Industry News

Big Pharma self-medicates in a bid to lift ailing returns - July 27, 2008

Big pharmaceutical companies are looking for new sources of profit. Many blockbuster medicines are coming off patent and prices for prescription drugs are falling as governments and health insurers demand bigger discounts. In the US, the public has turned against the drug firms, which for years could push through huge price increases thanks to their marketing clout and influence on Capitol Hill.

Should Doctors be Selling Drugs for the Pharmaceutical Industry? - June 20, 2008

Are senior doctors who help drug companies sell their drugs independent experts or just drug representatives in disguise, asks Ray Moynihan from the University of Newcastle in Australia, in the British Medical Journal.

More Americans are Taking Prescription Medications - May 14, 2008

Experts say the data reflect not just worsening public health but better medicines for chronic conditions and more aggressive treatment by doctors. For example, more people are now taking blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering medicines because they need them, said Dr. Daniel W. Jones, president of the American Heart Association.

In addition, there is the pharmaceutical industry's relentless advertising. With those factors unlikely to change, doctors say the proportion of Americans on chronic medications can only grow.

Drug Spending Moves Up for Diabetes, Down for Cholesterol  - May 15, 2008

In health spending, how many people are being treated for a disease can be a lot less important than how much it costs to treat each person. That’s what we took from this report out today from Medco, the pharmacy benefits manager.

Use of diabetes drugs increased only 2.3% last year, but spending rose 12%. The big driver was the introduction of new, expensive medicines that replace or are added to older, cheaper ones.

Why isn't the richest country in the world the healthiest?  - July 3, 2007

Americans die younger and spend more years disabled than our counterparts in Canada and Europe. Our infant mortality rate is higher, too. And yet, even though the most common objections to nationalized health care from its opponents in the U.S. are that it's too expensive, too restrictive and too inefficient, we spend way more money on health care than they do. Why, if our health care is the best in the world and we spend more money on it than anyone else and the free market is a marvel of efficiency, aren't our results the best in the world?

How to dispose of Rx drugs safely  - July 5, 2007

With the rise in prescription drug abuse, three federal agencies issued guidelines earlier this year for disposing of medications without harming the environment.

Pushing more of the cost of prescription drugs onto consumers causes patients to cut back, sometimes with adverse health consequences, according to a review of two decades worth of studies published on Tuesday.