Category Archives: Weekly news

Summary of healthcare news this week

Posted on January 13, 2012 | 1 Comment

Sales of Lipitor, the biggest-selling drug in history, have leveled off after a steep plunge after the start of generic competition. New figures from the data firm IMS Health show that at the end of December, sales of Lipitor, made by Pfizer, were at just above 37 percent of market share. Continue reading →

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Weekly news

Tagged

Healthcare news stories this week; a summary

Posted on January 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

Johnson & Johnson is set to pay more than $1 billion to resolve a U.S. civil investigation into the marketing of its Risperdal antipsychotic drug, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing anonymous sources.  In August, J&J said it reached an agreement related to a misdemeanor charge stemming from the Risperdal investigation, although some issues remained unresolved. Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Weekly news

Tagged

What was the buzz this week in healthcare news ?

Posted on December 16, 2011 | Leave a comment

Big drugmakers, under pressure to streamline operations in the face of rising costs and slowing sales, are looking to the automotive industry for tips on tuning up their profit engines.  That may raise eyebrows because profitability in the drugs industry, with a 10 percent pretax return on invested assets, is roughly double that in the global auto sector. But as drugmakers face healthcare cuts, a record wave of patent expiries and increased regulatory hurdles for new drugs, they may need to take a page from carmakers’ playbook when it comes to ruthless streamlining and cost cutting. Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Weekly news, Weekly news mash-up

Tagged

Summary of weekly healthcare news

Posted on December 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

Men taking multiple medications for different health conditions may have a higher risk of erectile dysfunction – a link that doesn’t seem to be explained by the health problems themselves, a new study finds.   But in the new study, researchers found a link between medication use and ED independently of those medical conditions.  Of 37,700 men in a large California health plan, researchers found that those on three or more medications had higher rates of ED. Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Weekly news, Weekly news mash-up

Tagged

Wrap up of the weeks healthcare news

Posted on December 2, 2011 | 1 Comment

Three leading senators are inquiring into drugmaker Pfizer Inc’s efforts to limit the sale of generic versions of its Lipitor cholesterol drug, which lost U.S. patent protection this week.  Their concern was prompted by a newspaper report earlier this month that Pfizer had struck deals with leading insurers and pharmacy benefits managers, who negotiate prices on behalf of companies and insurers, to offer discounts on Lipitor if they block prescriptions for its generic versions.  More news–> Continue reading →

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Weekly news

Tagged , , , , , , ,

This week around the Web in healthcare news

Posted on November 25, 2011 | Leave a comment

Betting that money is more persuasive than words, more employers vow to use financial rewards and penalties to prod their workers to fitness in 2012.   Employers have seen serious problems related to obesity, she said, including higher rates of depression, absenteeism, low productivity and more medical claims. An overweight employee costs employers $5,000 more a year in health costs than a healthy-weight individual. The survey of 335 employers found that the share of companies that used financial rewards in health management programs increased to 54% in 2011 from 36% in 2009. In 2012, about 80% of companies plan to offer financial rewards. Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Weekly news

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Stories from this week in healthcare

Posted on November 18, 2011 | 1 Comment

More and more employers are demanding that workers who smoke, are overweight or have high cholesterol shoulder a greater share of their health care costs, a shift toward penalizing employees with unhealthy lifestyles rather than rewarding good habits.   Policies that impose financial penalties on employees have doubled in the last two years to 19 percent of 248 major American employers recently surveyed. Next year, Towers Watson, the benefits consultant that conducted the survey, said the practice — among employers with at least 1,000 workers — was expected to double again. Continue reading →

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Weekly news

Tagged

Wrap up of healthcare news stories this week

Posted on October 28, 2011 | 1 Comment

An international survey of cancer doctors shows many question U.S. health advisers’ 2010 rejection of Roche’s drug Avastin to treat advanced breast cancer.  The small survey, published in the journal Cancer, shows almost half of the respondents would continue to use the drug under certain circumstances regardless of the final decision from the Food and Drug Administration.  FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg has yet to finalize the decision, but some insurers have already decided to stop paying for the $8,000-a-month drug. Others, including the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, announced they will continue to cover the drug regardless of the FDA’s decision. Continue reading →

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Weekly news

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Another week’s worth of health headlines

Posted on August 19, 2011 | 1 Comment

Despite criticism of the practice by opponents of pharmaceutical marketing, 77% of physicians accept drug samples to give to their patients, according to a telephone survey of 168,834 medical offices representing about 480,000 doctors.  The survey results, released in August by the physician profiling firm SK&A, found variation in drug-sample acceptance by physician group size. The more doctors in the physician group, the less likely the group was to take samples. Groups of five doctors or fewer took samples 76% of the time, compared with an acceptance rate of 54% among groups of 10 to 20 doctors. Continue reading →

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Weekly news

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Healthcare stories for June 2011

Posted on July 1, 2011 | 3 Comments

The perception held by physicians of the pharmaceutical industry has actually improved this year – 58 percent of docs say they have a somewhat positive or extremely positive overall impression. This is, however, up just 2 points from last year. But this is also the first time since 2004 that a positive impression increased.  Consumers, on the other hand, are heading in other direction – 46 percent have an extremely or somewhat negative impression this year, up 1 point from last year.–> Continue reading →

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Weekly news

Tagged

The week in healthcare news

Posted on June 24, 2011 | 1 Comment

One of every seven cancer patients spends more than 20 percent of his income on health care and insurance, according to a new study from federal researchers.  Among these patients, those who buy private insurance on their own – instead of through an employer – pay the most out-of-pocket for their health care, compared to patients who have other forms of insurance or none at all. More stories —> Continue reading →

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Weekly news