Big Pharma
Next Entries »Big Pharma’s Practice of Charging Too Much for Drugs Continues
Friday, January 29th, 2010Judge rules nine drugmakers overcharged New York City, counties for medicines.
Bloomberg News (1/29, O’Reilly) reports, “Merck & Co., Pfizer Inc., and seven other drugmakers overcharged New York City and 42 New York counties for medicines and may be liable for damages in millions of dollars in drug sales, a federal judge [...]
House Democrats Blast Rise In Brand-Name Drug Prices
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009Reports of prescription drug price hikes have congressional Democrats complaining about price gouging and questioning whether drug companies are reneging on a pledge to provide billions of savings as part of a U.S. health care overhaul sought by President Barack Obama.
Prescription drugs account for about 10% of U.S. health care spending and prices appear to [...]
How much is that drug ad costing taxpayers?
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009By Katherine Harmon
Consumer advertisements for at least one popular prescription drug have failed to stimulate increased sales among those on Medicaid, but the ads do seem to have upped the medicine’s price tag, a new study claims, raising policy questions about the direct-to-consumer marketing approach.
The research found that running direct-to-consumer ads for Plavix (clopidogrel), a popular clot-inhibiting agent, [...]
Prescription drug prices to go up between 5% and 9%
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009As Washington mulls over its health care bill, prescription drug companies are increasing the price of brand-name medicines between 5% and 9% from a year ago.
Some question whether the companies are trying to minimize profit losses in case the health care bill passes, but pharmacists we spoke with say this is a practice that has [...]
PhRMA criticizes reports on drug industry profits from health reform.
Friday, November 13th, 2009The Phoenix Business Journal (11/13, Sunnucks) reports, “The Pharmaceutical and Manufacturers of America took issue with reports Wednesday that the drug industry could gain as much as $137 billion over the next four years if healthcare reforms are approved.” The data, “based on projection extrapolated from prescription drug industry predictions [...]
Congress’s $1.2 Million a Day Drug Habit—and Pharma’s Phony “Gift” to Health Care Reform
Friday, July 3rd, 2009by James Ridgeway
Big Pharma pulled off a first-class PR coup last week with its widely celebrated pledge to support health care reform by offering up a package of discounts they claim will run to $80 billion over the next ten years. The highlight of the package, said to be worth about $30 billion, is a [...]
