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India Concerned About FDA Actions on Ranbaxy
India may take up the issue of the import ban imposed by the USFDA on 30 drugs manufactured by Ranbaxy, an Indian pharmaceutical company, in case the ban is not revoked following corrective actions taken by the company, according to senior officials in the commerce department.
Ranbaxy states, "There is nothing wrong with the quality of the drugs banned by the U.S. There were small procedural violations pointed out by the USFDA. Ranbaxy has informed us that those violations have been corrected, and it would now invite the FDA to come and inspect its facilities," a commerce department official told ET.
The Indian government would step in if the US FDA refused to revoke the ban, despite the steps being taken by Ranbaxy. "We have no objections when genuine concerns are addressed. But if quality issues are unnecessarily raked up as nontariff barriers, we will surely discuss the matter with the U.S.," the official added.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/articleshow/3510707.cms
More Children Sickened by Tainted Formula
China's government doubled the official tally of children sickened by tainted formula and stepped up efforts to address the domestic fallout from the scandal. China's Ministry of Health said Sunday that 12,892 infants were in hospitals after ingesting formula tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, including 104 whose symptoms are "severe." An additional 1,579 babies have been treated and released from the hospital, and 39,965 with less-severe symptoms have been treated without admission, the ministry said.
Milk dealers have been arrested and government officials fired as milk powder laced with melamine poisoned more than 12,800 babies and killed 4. State media have said four babies died from tainted formula, although the Health Ministry put the tally at three. The government last week put the number of sick infants at 6,244. The ministry didn't explain the increase. It's possible the number rose because more hospitals have filed reports to the government.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122199609652260515.html
Prescription Drug Use Declining
People are picking up fewer prescription drugs and visiting their doctors less often as the economy pinches pocketbooks, according to recent studies. The number of prescriptions dispensed in the second quarter of this year fell almost 2 percent from a year earlier. That followed a 0.5 percent drop in the first quarter of this year, the first time that number has been negative since 1996, according to IMS Health. A number of factors may have contributed to the changes, including (1) drug companies have introduced fewer new products, (2) high-profile stories about dangerous drug side effects may have made doctors and consumers wary of prescribing and taking drugs, (3) the FDA also has slowed the pace at which it approves new drugs, and (4) corporate cutbacks have shrunk paychecks and pushed up co-pays for prescriptions and doctor visits.
http://www.therapeuticsdaily.com/news/article.cfm?contentValue=1842518&contentType=sentryarticle
Questionable Medicare Claims Cost more than $1 billion
The government paid more than $1 billion in questionable Medicare claims for medical supplies that showed little relation to a patient's condition, including blood glucose strips for sexual impotence and special diabetic shoes for leg amputees, congressional investigators say.
Billions more in taxpayer dollars may have been wasted over the last decade because the government-run health program for the elderly and disabled paid out claims with blank or invalid diagnosis codes, such as a "?" or "zzzzz." Medicare officials say even smiley-face icons could have been accepted.
The report by Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security investigations subcommittee, obtained by The Associated Press, is the latest to detail lax oversight in the $400 billion program that has been cited by government auditors as a high-risk for fraud and waste for nearly 20 years.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jaD627V_u_hm4koV2o-2DYuICCDgD93CO5N80
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