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Maybe some people still don't know what's bad for them. Patients who once dependent on Vioxx for arthritis relief are still lobbying Merck to get the drug back on the market--despite the documented risk of heart attacks, strokes, even death. Consumer advocates say it might be a case of rose-colored hindsight; patients convinced only Vioxx can help them may simply have exaggerated memories of the drug's effects. But patients say they simply want to make their own choices. Don't smokers say the same thing?
- here's the report from the Star-Ledger
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Thrilling AIDS activists and frustrating the drug company, an Indian court rejected Novartis' challenge to its drug patent laws. Novartis claims the decision will discourage innovation. Indian law doesn't allow new patents on drugs that have simply been modified, rather than newly developed. That throws a big wrench into drug makers' strategy for combating cheaper generics: namely, using a few pips and tweaks to turn old, once-profitable meds into new, patent-protected ones. The ruling will help protect India's burgeoning generics industry from Big Pharma competition and, say patient advocates, keeps inexpensive remedies coming to populations that couldn't afford them otherwise.
- here's the report from the International Herald Tribune
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The brouhaha over pharmaceutical companies' payments to doctors is making some big waves in Congress. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) says he's going to propose a bill that would require drug makers to 'fess up to any payments for consulting, lectures, and the like. Pharma, of course, is against the measure; a drug company lawyer said that making the cash flow public would lay the money bare to misinterpretation: People might think the payments are bribes, when they're just remuneration for services rendered. Besides, the poor doctors might be too embarrassed to attend those money-for-attendance seminars, thus neglecting their education.
- read the article on the bill from The New York Times
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Doctors are fomenting a different sort of rebellion against the interwoven mesh of drug company-doctor relationships. Medical societies long dependent on Pharma funding, such as the American College of Rheumatology, are trying to wean themselves. Prominent med schools are curtailing or downright prohibiting payments to doctors from drug reps. Longtime critics of the practice--such as Dr. Charles Brody of the University of Texas--say there's been a "sea change." Whether it will fully turn the tide remains to be seen.
- read the report from The Los Angeles Times
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Bayer Healthcare has nabbed a deal with Nektar Therapeutics to develop and commercialize Nektar's remedy for gram-negative pneumonia, known as inhaled amikacin. Bayer will pay $50 million up front, plus an additional $125 million in milestone payments if they successfully bring the compound to market. Profits on eventual U.S. sales will be shared 50-50.
- check out the release
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