Health Care Insiders

Pharm Friday

by Becky Ramsey on May 30th, 2008

Here’s a roundup of just some of this past week’s pharmaceutical news items…

Everyone Wants A Piece Of Alnylam
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a leader in RNAi therapeutics, has signed a deal to share rights and technology with Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

Express Scripts To Pay $9.5 Million In Settlement
Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager, encouraged doctors to switch their patients’ cholesterol medication brands in the name of cost cutting. The company will pay $9.3 million to 28 states and D.C., and another $200,000 to affected patients at $25 each.

Bristol-Myers Pumps Up With Kosan
Bristol-Myers Squibb hopes to bulk up its pipeline with the $190 million purchase of Kosan Biosciences and its cancer therapeutics.

Texas Appeals Court Reverses Vioxx Judgment Against Merck
A Texas appeals court overturned a 2005 ruling against Merck that charged Vioxx as the cause of Bob Ernst’s 2001 death. The court now concludes that there is no evidence that Vioxx was the cause. On the same day, a New Jersey court reversed another ruling that Merck committed consumer fraud in 2006.

FDA Proposes New Drug Labeling System For Pregnant Women
The FDA proposes revising prescription drug labels to include more detailed information about how the drug affects breastfeeding.
**personal side note - This proposal rocks.

Pfizer Seeks To Counter Chantix Concerns
In an effort to quell concerns about its anti-smoking drug, Chantix, Pfizer is ramping up to unleash an advertising and public-relations campaign.

Also, here’s a bit of pharmaceutical vocab…
pharm party - a party where various prescription drugs are available to adolescents and young adults (typically, but applies to all age groups) and dangerous combinations of the drugs are often ingested

Chime in with other pharm. stories, or comment on any of these that you read!

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POSTED IN: Lawsuits and Settlements, Pharma and Biotech Industry, Recalls and Warnings