21/01/2010 by admin.

On January 25 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will launch an emergency inquiry regarding the influence of pharmaceutical companies on the global swine flu campaign.

The inquiry will focus on the drug industry’s influence on the World Health Organization (WHO).

The motion was introduced by Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, who has accused the makers of flu drugs and vaccines of influencing the World Health Organization’s decision to declare a pandemic.

The motion has now been signed by 14 members from 10 countries sitting on the EU’s Health Committee, who are angry that nations all over the world, and particularly in Europe, have wasted scarce health funds on a contrived “pandemic.”

The investigation is listed on the EU’s draft agenda as “Request for Debate Under Urgent Procedure on ‘Faked Pandemics – A Threat for Health’.”

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15/01/2010 by admin.

Harvard University has tightened its regulations for doctors and scientists who consult for drug companies and medical device makers.

Ties between prominent doctors and drug companies have been scrutinised lately, especially by Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican.

About two dozen of Harvard’s highest flyers, those who sit on the boards of drug companies, are most affected. Under the rules, introduced on 1 January, they can earn no more than $5000 (£3100; 3440) per 10 hour day for service on the board of a drug or device company and may not accept company stock in payment.

The rules also apply to about 6000 doctors, researchers, institutional officers, and other employees at Partners HealthCare, a Harvard affiliated healthcare group.

Read article at http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/340/jan12_2/c172

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15/01/2010 by admin.

England’s Department of Health has launched a consultation on proposals for automatic generic substitution, in which pharmacists could dispense generic forms of drugs instead of branded versions even if the prescribing doctor or nurse has written a prescription for a brand.

The consultation report outlines three options. The first is to keep the current arrangements, in which pharmacists are required to dispense exactly what is written on a prescription and cannot substitute a generic version for a brand name drug without prior agreement with the prescriber. The second would allow substitution of generic equivalents but would specify a list of exempt products. The third option, preferred by the health department, would allow generic substitution of a specified group of products.

Read article at http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/340/jan08_3/c135

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15/01/2010 by admin.

Controversy has arisen at the World Health Organization after allegations that some WHO experts, including a leading vaccine adviser, have financial ties to the drug industry.

Documents acquired through the Danish Freedom of Information Act by the Danish daily newspaper Information show that Juhani Eskola, a Finnish vaccines adviser on the WHO board, has received £5.6m (6.2m; $9m) for his research centre, the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare. The money, from GlaxoSmithKline for research on vaccines during 2009, is the institute’s main source of income.

Professor Eskola is the deputy director general of the institute and a member of WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), which advises member states on which vaccines to use and how much of these they should purchase.

GlaxoSmithKline produces the H1N1 vaccine Pandemrix, which the Finnish government stockpiled after recommendations from Professor Eskola’s institute and WHO.

Read article at http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/340/jan12_2/c201

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15/01/2010 by admin.

Drug companies are being accused of unnecessarily raising fears over the H1N1 swine flu virus so as to increase profits by boosting sales of their new vaccines.

The allegations, made in the parliamentary assembly of the Strasbourg based Council of Europe, are surfacing as several countries, notably the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, are looking to dispose of excess supplies of the unwanted vaccines (BMJ 2010;340:c170, 11 Jan, doi:10.1136/bmj.c170).

Wolfgang Wodarg, a German Social Democrat MP and chairman of the assembly’s health subcommittee, is, with the support of a cross party group of Council of Europe parliamentarians, pressing for a pan-European investigation into the role of the companies in the current pandemic.

“We have twice had major alarms. The first was with bird flu, and now this. It looks like a big marketing campaign for extra profits and costs health authorities a lot of money,” he said.

Read article at http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/340/jan12_2/c198

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12/01/2010 by admin.

The January 2010 issue of Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB) [volume 48,
number 1] contains an editorial and three articles. In an editorial and an
accompanying podcast in March 2009, we highlighted issues about ‘high
street mole clinics’. These included concerns that new imaging technologies
might be used in such clinics by clinicians lacking appropriate training.
Our editorial this month discusses some developments in this area.  The
issue also includes a review of the management of medication overuse
headache, a review of the role of cognitive behavioural therapy for
schizophrenia, and a review of tocilizumab for rheumatoid arthritis. A
podcast outlining what is in the January issue is also available via our
website www.dtb.bmj.com.

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05/01/2010 by admin.

Confidential documents related to the World Health Organization Expert Working Group on innovative financing for research and development surfaced today, revealing the group’s thinking as well as pharmaceutical industry thinking about the WHO process. The documents immediately raised concern about possible undue access to the process by industry, but the WHO told Intellectual Property Watch the industry group was not supposed to have them.

For full article go to http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/12/09/confidential-documents-released-fr%0Aom-who-rd-finance-group-pharmaceutical-industry/

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25/12/2009 by admin.

The December 2010 issue of Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB) [volume 47, number 12] contains an editorial and three articles. The editorial discusses the problems raised by C. difficile infections occurring outside hospital. The issue also includes a review of the management of gastro-oesophageal refux in infants, a review of the role of strong opioids for osteoarthritis in primary care, and a review of generic prescribing in epilepsy. A podcast outlining what is in the December issue is also available via our website www.dtb.bmj.com.

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12/10/2009 by admin.

The Prime-minister Vladimir Putin defined the situation when pharmaceutical giants pay health professionals for prescribing their medicines impossible to tolerate. At the meeting on development of pharmaceutical industry he noted, that “sometimes even the prescription forms, printed by supplier firms, are being used”. According to the Prime-minister, during the last decade “obviously abnormal practice of relationship between manufacturers of medicines, including foreign ones, and some part of medical community” has become usual in Russia. The Prime-minister noted that pharmaceutical companies have the right to advertise their products, but they have to do this in a civilized way and be fully compliant with universally recognized ethical norms and the Russian legislation. Vladimir Putin also emphasized that pharmaceutical manufacturers “provide sponsorship for corporate events, various seminars, including overseas seminars with trips to warm seas”, which involve thousands of specialists. “In fact the lobbying systems, disposed in depth, are being created or have been already created to lobby for the interests of large-scale pharmaceutical companies, and this vicious practice should to be stopped”, - the Prime-minister declared. The head of the government thinks that not only legislative bans for such incomes are needed, but also the introduction of tougher, stricter norms of medical ethics is needed. Furthermore, according to the prime-minister, “we should get rid of so called pharmaceutical representatives, who work in health facilities”, and “the expert committees on new medicines should not employ specialists who accept monetary payments” from manufacturers of these medicines.

9/10/09

http://www.finmarket.ru/z/nws/news.asp?id=1304854

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07/10/2009 by admin.

Britain’s biggest pharmaceutical company today disclosed a big boost in orders for its swine flu vaccine as governments around the world build stockpiles ahead of the winter.

GlaxoSmithKline, headed by chief executive Andrew Witty, revealed that the number of orders for its H1N1 vaccine had jumped by 50% to more than 400m since August, putting the company on course for a windfall worth about £3bn by the end of the year, according to City analysts.

Witty has said that each vaccine will sell for close to £5 a shot, although the boost to GSK’s top line ignores production and research and development costs, so profits will be lower. But Kevin Wilson at Citigroup said that “pandemic sales should lead to potential earnings surprises through the fourth quarter of 2009 to the second quarter of 2010 when overlaid with the rest of the business”.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/06/glaxosmithkline-swine-flu-vaccine-orders

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