to various industries—drug companies being a prime example—fudging the...

Congress to Probe 'Misleading' Drug Ads

Cholesterol, anemia drugs in spotlight

(Newser) - A congressional panel will examine three ad campaigns as part of a move to tighten regulations on drug companies' direct-to-consumer marketing, the Wall Street Journal reports. The committee will focus on ads for cholesterol drugs Vytorin and Lipitor, and anemia drug Procrit, which has been promoted as an anti-fatigue drug...

Some Docs Snub Handouts From Drug Firms

Researchers forgo consulting fees to protect reputations

(Newser) - Academic scientists are retreating from their traditional cushy advisory roles with drug and medical companies or doing work pro bono, the New York Times reports. Researchers offered fees for advice once didn't think twice. “People thought they were suckers if they didn’t,” one med school professor says....

Insurers Quietly Hike Rx Costs
Insurers
Quietly Hike
Rx Costs
Apr 14, 2008 9:47 AM CDT

Insurers Quietly Hike Rx Costs

Plans slip in soaring co-pays for most expensive drugs

(Newser) - Pricey prescription drugs are getting pricier, and, the New York Times reports, insurance companies are asking patients to shoulder more of the burden. Insurers are quietly phasing out traditional drug plans, which charge a fixed co-pay of $20 or $30 to fill a prescription, in favor of so-called Tier 4...

Doc: Merck Fudged Minutes of Meeting

Vytorin probe challeges firm's account of delay in trial results

(Newser) - Merck's "minutes" of a meeting of heart doctors discussing cholesterol drug Vytorin were created a month after the meeting and distorted the viewpoints of the experts, one panel member changes. The drug company submitted the document to congressional investigators probing its two-year delay in releasing a report saying the...

Blood Test May Predict Dementia 6 Years Early

Some worry over boost in insurance costs; others want wider study

(Newser) - A new blood test can warn of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases six years before symptoms appear, its makers say. The assessment, set to launch this summer, could allow patients to begin fighting the ailments early with through dietary changes, exercise and drugs, the Daily Mail reports. But some...

Firms Hid Bad News on Heart Drugs 2 Years: Doc

Merck and Schering-Plough delayed trial results on Vytorin, Zetia

(Newser) - A scientist hired by two drug companies to conduct trials of cholesterol-lowering drugs accused the firms of deliberately delaying release of the results, the New York Times reports. The results for the Vytorin and Zetia trials—which showed the drugs don't work to reduce plaque in arteries—were not released...

Prices Jump for Top Drugs
Prices Jump for Top Drugs
Feb 21, 2008 4:45 AM CST

Prices Jump for Top Drugs

Drug giants collect now against expected future losses

(Newser) - Drug companies have slapped a series of huge price hikes on some prescription drugs ahead of drug patent expirations, the Wall Street Journal reports. GlaxoSmithKline has raised the price of antidepressant Wellbutrin 44.5%, while Sanofi-Aventis hiked Ambien's price 70%. Wholesale prices for the top 50 drugs increased an average...

Deaths Spark FDA Review of Botox Safety

'Off-label' use under scrutiny after fatalities, severe reactions

(Newser) - The FDA is investigating the safety of Botox and a competing medication after learning that the drug might have caused death and breathing problems in children being treated for cerebral palsy, Reuters reports. That's not an approved use for the cosmetic drug; docs administer it because it can block nerve...

Quaids Sue Drug Firm Over OD
Quaids Sue Drug Firm Over OD
Dec 5, 2007 9:00 AM CST

Quaids Sue Drug Firm Over OD

Actor alleges packaging led to infants' nearly fatal overdose

(Newser) - Actor Dennis Quaid and his wife filed a lawsuit against Baxter International, maker of the blood thinner Heparin, after their newborn twins nearly died of an overdose, the Chicago Tribune reports. The couple said Baxter was negligent because it packaged two different strengths of the drug, one a thousand times...

Cancer Still Winning War ...on Cancer

Drugs extend life, but can't stop deadly spread of disease

(Newser) - Nixon declared war on cancer in '71, but $69 billion in funding and claims of near victory are yet to slow it down, the Boston Globe reports. No one knows what makes it spread—and trigger 90% of cancer deaths—and a drop in deaths is due to lifestyle changes...

FDA Advisers Reject Cold Meds for Kids

Popular remedies don't work and aren't safe for for children under 6

(Newser) - Over-the-counter cold medicines are dangerous for children under 6 and should not be used, a panel of health advisers reported to the FDA today. Many popular medicines, including Dimetapp, Triaminic, and Pediacare, have never been sufficiently tested on children under 12, the committee concluded. “The data that we have...

Feds OK Alzheimer's Skin Patch
Feds OK Alzheimer's
Skin Patch
Jul 9, 2007 4:58 PM CDT

Feds OK Alzheimer's Skin Patch

New treatment gives patients, caregivers some peace of mind

(Newser) - A patch to treat symptoms of Alzheimer's disease cleared its final federal hurdle today, offering new hope to patients with the memory-sapping disorder—and the caretakers who worry about whether they're taking their meds. Exelon, which treats mild to moderate dementia, enters the bloodstream directly, regulating dosage and reducing the...

Psych Drugs Drove Kid Crazy
Psych Drugs Drove Kid Crazy
May 18, 2007 9:44 PM CDT

Psych Drugs Drove Kid Crazy

Careless prescriptions turned shy chess nerd into into belligerent hulk

(Newser) - The careless prescription of anti-psychotic drugs, often by psychiatrists who draw pay checks from the companies who make them, has drawn attention in the New York Times recently. Now Ann Bauer, writing in Salon, draws an intimate portrait of the effects of such carelessness on one autistic teenager, who turned...

Use of Antipsychotics For Kids Soars
Use of Antipsychotics
For Kids Soars
May 10, 2007 10:23 AM CDT

Use of Antipsychotics For Kids Soars

Payments to psychiatrists from the drugs' makers soar at the same time

(Newser) - The Times tackles the growing use of antipsychotic drugs in children, contentious because the drugs are risky and have no approved use for minors. But the trend is also questionable because it coincides with increasing payments to psychiatrists by the companies that market the drugs. In Minnesota, these payments rose...

FDA Given New Muscle To Monitor Drugs

Senate bill requires continued scrutiny after approval

(Newser) - The Food and Drug Administration would be given sweeping new powers to order drug recalls, regulate advertising and mandate changes in labels under a bill passed by the Senate yesterday. The bill signals a fundamental shift in the FDA's role, the New York Times reports, requiring the agency to track...

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