The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by a pension fund to end “pay for delay” payments from drug companies to generic makers. In the case, Arkansas Carpenter’s Health and Welfare Fund sued Bayer alleging that Bayer’s payment of $398 million to Teva/Barr in return for Barr’s agreement not to market a generic of the antibiotic Cipro was anti-competitive. A...
Pharma Industry Archive
June 2009
As President Obama waits for Congress to deliver a heathcare reform bill, pharmaceutical companies are spending millions on lobbyists to thwart any measure that might make drug prices cheaper or even allow the government to negotiate them, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Companies spent 41 percent more this year on lobbying than last, USA Today reported. A look at company...
Remember a few years back when you couldn’t make it through a biotech investor presentation without hearing the phrase “multiple shots on goal?” But now, with money tight, runways short and exit strategies limited, it looks like we’re due for a return of the “one trick pony.” I wrote about shifting biotech business models recently for BioWorld Insight, and what...
The corporate image teams at Sanofi-Aventis and GlaxoSmithKline can pop the champagne for their victory over Novartis on the swine flu vaccine issue. Sanofi promised 100 million free vaccines for the World Health Organization and GSK promised 50 million. Novartis, by contrast, said it would not give any vaccine for free. Novartis CEO Daniel Vasella was quoted in the FT saying: If you want to...
Bayer has been threatened with a lawsuit by the Center for Science in the Public Interest over claims that its One A Day vitamin product can somehow prevent prostate cancer. The CSPI claims Bayer’s ads are false and deceptive because there is “scant evidence” that the selenium in One A Day can prevent prostate cancer. Radio ads say: Did you know that there are more new cases...
The FDA has removed another killer remedy from health food stores — Stamina-Rx. This product bills itself as a “revolutionary sexual stimulant engineered to increase sexual stamina and arousal,” made from yohimbe extract and other herbal products. But it also contained benzamidenafil, an unapproved drug in the same class as Viagra, Levitra and Cialis. If those drugs are taken...
Wyeth didn’t take an offer from Pfizer of $53 a share, according to a Wyeth proxy statement filed yesterday. Pfizer eventually acquired Wyeth for $50.33 a share. Wyeth’s failure to say yes to Pfizer’s highest offer comes in the company’s explanation of how it was acquired, filed as part of the materials for Wyeth shareholders to vote on to accept the merger. The $53...
BNET noted recently that AstraZeneca seemed to be winning the war over whether its antipsychotic Seroquel causes weight gain and diabetes. The company reported that of 10,000 cases none had gotten to trial and a sizeable chunk of the remainder had been dismissed. But plaintiffs’ lawyers told The AmLaw Litigation Daily that AZ is fooling itself if it thinks it has the upper hand. Weitz...
A mini-firestorm is sweeping Novartis after ABC commentator John Stossel aired a piece on ABC’s 20/20 suggesting that pharmaceutical sales reps who get pregnant have no right to their jobs (see video below). The piece focused on Holly Waters (pictured), a drug rep who alleges in a lawsuit she was fired by Novartis as she was about to go on maternity leave. Waters claims she was a top...
Do you cry yourself to sleep at night because you miss Genentech so much? Fifty-eight percent of investors do, according to a survey of 261 buy-siders conducted by Mark Schoenebaum and the biotech analyst team at Deutsche Bank. Other survey findings provide a glimpse into Wall Street’s expectations for the data read-outs, FDA decisions and other game-changing biotech events coming in the...
- Novartis Looks at Combination Pills to Fix Hypertension Franchise
- Study Showing Drug Ads Are Linked to Higher Prices Has Flaws
- Bankers Reveal Top Biotech IPO Contenders; New Filer Ironwood Among Them
- Pfizer Got $160M in Tax Money to Build in Connecticut
- Sanofi's Viehbacher Backs Health Reform; May Change Company's Name
- Viagra Now Available Intravenously
- Genzyme Kidney Drug Failed, Too...What Could Possibly Happen Next?
- Peter Pitts' CMPI Targeted Over Anti-Healthcare Reform Video Game
- Why Allergan and Medicis Should Embrace the "Botox Tax" in Senate Health Bill
- Why J&J's Stelara Launch Should Target Dermatologists First
- NHS Loses Fight Over Publication of Antipsychotic Meds Brochures for Kids
- Genzyme's Termeer Got $50M in Compensation Over Last 3 Years; Wife Got Trips to Asia on Corporate Jet
- Merck Gives Snapshot of Combined Company: $47B in Sales; Just $7.6B in Cash
- Why Pfizer Wants Your Car-Sick Dog to Travel on Thanksgiving
- FDA Delays Genzyme's Lumizyme, Manufacturing Problems Blamed
- Will FDA Approve MannKind's Insulin Inhaler?
- VeriChip TV Ad Confirms Critics' Fears: They Want Everyone Implanted
- Hepatitis C Drugs Kill the Virus...and Your Sex Drive
- Microchip Implant to Link Your Health Records, Credit History, Social Security
- Biogen Idec's Social Media Ties Save Tysabri Again; FDA Watching
- NYT's MannKind Story Needlessly Quoted a Competitor Bashing Afresa
- Novartis CEO Sends Emails to 140 Animal Rights Activists:
- BioCryst's Antiviral Drug Peramivir Aims to Keep Swine-Flu Body Count Low
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- The 10 Weirdest Drug Stories of the Month
- BioCryst's Antiviral Drug Peramivir Aims to Keep Swine-Flu Body Count Low
- More Tysabri Problems; Time for a Biogen-Idec Credibility Check
- VeriChip TV Ad Confirms Critics' Fears: They Want Everyone Implanted
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BNET Pharma provides daily industry trends and news coverage with insights for managers and executives about major manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and medicine. In addition to detailed drug company profiles, we bring you industry analysis on new partnerships, drug patents and products, cost management, investments, pharmaceutical related lawsuits, and a host of other important business issues.