Drug companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year to influence doctors' prescribing habits -- money that often goes directly into physicians' pockets for "consulting fees" and "educational presentations." Wondering if your doc is one of them? The nonprofit journalists at ProPublica can tell you.
Officially, it's the FDA's job to ensure that pharmaceutical ads adhere to guidelines. But the agency's annual compliance budget is $9 million, while drug companies spend $58 billion a year on marketing. So it comes as no surprise that only 18% of ads are in compliance with the rules. But it's still disturbing: This is your health.
The pharmaceutical industry is ready to fall off a cliff -- a "patent cliff." Over the next few years, some of the world's most popular and lucrative medicines will go off patent, and generic competition will siphon an estimated quarter of a trillion dollars from drugmakers' bottom lines.
Pharmaceutical companies looking for fresh sources of profit are increasingly investing in a range of health care innovations that aren't drugs at all, from smartphone apps and educational websites to social media platforms and wireless devices, reports Ernst & Young.
What is preventing the French pharmaceutical group and U.S. biotech from reaching a merger agreement?
When Merck halted a late-stage study of its potential clot-preventing drug vorapaxar in stroke victims last week, it didn't explain why. Now, the company has confirmed it stopped the study after concerns that the drug increased the risk of bleeding in some patients.
Can a market research firm sell a doctor's prescribing history to a pharmaceutical company without his or her permission? The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear this First Amendment case, which could change drug marketing and have a major impact on data-gathering practices.
Mergers, acquisitions and major restructurings made Big Pharma a much smaller and leaner sector, with some 54,000 jobs lost. At least that's better than 2009's 61,000 layoffs.
Led by the health insurance reform law, a flurry of drug and food recalls, key medical breakthroughs and plenty of layoffs and lawsuits, 2010 proved to be an exciting -- if not always positive -- year. Here's our rundown of the biggest health care stories.
A group of J&J shareholders has filed a complaint against the company, accusing directors of ignoring warnings signs pertaining to J&J's massive product recalls and government probes of manufacturing defects and marketing practices.
Shares of drugmaker InterMune have more than doubled in premarket trading after a European advisory panel backed the company's experimental lung treatment Esbriet (pirfenidone), something the biotech failed to accomplish in the U.S.
The FDA disappointed AstraZeneca and its investors by not approving its heart drug Brilinta, a blood-thinner that the company -- facing a severe patent cliff -- has high hopes for. If approved, it could be a multibillion-dollar blockbuster. But the FDA wants to see more analyses of results from a major study.
As part of its efforts to expand into the biotech market, Johnson & Johnson is making a long-anticipated bid for Dutch vaccine maker Crucell -- in spite of Crucell's recent manufacturing troubles.
Kenneth Frazier will be the new CEO of the pharmaceutical and health care giant, succeeding Richard Clark in January 2011.
Eli Lilly's blockbuster antidepressant Cymbalta can now also be marketed as a treatment for chronic musculoskeletal pain, such as osteoarthritis and lower back pain, following FDA approval yesterday.
The world's biggest drugmaker reported earnings of $4.4 billion that topped estimates but revenues of $16.2 billion fell short of expectations.
At a recent life-sciences conference in Stockholm, execs of several U.S. and foreign biotechs clashed with Big Pharma in a lively debate on the merits of their respective goals and products. The result, however, was a stand-off.
French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis says its multiple sclerosis drug teriflunomide significantly cut relapses in patients who took the once-daily oral treatment.
CVS Caremark has agreed to pay $77.6 million in fines for illegally selling a chemical, common in some cold and cough medicines, that ended up being used to make methamphetamine.
There's a new plot twist in the takeover battle between French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis and U.S. drugmaker Genzyme. A regulatory filing made by Genzyme on Thursday claims Sanofi may be willing to go much higher than its current $69 bid -- a claim the French company disputes.
Global pharmaceutical sales are expected to grow by 5% to 7% in 2011, thanks to robust growth in emerging markets, especially China, as well as new innovative treatments, and despite patent expirations and budget pressures in the developed world.
Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis announced Tuesday that it had discontinued the development of two drugs -- the hepatitis C treatment Zalbin, and antifungal agent Mycograb. The company will take impairment charges of approximately $590 million in third quarter of 2010.
Federal investigators are looking into allegations that major drug companies, including Merck, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb and GlaxoSmithKline, paid bribes overseas to boost sales and accelerate approvals.
While a new report from Goldman Sachs says health care is in a state of flux that most of the sector's companies haven't adjusted to yet, it also pinpoints four that have plenty of cash that could be put to good use for investors.
Sanofi-Aventis CEO Chris Viehbacher said Wednesday that he believes his French pharmaceutical company will eventually buy U.S. biotech company Genzyme at a reasonable price. However, he expects it will take some time to agree on a deal, and he won't rush into anything.
Drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb plans to buy ZymoGenetics, its partner in developing a hepatitis C treatment, for $885 million. The move is part of a trend of pharmaceutical acquisitions as several big patents face expiration soon.
