The medical staff, including three Polish doctors and six nurses from the northern town of Grudziadz, are being investigated over medical trials on which as many as 350 homeless and poor people who died last year. Prosecutors say the medical trial involved an untried vaccine to the highly-contagious H5N1 bird-flu virus.
As President Obama waits for Congress to deliver a heathcare reform bill, pharmaceutical companies are spending millions on lobbyists to thwart any measure that might make drug prices cheaper or even allow the government to negotiate them, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Companies spent 41 percent more this year on lobbying than last, USA Today reported. And companies have laden Congress members with campaign donations, funds to their non-profits, and paid seats on their boards. Taken together, it looks like Congress is bought and paid for. Thus millions of Americans may be entertaining a false hope that Washington will deliver a plan that will lift U.S. healthcare out of its Third World status and into something approaching modernity, like Europe or Canada.
April 22, 2009 – 11:43 pm
Part of public health policy is determining the best use of funds – to save or protect the most lives with the fewest resources. With all the demands on health care from heart disease, diabetes, AIDS, and other types of cancer, the economics for Gardasil don’t add up.
Garasil Is NOT The Answer
Merck’s continued looting of state and federal public health budgets for a dangerous and unnecessary vaccine is unsustainable and has to stop.
There are better, safer, more sustainable ways to prevent and treat cervical cancer both at home and in developing countries. Safety, and ethical issues aside, as a country, we simply [...]
Although women are certainly not the only targets of Big Pharma drug ads, winning the female audience is critical to the success of any given drug. Women are more proactive about their health, more likely to “talk to their doctor”, more likely to encourage their husbands to seek medical treatment, and more likely to manage the healthcare for the entire family.
Merck to buy Schering-Plough in $41 billion deal
Reported by David Jolly
Publ
With the purchase, Merck is expanding its franchise in cardiovascular, respiratory and oncology drugs and shoring up its research pipeline, in particular with a Schering-Plough product called TRA, a promising drug designed to prevent blood clotting.
In addition, Merck will benefit from the worldwide reach of Schering- [...]
February 13, 2009 – 1:32 pm
DeLauro Seeks Info From FDA Amid Political Influence Concerns
By Jared A. Favole, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Congresswoman Rep. Rosa DeLauro, concerned about political influence in device and drug approvals, wants details about what products the Food and Drug Administration has approved in the last several months.
She fears that industry influence “has permeated the [...]
November 4, 2008 – 8:05 pm
Vaccine Watchdog Group Calls for Transparency
WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is calling on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to publicly release the study design, data and names of principal investigators involved in a statement this week maintaining that Gardasil vaccine is safe with no serious side [...]
November 4, 2008 – 8:53 am
The U.S. Supreme Court next week will begin hearing the case of Wyeth v. Levine, which centers on the question of whether FDA approval of a drug warning label pre-empts product safety suits brought in state courts, the Wall Street Journal reports (Mundy/Wang, Wall Street Journal, 10/27). The case involves Diana Levine, who lost her [...]
October 1, 2008 – 11:38 pm
Some folks refer to their morning coffee as “Rocket Fuel.” If they are making their coffee with tap water, they may be speaking literally, not figuratively. They just don’t know it.
The Environmental Protection Agency is poised to rule that it will not set a drinking-water safety standard for perchlorate. This component of rocket fuel has [...]
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