CONTAMINANTES - Celebs step into generic drug debate: Large pharmaceutical companies are waging what appears to be a successful lobbying and public relations battle to prevent the House from taking up a bill that would make it easier for generic drugs to enter the marketplace.
[Lá como cá...]
Drug Industry Is Told to Stop Gifts to Doctors: The government warned pharmaceutical companies today that they must not offer any financial incentives to doctors, pharmacists or other health care professionals to prescribe or recommend particular drugs, or to switch patients from one medicine to another.
The government informed the industry that many practices commonly used in the marketing and sale of prescription drugs could run afoul of federal fraud and abuse laws.
Pills, Profit and the Public Health: First there was aspirin to treat pain and inflammation, then came Advil, Aleve, and 40 other similar drugs. By 1999, Celebrex and Vioxx were on the scene, and they now outsell every other prescription pain reliever on the market. Every year, $4 billion is spent on Celebrex and Vioxx alone.
"There's never been a study showing that they are more effective at relieving symptoms of joint pain and inflammation than all these other medicines that have been available for many, many years and are much more affordable," said Dr. Matt Handley, a physician with Group Health Cooperative, a nonprofit managed-care organization in Seattle.
On top of the $532 million spent every year on over-the-counter drugs, consumers spent $90 billion more on prescription drugs last year than the $64 billion that was spent just six years ago.