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| Sick Pharma |
| 2004-12-30 |
| The pharmaceutical industry endured a disastrous 2004, and the aftermath will linger into the new year. Regulators at the Food and Drug Administration already were expected to take a more cautious approach about new drug approvals in the wake of Merck & Co.'s withdrawal from the market of its pain reliever Vioxx because it doubled patients' risk of heart attack and strokes. Pressure on the FDA increased at year's end when Pfizer Inc. announced that a study of its pain drug Celebrex showed it had similar problems at high doses. The two products are in the same class of drugs, known as cox-2 inhibitors. Questions linger about whether Merck muzzled negative news about Vioxx in order to keep selling the drug. But the combination of problems with Vioxx and Celebrex is certain to raise more questions about the safety of the drugs sold in the United States. Drug makers already are struggling with growing generic competition and lackluster prospects for new medicines now in the pipeline. Some analysts think further industry consolidation is likely because expense reductions resulting from mergers may be the key to increasing earnings at a time when revenues are stagnating. "This has been a tough year, largely of [the drug companies'] own making," said Dr. Catherine D. DeAngelis, editor in chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Drug companies were not as honest and forthright as we expect them to be." And some would disagree. |
| Posted by:.com |
| #4 Big Pharma's both too big and not big enough. They're caught in a vise between: a) huge and escalating drug development costs that require the financial resources provided by mega-mergers b) the stifling of creativity and focus regarding drug research that post-merger behemoths invariably encounter |
| Posted by: lex 2004-12-30 12:44:02 PM |
| #3 Gotta be North Hampton. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-12-30 12:40:11 PM |
| #2 # 1 Yes, the government plays too big of a role in the rx industry and that is a BIG part of the problem. Pricing, availablity (going to Canada) Dr. Catherine DeAngelis sums it up nicely. Andrea |
| Posted by: ANdrea 2004-12-30 11:59:30 AM |
| #1 What I want to know is, what with all the hoopla and fear generated from this lack of flu vaccine, why the hell hasn't the government demanded large scale production facilities? Seriously, this disease kills on average between 15K-100K Americans every year, and we're facing a killer flu that could kill 10-20 MILLION AMERICANS. Shouldn't somebody be doing something? |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2004-12-30 11:09:47 AM |