Johnson & Johnson’s courtroom fights over Risperdal continue, as Commonwealth Court judges are scheduled to hear an appeal of decisions to dismiss Pennsylvania’s 2008 lawsuit that alleged the company fraudulently profited from sales of the antipsychotic drug through the Medicaid program. While Pennsylvania’s case did go to trial in Philadelphia, it did not get far. …
The White House apparently concocted a secret deal with the pharmaceutical industry in return for a promise not to oppose President Barack Obama’s signature health care reform law, Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, tells Newsmax.TV. According to NewsMax, Burgess was referring to allegations raised in a House Energy and Commerce Committee investigation that the administration made …
A federal judge is faced with an ethical decision, should Dr. William J. Zinnanti, a prolific medical researcher, be in the hospital laboratory or behind bars? Both are on the table. Zinnanti, 42, now a pediatric neurology fellow at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, has a tentative deal with prosecutors to plead guilty …
Physicians are under pressure from health plans to curb costs. every day they have less time, as well as patience, for persistent sales pitches. The government has been cracking down on aggressive, illegal marketing of drugs for unapproved uses. As a result drug makers have been unable to bring enough new products to market to …
Takeda Pharmaceutical has been exposed. Whistleblower and former medical reviewer, Helen Ge, claimed that Takeda Pharmaceutical neglected to report hundreds of congestive heart failure cases associated with type 2 diabetes drug, Actos, and will be suing the company. According to the suit, Takeda’s U.S. unit didn’t red-flag heart failure cases that weren’t fatal and didn’t …
In an advisory committee weighing whether or not the benefits of four popular Bayer AG birth-control pills outweigh the blood-clot risk , the FDA allowed physicians with ties to Bayer to participate and vote. At least one of the physicians was a Yasmin advocate and was allowed to vote on the issue. Meanwhile, it was noted that …
Fosamax is a bisphosphonate and, more and more, research supports a link between atypical fractures of the femur, generally without trauma, and bisphosphonate use. The drugs are prescribed to improve bone density and minimize osteoporosis-related bone fracture. Just recently, two more victims who have used osteoporosis drug, Fosamax, have come forward and filed suits against …
A lawsuit has been filed against Swiss device maker Synthes Inc. and some of its executives by the families of two elderly women who have died during clinical trials for a bone cement that was being tested for spinal surgery. Both of the decedents named in the lawsuit are women in their 80s who died on …
AstraZeneca PLC said Monday in a securities filing that it was criminally indicted in Serbia for alleged bribery. The indictment, which according to the filing was served in August, accuses local AstraZeneca employees of having “made allegedly improper payments to physicians” at the Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia. Several of the accused were arrested, according to …
Globus Medical is a spinal implant manufacturer privately held in Audubon, Pennsylvania. The FDA considers Globus Medical’s NuBone Osteoinductive a medical device that poses a lower level of risk to patients and therefore Globus Medical was only required to show that the NuBone Osteoinductive was substantially equivalent to similar medical devices that are already on the market. However, …