* Company cuts out commercial medical education companies
* Only about 20 accredited providers will get grants
Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) said on Monday it will pare back funding for continuing medical education seminars.
While the company did not link its decision to political developments, pressure has been mounting in Congress and among some medical journal editors to limit the drug industry's influence over doctors.
Deirdre Connelly, president of Glaxo's operations in North America, said in a statement that starting in 2010, the company will limit its support for medical education programs, funding only independent programs with "the greatest potential to improve patient health."
The company said it will cut out education programs put on by commercial providers, and will only pay for programs from about 20 medical education providers with a track record of quality.
READ MORE @ REUTERS
Showing posts with label GlaxoSmithKline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GlaxoSmithKline. Show all posts
Friday, September 25, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Glaxo Executive’s Memo Suggested Burying Drug Studies (Update4)
An executive of GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the world’s second-biggest drugmaker, talked about burying negative studies linking its antidepressant drug Paxil to birth defects, according to a company memo introduced at a trial.
“If neg, results can bury,” Glaxo executive Bonnie Rossello wrote in a 1997 memo on what the company would do if forced to conduct animal studies on the drug. The memo was read during opening statements in the trial of a lawsuit brought by the family of a child born with heart defects.
The Philadelphia trial is the first of more than 600 cases alleging that London-based Glaxo knew Paxil caused birth defects and hid those risks to pump up profits. The drug, approved for U.S. use in 1992, generated about $942 million in sales last year, 2.1 percent of Glaxo’s total revenue.
The family of Lyam Kilker claims Glaxo withheld information from consumers and regulators about the risk of birth defects and failed to properly test Paxil. Kilker’s mother, Michelle David, blames Paxil for causing life-threatening heart defects in her 3-year-old son.
Glaxo officials urged scientists to withhold information about Paxil’s risks from a paper laying out the company’s “core safety philosophy” for the drug, said Sean Tracey, a lawyer for Kilker and David, in his opening statement in the trial.
READ MORE @ BLOOMBERG
“If neg, results can bury,” Glaxo executive Bonnie Rossello wrote in a 1997 memo on what the company would do if forced to conduct animal studies on the drug. The memo was read during opening statements in the trial of a lawsuit brought by the family of a child born with heart defects.
The Philadelphia trial is the first of more than 600 cases alleging that London-based Glaxo knew Paxil caused birth defects and hid those risks to pump up profits. The drug, approved for U.S. use in 1992, generated about $942 million in sales last year, 2.1 percent of Glaxo’s total revenue.
The family of Lyam Kilker claims Glaxo withheld information from consumers and regulators about the risk of birth defects and failed to properly test Paxil. Kilker’s mother, Michelle David, blames Paxil for causing life-threatening heart defects in her 3-year-old son.
Glaxo officials urged scientists to withhold information about Paxil’s risks from a paper laying out the company’s “core safety philosophy” for the drug, said Sean Tracey, a lawyer for Kilker and David, in his opening statement in the trial.
READ MORE @ BLOOMBERG
Saturday, September 12, 2009
GlaxoSmithKline to Defend Paxil in Birth-Defect Case (Update1)
GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the world’s second-biggest drugmaker, begins a trial in Philadelphia next week in what may be a test case for more than 600 lawsuits over claims its antidepressant drug Paxil causes birth defects.
Patients and their parents claim internal company documents produced for trial show Glaxo failed to warn about the risks of Paxil until forced to do so in 2005 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In a trial set for Sept. 14, Michelle David blames the drug for causing life-threatening heart defects in her son Lyam Kilker, 3.
The London-based company faces two more such trials a month from October through January in state court in Philadelphia. The first group will show both sides how the rest of the lawsuits may fare, said David Logan, dean and professor of law at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island.
“These cases are sort of like the canary in the coal mine,” Logan said in a phone interview. “The early cases set the parameters for any global settlement negotiations.”
Paxil, approved by the FDA in 1992, generated about $942 million in sales last year, 2.1 percent of the total for the company. Glaxo has settled other Paxil-related cases, including a suit brought by the New York Attorney General’s office accusing the company of withholding safety data about the antidepressant.
READ MORE @ BLOOMBERG
Patients and their parents claim internal company documents produced for trial show Glaxo failed to warn about the risks of Paxil until forced to do so in 2005 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In a trial set for Sept. 14, Michelle David blames the drug for causing life-threatening heart defects in her son Lyam Kilker, 3.
The London-based company faces two more such trials a month from October through January in state court in Philadelphia. The first group will show both sides how the rest of the lawsuits may fare, said David Logan, dean and professor of law at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island.
“These cases are sort of like the canary in the coal mine,” Logan said in a phone interview. “The early cases set the parameters for any global settlement negotiations.”
Paxil, approved by the FDA in 1992, generated about $942 million in sales last year, 2.1 percent of the total for the company. Glaxo has settled other Paxil-related cases, including a suit brought by the New York Attorney General’s office accusing the company of withholding safety data about the antidepressant.
READ MORE @ BLOOMBERG
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline pledges cheap medicine for world's poor Head of GSK shocks industry with challenge to other 'big pharma' companies
The world's second biggest pharmaceutical company is to radically shift its attitude to providing cheap drugs to millions of people in the developing world.
In a major change of strategy, the new head of GlaxoSmithKline, Andrew Witty, has told the Guardian he will slash prices on all medicines in the poorest countries, give back profits to be spent on hospitals and clinics and – most ground-breaking of all – share knowledge about potential drugs that are currently protected by patents.
Witty says he believes drug companies have an obligation to help the poor get treatment. He challenges other pharmaceutical giants to follow his lead.
Pressure on the industry has been growing over the past decade, triggered by the Aids catastrophe.
Drug companies have been repeatedly criticised for failing to drop their prices for HIV drugs while millions died in Africa and Asia. Since then, campaigners have targeted them for defending the patents, which keep their prices high, while attempting to crush competition from generic manufacturers, who undercut them dramatically in countries where patents do not apply.
READ MORE @ THE GUARDIAN
In a major change of strategy, the new head of GlaxoSmithKline, Andrew Witty, has told the Guardian he will slash prices on all medicines in the poorest countries, give back profits to be spent on hospitals and clinics and – most ground-breaking of all – share knowledge about potential drugs that are currently protected by patents.
Witty says he believes drug companies have an obligation to help the poor get treatment. He challenges other pharmaceutical giants to follow his lead.
Pressure on the industry has been growing over the past decade, triggered by the Aids catastrophe.
Drug companies have been repeatedly criticised for failing to drop their prices for HIV drugs while millions died in Africa and Asia. Since then, campaigners have targeted them for defending the patents, which keep their prices high, while attempting to crush competition from generic manufacturers, who undercut them dramatically in countries where patents do not apply.
READ MORE @ THE GUARDIAN
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Drugs giant attacked over dangers of anti-depressant drug
Health regulators have criticised drugs firm Glaxosmithkline (GSK) for withholding information over the risk of suicide relating to one of its anti-depressant drugs.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said today it remained concerned that GSK failed to raise the alarm earlier over the side-effects of Seroxat.
Government prosecutors have ruled that there is no realistic prospect of getting a conviction over the issue.
But new legislation ensuring drugs companies pass on results of clinical trials promptly is to be introduced, public health minister Dawn Primarolo told Parliament.
Seroxat is the most frequently-prescribed anti-depressant in the UK, but there have been complaints that it triggers suicidal feelings in some patients.
READ MORE @ THE INDEPENDENT
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said today it remained concerned that GSK failed to raise the alarm earlier over the side-effects of Seroxat.
Government prosecutors have ruled that there is no realistic prospect of getting a conviction over the issue.
But new legislation ensuring drugs companies pass on results of clinical trials promptly is to be introduced, public health minister Dawn Primarolo told Parliament.
Seroxat is the most frequently-prescribed anti-depressant in the UK, but there have been complaints that it triggers suicidal feelings in some patients.
READ MORE @ THE INDEPENDENT
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
U.S. rejects Glaxo's gepirone ER antidepressant
U.S. regulators have rejected GlaxoSmithKline Plc's (GSK.L: Quote, Profile, Research) experimental drug gepirone ER for adults with major depression.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a not approvable letter for the extended-release tablets, which Glaxo had licensed from privately owned Fabre-Kramer Pharmaceuticals Inc in February, Europe's biggest drugmaker said on Saturday.
The news is a blow to Glaxo, which needs new drugs to make up for pending patent expiries on key blockbusters and a recent slump in sales of its second-biggest seller, the diabetes pill Avandia, which has been hit by fears over a possible link to heart attacks.
READ MORE @ REUTERS
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a not approvable letter for the extended-release tablets, which Glaxo had licensed from privately owned Fabre-Kramer Pharmaceuticals Inc in February, Europe's biggest drugmaker said on Saturday.
The news is a blow to Glaxo, which needs new drugs to make up for pending patent expiries on key blockbusters and a recent slump in sales of its second-biggest seller, the diabetes pill Avandia, which has been hit by fears over a possible link to heart attacks.
READ MORE @ REUTERS
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