Pharmaceutical Executive-10-01-2001

Government and industry have shown they can work together to deal with a national disaster.

Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-Merck’s pharmacy benefit arm, Merck-Medco, is under fire for switching patients to more expensive pharmaceuticals.

Rio de Janeiro-The Brazilian health ministry will use its $35 million a year in savings on Roche’s newly discounted AIDS therapy to fund a program aimed at providing non-AIDS medicines to low-income families.

t's 4 pm on Friday. The board of directors has just made an important decision and wants to announce it over the weekend. The challenge? Publish an English-language version on the company's global Web portals immediately. The problem? It's the weekend and offices around the world are about to close. In the past, that meant hunkering down for a weekend of e-mails to coordinate the effort, but now there is a better solution. After writing the document in Microsoft Word, the sender simply clicks on a special menu item, "Publish to Portals," and off it goes. Confirming dialogue boxes allow

Lagos, Nigeria-FDA refused to confirm or deny that it was launching a criminal investigation into Pfizer’s conduct during a 1996 clinical trial for Trovan (alatrofloxacin) in Nigerian patients.

Efforts to craft a Medicare pharmacy benefit may be sidelined by repercussions from the September attack.

During the next few years of economic and political turbulence, the pharmaceutical industry should cut through the waves like a sturdy ship, creating very little disturbance to its occupants. Some rough water- a prescription drug benefit and generic competition for blockbuster products-is expected, but the industry's ability to expand its markets in a steadily aging population will drive continued growth.

Driven somewhat by the HRT controversy and the growing population of postmenopausal women, the expanding osteo market made room for Eli Lilly's Evista (raloxifene), the first-in-class SERM. According to Dr. Leo Plouffe, Lilly's medical director of US women's health and reproductive medicine, the company has launched a series of clinical trials examining Evista's preventive effects against breast cancer and heart disease in women. And in another bold move, Lilly recently launched its groundbreaking Evista Alendronate Comparison (EVA) study, a head-to-head clinical trial comparing Evista with Fosamax for osteoporosis prevention and treatment and their relative efficacy in reducing risks of heart disease and breast cancer.

Basel-A series of product approvals in recent weeks could go some way to compensate for setbacks in Novartis’ pipeline. The approvals came as the Swiss company reported healthy half-year figures and an 11 percent sales increase.

New York City—In response to the recent terrorist attack in its home city, Pfizer pledged nearly $10 million in aid.

London-European cancer patients are losing out because current processes for reviewing treatments are "dire," says the Cancer Research Campaign.

Coined in the early 1940s, the hybrid term "biotech" has sustained its save-the-world aura and futurist allure. During the industry's nascent years, Amgen, Genentech, and other barrier-breaking companies were mere fledgling operations with products still in the pure science phase and their only "revenue" the hope of curing some of the world's ills.

Mumbai, India—The controversy over pharma companies’ incentives to pharmacists in India highlights just how competitive the Indian pharma industry has become.

In the world of pharmaceutical names, the trademark has always been the star, and every other word has played a supporting role. But recent developments at FDA-and the industry's response to those developments-have set the stage for a new approach to nomenclature.

Menlo Park, California-Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance jumped 11 percent from spring 2000 to spring 2001-the biggest increase since 1992-and payers blame that huge spike on pharmaceutical expenditures.

"My father had some great sayings, and one of them was: 'Never do a deal that's not a good deal for the other guy.'" So remembers Donal Geaney, chairman and CEO of Ireland-based Elan. Geaney's new American colleague Daniel Welch, president of Elan Pharmaceuticals, smiles in agreement from the other side of the table.

I heard the first bird of the morning whistling to his lover. Their small wings owned the sky again while the people fled for cover.