Big Pharma

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Overlooked Player in Opioid Epidemic: The 'Middlemen'

New York Times investigation details the largely overlooked role of pharmacy benefit managers

(Newser) - When making a list of the main culprits in the nation's opioid epidemic, drugmakers and greedy doctors quickly come to mind. But a New York Times investigation looks at another group whose crucial efforts "have largely escaped notice"—pharmacy benefit managers. The name sounds innocuous, but PBMs...

Report: McKinsey Is Target of Opioid-Related Criminal Probe

Grand jury has been empaneled after years-long federal investigation, sources say

(Newser) - McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm that advised companies how to "supercharge" opioid sales , is the target of a criminal investigation into its role in a crisis that has killed more Americans than any war, insiders say. Sources tell the Wall Street Journal that the Justice Department is investigating...

Medicare Will Target These 10 Drugs for Price Cuts

Biden administration to negotiate 'lowest maximum fair price' for Jardiance, Eliquis, others

(Newser) - The popular diabetes treatment Jardiance and the blood thinner Eliquis are among the first drugs that will be targeted for price negotiations in an effort to cut Medicare costs, reports the AP . President Biden's administration on Tuesday released a list of 10 drugs for which the federal government will...

New Drug Poised to Take Weight-Loss Throne

Eli Lilly's Mounjaro is outperforming Ozempic in clinical trials

(Newser) - Get ready to hear a lot about a weight-loss drug called Mounjaro . Eli Lilly & Co.'s anti-obesity drug has demonstrated significant weight-loss results in clinical trials, so much so that the Wall Street Journal refers to it as the "King Kong" of such drugs. US health regulators...

Deal Will Bring Pfizer's COVID Pill to Half the World

Drug-maker will let others make the pill so it can be sold cheaply in poorer countries

(Newser) - Pfizer is teaming up with Medicines Patent Pool, a nonprofit based in Geneva and backed by the UN, to bring its new COVID pill to poorer countries. They’ll work with about a dozen manufacturers of generic drugs to bring affordable access to the pill, once it's approved, to...

Biden Executive Order Takes On Big Tech, Net Neutrality

Initiatives include directives around data collection and health care

(Newser) - President Biden signed a sweeping executive order Friday aimed at reining in some tech company practices and clearing a path for reforms in health care, too. The Promoting Competition in the American Economy executive order that he signed Friday has 72 initiatives, CNET reports. Some seem deceptively simple, like a...

That New Alzheimer's Drug Costs Way More Than Expected
Analysts Blindsided by Price
of New Alzheimer's Drug
the rundown
Jun 9, 2021 8:35 AM CDT

Analysts Blindsided by Price of New Alzheimer's Drug

A year of Biogen's Aduhelm will run $56K

(Newser) - Monday brought the big news that the FDA had approved the first new Alzheimer’s drug in 20 years. Then came news of its price tag. That would be $56,000 for a year's worth of Aduhelm, also known as aducanumab (a user's out-of-pocket cost would depend on...

Drugmaker Sets Price on COVID Drug
Drugmaker Sets Price
on COVID Drug
Jun 29, 2020 8:12 AM CDT

Drugmaker Sets Price on COVID Drug

Remdesivir will cost $3,120 per treatment course for typical US patient with insurance

(Newser) - Gilead Sciences is out with its much-anticipated price for a drug to treat COVID-19 patients: For a five-day treatment course of remdesivir, figure $3,120 for the typical US patient with commercial insurance, reports the Wall Street Journal . That would be the amount the drugmaker would charge the hospital, not...

Bayer: We'll Settle Suit With $10.9B Payment

The German company faces a lawsuit that involves subsidiary Monsanto

(Newser) - German pharmaceutical company Bayer says it's paying up to $10.9 billion to settle a lawsuit over subsidiary Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup, which has faced numerous lawsuits over claims it causes cancer, the AP reports. In a statement Wednesday, Bayer said it was also paying up $1.22 billion...

Big Pharma Has Bad News for Crabs
Big Pharma Has
Bad News for Crabs
May 31, 2020 3:20 PM CDT

Big Pharma Has Bad News for Crabs

Looks like a synthetic substitute to crab blood won't be officially adopted after all

(Newser) - Big Pharma is out for blood—horseshoe crabs' blood, that is—and that's not about to change. An effort to promote a synthetic substitute to crab blood in medical safety tests fell short Friday when a powerful US group refused to fully back the switch, Reuters reports. The group,...

Purdue Affiliate Accused of Selling 'Deeply Cynical' Drug

Or is Mundipharma selling a much-needed cure?

(Newser) - As Purdue Pharma buckles under a mountain of litigation and public protest in the United States, its foreign affiliate, Mundipharma, has expanded abroad, using some of the same tactics to sell the addictive opioids that made its owners, the Sackler family, among the richest in the world. Mundipharma is...

Lawsuit: Drug Firms Acted Like a Cartel. Now, a $260M Deal

Ohio's Summit, Cuyahoga counties to be paid by 4 major companies for their role in opioid epidemic

(Newser) - Two counties in Ohio could have pulled in $8 billion if they'd won their legal battle in court against Big Pharma. Instead, in an 11th-hour deal, they've settled for $260 million against three major distributors and a manufacturer for their role in the opioid epidemic, the Wall Street ...

New Cancer Drugs Are Making an Impact

But they often cost $100K or more per year

(Newser) - Newer drugs are substantially improving the chances of survival for some people with hard-to-treat forms of lung, breast, and prostate cancer, doctors reported at the world's largest cancer conference, the AP reports. Among those who have benefited is Roszell Mack Jr., who at age 87 is still able to...

New Drug Could Cure Horrible Disease. Now, Brace Yourself
New Drug Could Cure Horrible
Disease. Now, Brace Yourself
in case you missed it
May 11, 2019 4:53 PM CDT

New Drug Could Cure Horrible Disease. Now, Brace Yourself

Novartis AG is expected to sell Zolgensma for $2M per treatment

(Newser) - A new wonder drug is coming for babies with a crippling, often fatal disease. Expected price tag: $2 million per treatment, the Wall Street Journal reports. Novartis AG is expected to begin selling Zolgensma, a possible cure for spinal muscular atrophy, after the FDA approves it this month. Novartis executives...

States Bring Price-Fixing Suit Against Generic Drug Makers

More than 40 states are involved

(Newser) - Attorneys general from more than 40 states are alleging the nation's largest generic drug manufacturers conspired to artificially inflate and manipulate prices for more than 100 different generic drugs, including treatments for diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and other medical conditions, the AP reports. The lawsuit, filed in federal court Friday,...

Drugmaker Makes Big Change to TV Ads

Johnson & Johnson will do what has never been done before

(Newser) - Johnson & Johnson said Thursday it will start giving the list price of its prescription drugs in television ads, the AP reports. The company would be the first drugmaker to take that step. The health care giant will begin with its popular blood thinner, Xarelto, says Scott White, head of...

Sanders Demands to Know Why Drug Went From Free to $375K

The medication, Firdapse, treats a rare neuromuscular disease

(Newser) - Calling it corporate greed, Bernie Sanders wants a pharmaceutical company's justification for why it charges $375,000 per year for a drug that used to be free. "I am profoundly concerned that Catalyst's actions will cause patients to suffer or die," the Vermont senator and possible...

Pharma Giant Unveils New Plan Despite Trump Slam

Pfizer is raising prices on 10% of its drugs

(Newser) - Give it to Pfizer—they waited a while. The pharmaceutical giant is raising the price of 41 prescription drugs after hitting the pause button this summer when President Trump opposed a price hike, reports CNBC . Most prices are slated to rise 5%, while Stocks Beat says the pain drug Lyrica...

Guy Behind OxyContin Breaks the Irony Record

Richard Sackler is named as an inventor of new anti-opioid drug

(Newser) - Irony alert: A billionaire accused of worsening the opioid crisis just won a patent for a drug to treat opioid addiction, Stat News reports. Richard Sackler, whose family owns OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma, is one of six inventors behind a new medication that could help people get off drugs including opioids....

Company Sold $1.3B of a Drug That's Not Hugely Effective

Inside New York state's pushback against Orkambi

(Newser) - Only 28,000 of the planet's 7 billion people are eligible to take the cystic fibrosis drug Orkambi. And yet that tiny population enabled drugmaker Vertex to make roughly $1.3 billion in sales off the product. How does that math work out? The annual price of the drug...

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