Tag Archives: pharma

NPR reports: The Food and Drug Administration has fully approved the first drug shown to slow down Alzheimer’s disease. The action means that Leqembi, whose generic name is lecanemab, should be widely covered by the federal Medicare health insurance program, which primarily serves adults age 65 and older. So more people who are in the early stages of the disease …

Courthouse News reports: Pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences triumphed over consumers Friday in a closely watched, yearslong class action that claimed the company deliberately manipulated the market in order to profit off of its highly-priced HIV treatment drugs. Closing arguments in a six-week trial wrapped Wednesday, leaving a federal jury to consider weeks of evidence regarding the pharmaceutical giant’s conduct and …

Reuters reports: Over 300 biotech and pharmaceutical industry executives, including Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, signed an open letter on Monday seeking the reversal of a federal judge’s decision to suspend sales of the abortion pill mifepristone. A U.S. judge on Friday suspended the FDA’s two-decade-old approval of the drug. Last week’s ruling by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk undermines the FDA’s authority, …

The New York Post reports: Viagra could soon be getting some very stiff competition. Researchers in Australia claim to have developed a nasal spray to combat erectile dysfunction — and it could be rolled out to American consumers within two years. The spray-to-play product reportedly works in as little as five minutes, meaning it could be a bedroom game changer …

Reuters reports: Some of the world’s leading makers of flu vaccines say they could make hundreds of millions of bird flu shots for humans within months if a new strain of avian influenza ever jumps across the species divide. One current outbreak of avian flu known as H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b has killed record numbers of birds and infected mammals. Human …

The New York Times reports: The drug maker Eli Lilly and Company said on Wednesday that it would significantly reduce the prices of several of its lifesaving insulin products that are used by diabetes patients and whose prices Lilly has repeatedly increased in the past. Lilly also said it would cap at $35 a month what patients pay out of …

CNBC reports: The Federal Trade Commission on Friday asked that notorious “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli be held in contempt of court for forming a new drug company in violation of a judge’s ban on the convicted fraudster from working in the pharmaceuticals industry. Shkreli, who was released from prison last year, in February was banned “for life from directly or indirectly participating in any manner in the …

Bloomberg Law reports: Moderna Inc. said it’s suing Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, claiming the technology in the partners’ Covid-19 shot infringes on its patents, a move that sets the stage for a massive legal clash between the three vaccine titans. Moderna, in a statement Friday, accused Pfizer and BioNTech of violating intellectual property protecting key elements of Moderna’s messenger …

The New York Post reports: Convicted “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli has finally been ousted as boss of the pharmaceutical company he founded, The Post has learned. Activist shareholders booted the group of directors still loyal to Shkreli during the annual general meeting of Turing’s parent company, Vyera, on Thursday. In December, the Federal Trade Commission accused Shkreli in court of …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into Cassava Sciences Inc involving whether the biotech company manipulated research results for its experimental Alzheimer’s drug, two people familiar with the inquiry said. The Justice Department personnel conducting the investigation into Austin, Texas-based Cassava specialize in examining whether companies or individuals have misled or defrauded investors, government agencies …

Axios reports: Pharmaceutical company HRA Pharma submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration on Monday asking to sell a birth control bill over-the-counter, rather than via prescription. If approved, it would be the first ever birth control pill to be available over-the-counter in the U.S. The application was submitted just weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. …

Axios reports: As one of America’s first big bets under Operation Warp Speed, Novavax’s COVID vaccine is notably late to the party as the Maryland biotech seeks a potential FDA emergency use authorization for its COVID shot. But company leaders say they see a clear runway to market success for its protein-based product — not only as a booster for …

ABC News reports: Abbott Laboratories said Thursday that it is working to develop a test that it would then provide to partners of its Pandemic Defense Coalition, a spokesperson said. Abbott’s announcement comes one day after Roche announced it had developed three kits to detect the virus. Roche, which is based in Switzerland, said one test detects orthopoxviruses, which is …

The Cornell Chronicle reports: Legalization of recreational marijuana reduces demand for costly prescription drugs through state Medicaid programs, according to an analysis by a Cornell researcher and a collaborator. When states legalize marijuana, the volume of prescriptions within the drug classes that align with the medical indications for pain, depression, anxiety, sleep, psychosis and seizures significantly decline, the researchers found. …

Fierce Pharma reports: The first of the three pharma juggernauts accused by prominent AIDS and gay rights activist Peter Staley of monopolizing the market for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) drugs is putting its legal woes to bed. Bristol Myers Squibb will hand over up to $11 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it, Gilead Sciences and Johnson & Johnson used …

ABC News reports: The U.S. COVID-19 vaccine program is now estimated to have prevented 2.2 million deaths, 17 million hospitalizations and 66.1 million additional infections through March 2022, according to updated modeling from the Commonwealth Fund, an organization advocating for improved healthcare for marginalized communities. In the analysis of recent trends, researchers estimated that the daily peak of deaths pre-omicron, …

Duke University Today reports: Curious about why some people have been so passionately, often angrily, opposed to vaccination against the COVID-19 virus, a team of researchers with access to rare and unusual insights into the childhood forces that shape our adult lives thought they’d try to find out. The Dunedin data showed that 40 years ago in childhood, many of …

NPR reports: The House of Representatives voted to approve legislation that would limit cost-sharing for insulin under private health insurance and Medicare. The vote was 232-193, with 12 Republican members joining their Democratic colleagues to pass the measure. The Affordable Insulin Now Act would cap insulin prices at either $35 a month or 25% of an insurance plan’s negotiated price …

NPR reports: Moderna is hoping to get the green light to administer a pediatric, low-dose COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months to under 6 years of age, it said in a statement. The pharmaceutical company will submit a request to the Food and Drug Administration “in the coming weeks” for authorization for a two-dose, 25 microgram-each shot. That’s 25% …

USA Today reports: Moderna on Thursday requested emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for a fourth dose of its COVID-19 vaccine as a booster for people 18 and over — a broader request than Pfizer made days ago for its vaccine. Currently, a single booster dose of Moderna’s mRNA vaccine is authorized for emergency use on top …