The BMJ reports that British doctors will be forced to declare any gifts or trips they have received from drug companies from next year. The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has said that he plans to extend the existing rules and regulations over gifts and hospitality in connection with the promotion of medicines to anyone able to supply or prescribe them.
Pharmaceutical industry attempting to undermine access to affordable medicines
South Africa’s eligibility for ongoing inclusion in the African Growth and Opportunity Act is being used as a bargaining chip in pressure by the pharmaceutical industry to get the country to backtrack on intellectual property law reforms aimed at promoting access to more affordable medicines, charged several South African advocacy and human rights groups, reports Times Live, a South African newspaper.
Court rules that FDA cannot restrict off-label marketing
BMJ reports that a federal judge in New York has ruled that the Food and Drug Administration cannot restrict off-label marketing information for an approved drug so long as the information is truthful and not misleading. The judgment was based on the First Amendment—the right to free speech.
Drug Manufacturers’ Delayed Disclosure of Serious and Unexpected Adverse Events to the US Food and Drug Administration
Federal regulations require drug manufacturers to report previously unknown side effects and complications of their products to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within 15 days of receiving reports of patient injury or death. But a new study by researchers at the University of Minnesota showed that between 2000 and 2014, drug manufacturers didn’t disclose more than 160,000 serious adverse events within the 15-day time frame.
Beach Reads on Corporate Skullduggery
August is a time for vacations and reading on the beach—or in an air-conditioned library. For those dedicated Corporations and Health Watch readers who can’t resist an opportunity to find out more about how corporations influence well-being, here are a few recent novels that provide additional insights into this process. For those who worry about the quality of the scientific evidence in these accounts, remember it was the public outrage generated by Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle that played a key role in creating the United State Food and Drug Administration in 1906.
Experts support call for lower cancer drug prices
Reuters reports that a group of 118 leading cancer experts have developed a list of proposals designed to reduce the cost of cancer drugs, and support a grassroots patient protest movement to pressure drug companies to charge what they deem a fair value for treatments.
Interactive Map Documents Rising Tide of State Preemption
Since the 1980s, preemption has been used to undermine grassroots movements across public health issues including tobacco, nutrition, housing and gun violence. But over the last few years, opponents of public health have dramatically accelerated the use of preemption to hinder public health. From e-cigarettes to paid sick days, more and more communities are threatened with losing their ability to protect their own residents. This not only affects the community health and safety, but it can kill effective grassroots movements before they even start.
Continue reading Interactive Map Documents Rising Tide of State Preemption
Pharmaceutical Companies which Underreported Prices Paid by Medicaid Reach Settlement with DOJ
Whistleblower, a blog for attorneys, reports that AstraZeneca and Cephalon have both reached settlements with the US Department of Justice totaling $54 million. The companies were accused of deliberately underreporting Average Manufacturer Prices to public health programs. The government accused the companies of underpaying rebates owed to the states that caused the United States to be overcharged for its payments to the states for the Medicaid program.
Dollars for Docs: How Industry Dollars Reach Your Doctors
An updated analysis of the federal database on pharmaceutical industry payments to doctors by Pro Publica shows that 768 doctors received payments on more than half of the days in 2014. More than 14,600 doctors received payments on at least 100 days in 2014.
Bad Medicine: How the pharmaceutical industry is contributing to the global rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs
SumOfUs.org is a global movement of consumers, investors, and workers all around the world, standing together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable and just path for our global economy. The executive summary of their new report Bad Medicine is below and the full report is here.
The effective treatment of infections and diseases, which has been taken for granted for decades, is under threat. The emergence of virulent strains of drug-resistant bacteria, commonly known as superbugs, is prompting scientists and medical practitioners around the world to warn of a return to the pre-antibiotic era and a looming public health disaster.
Corporations and Health Watch 