Drug Company Staff Fretted When In-house Paper’s Conclusion Clashed with Marketing Claims

Posted on by Corporations and Health Watch

The Lancet reports that when employees at the German drug firm Boehringer Ingelheim learnt that the conclusions of a company study clashed with a marketing claim that its new anticoagulant did not need monitoring, they sought to have the paper revised and even questioned whether it should be published at all, internal company documents released by a US court indicate. One employee complained that the paper would harm the company’s marketing efforts and make discussions with regulatory agencies more difficult. “Can’t this be avoided?” the employee asked.

 

In Rapid Turnaround, Toyota Is on Track to Post Record Earnings

Posted on by Corporations and Health Watch

Last week, reports the New York Times, Toyota hit a milestone in its comeback, saying it was on pace to earn its biggest-ever annual profit in its current fiscal year. It is a rapid turnaround for a company that nearly lost its reputation for quality when millions of its cars were recalled for problems with unintended acceleration.  Under its chief executive, Akio Toyoda, the company has hastened cost cuts, streamlined its global organization chart and increased its emphasis on newer models, flashy designs and fuel economy. The company has also continued to resolve lawsuits stemming from the recalls.  While  American automakers have made drastic comebacks since the recession, no car company has had a bigger revival than Toyota.

Australian Labor Party Questions Removal of Nutrition Website

Posted on by Corporations and Health Watch

Australia’s 7News reports that the opposition Labor Party has pressed Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash on her chief-of-staff’s links to the food industry, after the controversial removal of a Health Department website last week. Senator Nash said she ordered her department to take down the website, which promoted a new star rating system for food labels. The Commonwealth,  states and territories all endorsed a new voluntary food labeling system at the end of last year. While the food and drink manufacturing body, the Food and Grocery Council, has been resisting the introduction of the system, consumer advocates have pushed for it.

Has Australia’s Food and Health Dialogue Improved Quality of Food?

Posted on by Corporations and Health Watch

The Medical Journal of Australia published a report assessing Australia’s Food and Health Dialogue, a public private partnership established by the Australian Government in 2009 to encourage production of healthier food.  The authors concluded that “the Dialogue has highly creditable goals but the mechanism for delivering on them has proved inadequate. Explicit processes and the outcomes to be delivered within defined timelines are required, along with a clear plan for remediation if they are not achieved.”

Guns Send 20 Kids a Day to Hospital

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A new study in Pediatrics reports that on average, 20 US children and adolescents were hospitalized each day in 2009 due to firearm injuries. Among children, firearm injuries are 1 of the top 3 causes of death and the cause of 1 in 4 deaths in adolescents ages 15 to 19 years. The authors conclude that more public health efforts are needed to reduce this common source of childhood injury.

Drug Makers May Face Liability for Design Defects

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The Legal Intelligencer reports that drug companies may face product liability claims in Pennsylvania for defectively designed drugs, the state Supreme Court has ruled. The 4-2 ruling stems from a case involving the fatal use of a diet drug made by a Pfizer subsidiary that was later taken off the market. The majority rejected the argument that manufacturing defects and inadequate warnings are the only viable product liability claims against pharmaceutical companies, and the court allowed claims to go forward alleging the drug company negligently designed and marketed the diet pill.

The Cigarette Industry Running Out of Puff

Posted on by Corporations and Health Watch

In an analysis of the future of the tobacco industry, The Economist warns that U.S. Surgeon-General Boris Lushniak’s goal of “end-game strategies” to stamp out cigarettes could put America’s three big tobacco firms, Altria, Reynolds and Lorillard, out of business and endanger the viability of Philip Morris International (PMI), which along with Altria makes Marlboro, the top-selling global brand; Japan Tobacco; and British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco of Britain.

Surgeon General: Smoking to Kill 5.6 Million Kids if We Don’t Act Now

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CBS reports that the U.S. Surgeon General’s latest smoking report warns that unless current tobacco use rates fall, another 5.6 million U.S. kids might die prematurely. The Surgeon General’s 2014 report, the first in more than a decade, found that smoking has killed more than 20 million Americans prematurely in the last half century.  

Father of Australian Victim of Alcohol Violence Pushes for Ban on Alcohol Industry Donations

Posted on by Corporations and Health Watch

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the father of Australian assault victim Michael McEwen, who was left fighting for his life after being hit and having his head stomped by drunken assailants,  has called on the New South Wales and federal governments to consider a six-point plan to address alcohol-related violence.  Among the measures championed by Robert McEwen are a federal ban on political donations from the alcohol industry and mandatory drug and alcohol testing of perpetrators of violent attacks in NSW.

Big Data + Big Pharma = Big Money

Posted on by Corporations and Health Watch

Need another reminder of how much drugmakers spend to discover what doctors are prescribing? asks Charles Ornstein on Pro Publica.  Look no further than new documents from the leading keeper of such data. IMS Health Holdings Inc. says it pulled in nearly $2 billion in the first nine months of 2013, much of it from sweeping up data from pharmacies and selling it to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The firm’s revenues in 2012 reached $2.4 billion, about 60 percent of it from selling such information.