Prometheus 6 - Big Pharma

Hey, it worked for Tom DeLay...um, wait...

Prometheus 6 — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 10:03:48 -0400

The Midwest Heart Foundation, and the way it has become quietly interwoven into its doctors' professional lives, is far from unique. Around the country, doctors in private practice have set up tax-exempt charities into which drug companies and medical device makers are, with little fanfare, pouring donations — money that adds up to millions of dollars a year. And some medical experts see that as a big problem.

The charities are typically set up to engage in medical research or education, and the doctors involved defend those efforts as legitimate charitable activities that benefit the public. But because they operate mainly under the radar, the tax-exempt organizations represent what some other doctors, as well as regulators and industry consultants, say is a growing conduit for industry money. The payments, they say, can bias the treatment decisions of physicians, may lead to suspect research findings and at times may even risk running afoul of anti-kickback laws.

Charities Tied to Doctors Get Drug Industry Gifts
By REED ABELSON

It's not part of the core inflation figures, so it doesn't matter

Prometheus 6 — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 06:04:31 -0400

Drug Prices Up Sharply This Year
By MILT FREUDENHEIM

Prices of the most widely used prescription drugs rose sharply in this year's first quarter, just as the new Medicare drug coverage program was going into effect, according to separate studies issued yesterday by two large consumer advocacy groups.

AARP, which represents older Americans, said prices charged by drug makers for brand-name pharmaceuticals jumped 3.9 percent, four times the general inflation rate during the first three months of this year and the largest quarterly price increase in six years.

Price increases for some of the most popular brand-name drugs were much steeper; the sleeping pill Ambien was up 13.3 percent, and the best-selling cholesterol drug, Lipitor, was up 4.7 to 6.5 percent, depending on dosage.

The argument for a single payer health care system

Prometheus 6 — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 05:34:30 -0400

Technically I ought to skip the opening of this article, but it's amusing so here it is. But the rest (or at least the excerpt below the fold).

How to Fix Our Health Care Mess
By Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown
Posted on June 20, 2006

How messed up is America's health care system? Consider the case of the Leavitts. Anne and her husband Dixie, both in their 70s, got frazzled trying to work their way through the maddening maze of George W's new prescription drug program, which compels seniors to choose among 1,400 competing drug-insurance schemes offered by 80 corporations. Each plan in this baffling "marketplace" offers different coverage, is frustratingly complex and is filled with fine print. The Leavitts had to call on their son to help them select a company to cover their meds.

But -- oops! -- even with hands-on help, Anne and Dixie made a bad choice that almost cost them their entire medical coverage. They rushed to drop that plan and were lucky to find another at the last minute to avert a family disaster.

What makes the Leavitts' story unique among the millions of seniors who've been similarly discombobulated by Bush's convoluted prescription plan (including 15 million who've been left with no drug coverage) is that their helpful son is none other than Mike Leavitt. Yes, the head honcho of Bush's Health and Human Services Department! One more twist: Dixie Leavitt made his fortune in the insurance business.

If someone who's an insurance professional and is personally advised by the government's top health official still gets flummoxed -- that's a clue that the Powers That Be have saddled us with a truly lousy program.

You slow, you blow

Prometheus 6 — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 16:17:13 -0400

The company has expanded its lobbying presence on Capitol Hill to push the legislation. It spent $440,000 on lobbying last year -- more than double what it had spent over the three previous years combined, according to FEC Info., a company that tracks lobbying disclosure reports.

I'm sorry...you should have taken $5K or so of that lobbying money to hire a temp to get that application in on time.

Drug firm seeks tardy patent legislation
By Kevin Freking, Associated Press | June 18, 2006

WASHINGTON -- A day late and possibly several million dollars short. That is the prospect facing one Massachusetts drug manufacturer unless it can get a helping hand from Congress.

The whole story in a single paragraph

Prometheus 6 — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 10:20:26 -0400

NIH Scientist With Ties to Pfizer Takes the 5th
Scientist's supervisor tells a House panel that the alleged wrongdoing warrants firing.
By David Willman
Times Staff Writer
June 15, 2006

WASHINGTON — A senior scientist at the National Institutes of Health exercised his right against self-incrimination Wednesday, refusing to answer questions from a congressional subcommittee investigating conflicts of interest at the agency.

Because some folks will sell you Skittles in an antibiotics bottle

Prometheus 6 — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 07:43:14 -0400

F.D.A. Imposes Long-Delayed Rule to Require Tracking of Prescription Drugs
By BARNABY J. FEDER

Long-delayed federal rules requiring most wholesalers to be able to track prescription drugs from factory floor to pharmacy door will finally take effect in December, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday.

The regulations, stemming from a 1988 law intended to combat counterfeiting by verifying a drug's pedigree, were originally drafted in 1999. But the F.D.A. had repeatedly put a stay on the rules because the drug industry said it lacked practical methods for tracking and tracing all of its products. Now, though, the agency said further delay of the "pedigree" rules as they are known was no longer justified because of the development of electronic tracking technology, particularly digital identification tags that can be scanned with radio waves.

Get. Them. ALL.

Prometheus 6 — Sat, 20 May 2006 08:44:46 -0400

Justice Department accuses Abbott of fraudulent drug-pricing scheme

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is accusing Abbott Laboratories of vastly inflating prices of its drugs as part of a fraudulent billing scheme alleged to have cost government health programs more than $175 million over 10 years.

Abbott bumped up the reported price of the intravenous antibiotic vancomycin as much as 18 times what it charged health care providers, knowing that the Medicare and Medicaid programs would reimburse the providers based on the manufacturer's price, according to a whistle-blower lawsuit unsealed Thursday.

Abbott, based in North Chicago, Ill., participated in such a billing scheme because hospitals, pharmacies and other providers would get to pocket the difference and would be more likely to prescribe the company's products again, the Justice Department contended.

I'm linking the article, but there's really no need to read beyond the quote

Prometheus 6 — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 08:36:26 -0400

Like you didn't know.

Comparison of Schizophrenia Drugs Often Favors Firm Funding Study
By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 12, 2006; A01

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. recently funded five studies that compared its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa with Risperdal, a competing drug made by Janssen. All five showed Zyprexa was superior in treating schizophrenia.

But when Janssen sponsored its own studies comparing the two drugs, Risperdal came out ahead in three out of four.

In fact, when psychiatrist John Davis analyzed every publicly available trial funded by the pharmaceutical industry pitting five new antipsychotic drugs against one another, nine in 10 showed that the best drug was the one made by the company funding the study.

Tenacious, ain't I?

Prometheus 6 — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 10:57:45 -0400

The Quote of Note is a series of links to previous P6 posts.

...and this, from the linked article:

The report found that more than one-quarter of the scientists who were awarded patents said they had started their own business — "an astonishingly high rate of entrepreneurship," the authors said.

"The investments in research and development are spilling out into the economy more than was appreciated," said David B. Audretsch, an economist at Indiana University, who also holds an appointment at the Max Planck institute. "These scientists are doing a lot more than sitting in labs and publishing papers."

...and this, from the abstract of the report cited by said article.

At present, only 20 percent of all basic research in the United States is performed by the private sector. Colleges and universities account for 60 percent of such research, with government accounting for the remaining amounts. Washington is the largest funder of basic research, paying for 57 percent of the total.

“Federal investment in university research has a much bigger impact on the nation’s economy than previously thought,” said Lesa Mitchell, vice president of Advancing Innovation at the Kauffman Foundation. “We are seeing much more commercialization coming out of universities that has not been measured.”

U.S. Research Funds Often Lead to Start-Ups, Study Says
By STEVE LOHR

A new study of university scientists who received federal financing from the National Cancer Institute found that they generated patents at a rapid pace and started companies in surprisingly high numbers.

The award for weakest excuse goes to...

Prometheus 6 — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 10:04:30 -0500

Quote of note:

Dr. Jenkins emphasized that only 5 percent of the promised drug trials were officially considered "delayed." In many cases, trials have been pending for more than a decade but are not considered delayed because the agency never insisted on a specific timeline for the tests.

New Drugs Hit the Market, but Promised Trials Go Undone
By GARDINER HARRIS

WASHINGTON, March 3 — When it approves new drugs for sale, the Food and Drug Administration often requires their manufacturers to study whether they are working as intended and whether they have unwanted side effects. But the agency reported Friday that two-thirds of the studies had not even been started.