Doctor Chides Medical Societies to Take Action – GSK Fined $150 Million in Medicare Fraud

Doctor Chides Medical Societies to Take Action – GSK Fined $150 Million in Medicare Fraud Wed, 21 Sep 2005 The latest in a series of fraud settlements, GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay $150 million to settle fraud allegations over inflating price of Zorfran and Kytril (nausea drugs) when billing Medicare…

At FDA, Changes In Name Only–Agency Puts Business interests Above Safety

At FDA, Changes In Name Only–Agency Puts Business interests Above Safety Fri, 30 Sep 2005 The sudden resignation of FDA Commissioner, Lester Crawford, after just two months in office, has prompted a bipartisan Senate investigation and requests both by the Senate committee HELP and by congressman Maurice Hinchey (NY) and…

October 29, 2001

October 29, 2001 FYI Widely disparate perspectives are presented in an article in the Maryland Daily Record re: The Court of Appeals of Maryland decision (Gimes v Kennedy Krieger Institute, Aug 16, 2001). That 6-to-1 landmark decision severely criticized the practice of exposing healthy children to risks of harm in…

Bayh-Dole Act: The Law of Unintended Consequences – Fortune

Bayh-Dole Act: The Law of Unintended Consequences – Fortune Sun, 25 Sep 2005 The author of this Infomail is Dianne N. Irving, M.A., Ph.D. Revisiting the Bayh-Dole Act (1980): Spawned Big Biotech, Now Has Opposite Debilitating Effects Today’s specter of harmful and inordinately priced drugs pressed on legislators and the…

Medicare Rx Drug Bill Shaped by Drug Industry Blocks Elderly Bargaining Power – NYT

Medicare Rx Drug Bill Shaped by Drug Industry Blocks Elderly Bargaining Power – NYT Fri, 5 Sep 2003 A drug industry lobbyist is quoted in The New York Times stating: “Having both houses of Congress Republican-controlled was great. Like in Monopoly, when you get to add hotels.” The Medicare prescription…

Merck / Johnson & Johnson/ Lilly-Zyprexa: $690 Million settlement / a Flowering of Diabetes Drugs

Merck / Johnson & Johnson/ Lilly-Zyprexa: $690 Million settlement / a Flowering of Diabetes Drugs Fri, 10 Jun 2005 A cluster of news reports about three pillars of the pharmaceutical industry– Merck, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson–leave no doubt that this industry has shown its disregard for the welfare…

Pfizer Nears Drug Settlement

Pfizer Nears Drug Settlement Sun, 16 Mar 2003 A 7-year lawsuit filed by Dr. David Franklin, the former Harvard fellow turned whistle blower, may be reaching a resolution. The suit accuses Warner Lambert (now Pfizer) of illegally promoting the epilepsy drug, Neurontin, for conditions not approved or tested. His lawsuit…