Tag Archives: pharma

STAT News reports: Researchers have begun testing what appears to be the first new medicine developed specifically against Covid-19, in a milestone for drug companies aiming to combat the disease, the medicine’s makers said Monday. The medicine, a human-made antibody against the coronavirus that causes the disease, was discovered by a Vancouver company, AbCellera, and is being developed by Eli …

Axios reports: The CEOs of 179 health care companies took home almost $2.5 billion in 2019, a majority of which came from cashing out stock, according to an Axios analysis of financial filings. The big picture: That amount is four times what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had to study and prepare for all “emerging and zoonotic infectious …

CNBC reports: Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday that it is discontinuing its talc-based baby powder in the United States and Canada as demand fell in light of mounting lawsuits that said it caused cancer. J&J attributed the decline “in large part to changes in consumer habits and fueled by misinformation around the safety of the product and a constant barrage …

The New York Post reports: The Pharma Bro is staying behind bars another three years, despite his claimed fears of being at risk from the coronavirus. A federal judge in Brooklyn has denied Martin Shkreli’s request to be released early, citing his good health and low-risk at the Allenwood Low Federal Correctional Institution, where he’s currently confined. Adding insult to …

The Associated Press reports: French pharmaceutical group Sanofi promised Thursday that it would make its COVID-19 vaccine, when ready, available in all countries, hours after the company’s CEO said the United States will get first access. Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson’s comments that a vaccine would go first to the U.S. prompted an angry reaction from the French government. “Equal access …

Bloomberg News reports: Americans will likely get Sanofi’s Covid-19 vaccine before the rest of the world if the French pharmaceutical giant can successfully deliver one. That’s because the U.S. was first in line to fund Sanofi’s vaccine research, Chief Executive Officer Paul Hudson said in an interview with Bloomberg News. He warned that Europe risks falling behind unless it steps …

STAT News reports: Seeking to blunt concerns about access to its remdesivir treatment for Covid-19, Gilead Sciences (GILD) signed deals with five generic companies in India and Pakistan to manufacture and distribute the experimental medicine to 127 countries. Under the agreements, the companies can set their own prices, but will not have to pay royalties to Gilead until the World …

NBC News reports: Health care giant Johnson and Johnson is looking to produce a billion coronavirus vaccines next year, according to the company’s chief scientific officer. Dr. Paul Stoffels said the company is upscaling manufacturing and will start producing the vaccine later this year. “We are preparing clinical trials. We are fully underway and upscaling. We start clinical trials in …

CNBC reports: The Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use authorization for Gilead Sciences remdesivir drug to treat the coronavirus, President Donald Trump announced Friday. Trump made the announcement in the Oval Office alongside Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day. “We want to thank the collaborators that brought remdesivir to this point and many of our people that have been part …

Axios reports: This month, Jaguar Health more than tripled the price of its lone FDA-approved drug, right after asking the federal government to expand the use of its drug to coronavirus patients. Jaguar Health drastically raised the price of a drug during the height of the pandemic, but executives argued the move was needed to stave off the company’s collapse. …

The Hill reports: Controversial pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli called for his temporary release from prison on Tuesday in an 11-page scientific paper posted to a pharmaceutical company’s website. In the paper, Shkreli asks for a three-month furlough from his prison sentence in order to assist in the development of a cure for coronavirus. “I am asking for a brief furlough …

The New York Times reports: Some associates of Mr. Trump’s have financial interests in the issue. Sanofi’s largest shareholders include Fisher Asset Management, the investment company run by Ken Fisher, a major donor to Republicans, including Mr. Trump. A spokesman for Mr. Fisher declined to comment. As of last year, Mr. Trump reported that his three family trusts each had …

Axios reports: Gilead Sciences CEO Daniel O’Day said in an open letter Saturday the company is expanding access to its experimental anti-coronavirus drug remdesivir to include severely ill COVID-19 patients. President Trump has called the antiviral drug “promising,” but the results of six clinical trials on this investigational medicine are still being conducted, so its effectiveness the treatment of the …

Reuters reports: Martin Shkreli, the “pharma bro” in prison for defrauding investors, faces a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission and New York attorney general’s office for an alleged scheme to preserve his monopoly for the drug Daraprim, whose price increased by more than 4,000% in one day. The lawsuit accuses a company that Shkreli once ran of buying …

The Washington Post reports: In 2005, Gilead Sciences notified federal regulators that it was suspending development of a potentially safer, more potent HIV-fighting drug than the one on the market. The company did not restart its Food and Drug Administration application until 2010. Now the five-year delay of a promising drug is at the core of accusations by advocates that …

CBNC reports: The Supreme Court on Monday denied notorious “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli’s request to hear an appeal of his criminal conviction for securities fraud. The rejection means that Shkreli, 36, will have to serve out the remainder of his seven-year prison term, and forfeit more than $6.4 million. Shkrekli’s appellate lawyer, Mark Baker, told CNBC that “all [Supreme Court] …

USA Today reports: Drug-resistant “superbugs” infect 2.8 million people and cause more than 35,000 deaths each year, underscoring the enormous public health threat of germs in what one official describes as a “post-antibiotic era,” according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. The report, which analyzes electronic health records and other data, shows an infection every 11 …

The New York Times reports: Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, the drug widely seen as igniting the opioid crisis, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday night, a move at the center of the company’s efforts to shield itself and its owners from more than 2,600 federal and state lawsuits. The terms of the filing, which include a proposed resolution …

The Associated Press reports: Attorneys for some 2,000 local governments say they have agreed to a tentative settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma over the toll of the nation’s opioid crisis. Attorney Paul Farrell said in a text message Wednesday that they have agreed to a deal that has been on the table for several weeks. Sources with direct knowledge …

NBC News reports: Johnson & Johnson must pay over $572 million for its role in the Oklahoma opioid epidemic that officials claim led to more than 6,000 deaths in the state over nearly two decades, a judge ruled Monday. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter claimed in court that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its pharmaceutical subsidiary, Janssen, marketed opioids to …