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Is the High Price of Drugs Justifiable?
PHARMA companies are excited to tout the benefits of their newest drugs but seem far less willing to let the public know the price of the product.
- Optimer Pharmaceuticals announced that its new drug to treat diarrhea caused by the bacterium Clostridium difficile would cost $2,800, about twice as much as the existing approved drug.
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals provided a lot of information about how generous the company was going to be in helping customers with their insurance copayments but was silent about how much the drug would actually cost-$49,000.
- Merck's $1,100-a-week price of its new hepatitis C drug, Victrelis, is another example.
Some physicians are becoming frustrated trying to find documented information, outside of news reports, on the price of the new hepatitis C drugs. It is really remarkable that patients and physicians often don't know how much treatments or tests cost.
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/the-hidden-price-of-drugs/
Sanofi, Genzyme and 4,500 Employees
After Sanofi closed its $20 billion deal to buy Genzyme. CEO Chris Viehbacher made it clear that the biotech company would remain a standalone entity. Now, he announced that only a scaled-down version of Genzyme will remain semi-independent as Sanofi absorbs the rest of the company into its system. What isn't clear is whether the new corporate structure will trigger layoffs affecting Genzyme's 4,500 Boston employees (10,000 worldwide). In every significant buyout of the past several years, these mergers have been the catalyst for major job cuts.
http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/sanofi-spurs-layoff-fears-genzyme-restructuring-plans/2011-06-01
Rising Violence in Hospitals
Hospitals are no longer immune to America's increasing violence. Hospitals were at one time much like churches and schools and were considered somewhat isolated from violence. Unfortunately, that's not the case anymore.
Dr. Dmitriy Nikitin, an Orlando surgeon, was murdered last week; shot by a disgruntled patient. More than ever, patients are targeting doctors. It seems we live in an era where, if I have a problem, it's not my fault. The scenario occurred when Nelson Flecha, a 53-year-old man whom police described as a disgruntled patient, shot the 41-year-old transplant surgeon in Florida Hospital's parking garage and then killed himself.
American hospitals are experiencing more violence on their grounds and inside their corridors than ever before; last year, the Joint Commission reported that there have been 110 assaults, rapes, or homicides at hospitals and healthcare facilities since 2007.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/os-hospital-security-20110531,0,6124785.story
No More Free International Trips for Doctors from AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is scrapping payments for doctors to attend international medical congresses. This follows increased scrutiny of the $850 billion-a-year industry's potentially undue influence on prescribers and could put pressure on other companies to follow suit. European and other international congresses are often held on topics like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Typically, planeloads of specialist physicians are flown in at Big Pharma's expense to attend.
The company has decided that it will focus educational efforts on local educational opportunities for healthcare professionals. This decision comes at a time of unprecedented regulatory pressure on the drugs industry, which in the past five years has paid $15 billion penalties to the U.S. government alone for alleged violations of laws and regulations. Also impacting the decision may have been a wave of investigations under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the introduction of a new bribery act in Britain. AstraZeneca is actually being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the FCPA.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/27/astrazeneca-junkets-idUSLDE74P1YI20110527
North America's PHARMA Driving Up Costs
North America's (NA) PHARMA companies are turning to international markets for growth; they're scouting Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the Middle East for potential generics deals. This is likely to push prices upward on the world market.
It has been that most Central European PHARMA deals went to a European drugmaker or an Indian company; now, NA PHARMA is swooping in. As an example, Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals bought out Lithuania's AB Sanitas, and U.S.-based Watson Pharmaceuticals purchased Greece's Specifar.
In these deals, the entire bidding pool was dominated by North American companies. The problem is there aren't that many midsized generics firms to go around in those regions. There's now a "scarcity premium," which will increase as consolidation continues.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110527-708452.html
France to Stop Paying for Pfizer's Champix
France will no longer pay for Pfizer's stop-smoking drug Champix. The treatment will be pulled from the government formulary of medications eligible for reimbursement because of ongoing controversy about its potential side effects, Health Minister Xavier Bertrand said. "Questions have been raised about Champix, so I've decided it will no longer be covered by (state) health insurance," said Bertrand.
http://www.forexyard.com/en/news/France-pulls-subsidy-for-Pfizer-stop-smoking-drug-2011-05-31T105429Z
Bayer Moving Drug Production from California to Germany
Bayer has announced it will shut down production of a key drug in California, a move that would claim some 540 jobs by 2013. The company is confirming that production will go to Boehringer Ingelheim in a move designed to control costs as competitive pressures for its Betaferon multiple sclerosis treatment ratchet up. Boehringer is a German company, the biggest in that country next to Bayer. Bayer says. "It is important for us that we can offer the product from a single source."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/31/bayer-boehringer-idUSLDE74U0WZ20110531
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