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• Wall Street Journal on Lawsuit over James Frey's Book "A Million Little Pieces"

  Staff Writer | January 31, 2006 1:39 PM | 0 CommentsNew York City, NY

  The Wall Street Journal ran an article yesterday entitled Publishers Say Fact Checking is Too Costly by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg. Oprah Winfrey's criticism of publisher Random House and Nan Talese on her show has sparked a national debate on the responsibility of publishers to verify the vailidity of works of fiction which they represent and market as "true stories." The Wall Street Journal...

• Paid to Switch Medicines

  Jeremy Thurman | January 30, 2006 2:37 PM | 0 CommentsNew York City, NY

  The NY Times is reporting that Novo Nordisk Paid Cash Rewards To Switch Patients to Novo Insulin. Of course Novo denies the accusations. However, former sales representatives who participated in the program said that Novo paid anchors as much as $25 for each prescription they helped switch to higher-priced insulin products. Isn't this a sad state of the pharmaceutical industry if its true.

• Blood thinner may cause Osteoporosis

  Jeremy Thurman | January 26, 2006 3:51 PM | 0 CommentsNew York City, NY

  The long-term use of warfarin, a drug commonly prescribed to reduce the risk of blood clots, appears to increase the risk of fractures associated with osteoporosis, a bone-thinning condition that usually increased with age, according to a report. As the study authors note, warfarin prevents coagulation by blocking vitamin K, which is needed to activate certain clotting factors. Because vitamin K...

• Cadaver Parts Scandal Expected to Ignite Lawsuits

  Denise A. Rubin | January 26, 2006 2:26 PM | 0 CommentsNew York City, NY

  A large-scale scheme in which body parts were removed from corpses and sold to hospitals is likely to touch off numerous lawsuits. Patients that received skin grafts and other surgeries are worried about contracting infectious diseases from the illegal practice. Funeral homes in the NY area are facing criminal investigations. At least one woman claims to have contracted syphilis from a bone...

• E-mails Shed Light on Vioxx Study

  Denise A. Rubin | January 26, 2006 2:24 PM | 0 CommentsNew York City, NY

  Letters from the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine were introduced as evidence in a federal trial against painkiller Vioxx. The e-mail messages written to another scientist express concern with a study that may have left out crucial data on the harmful effects associated with the drug. The dispute is over VIGOR, a study which has been faulted by plaintiffs for failing to disclose...

• Group Urges Hospitals to Avoid Drug Errors

  Denise A. Rubin | January 26, 2006 2:22 PM | 0 CommentsNew York City, NY

  The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations issued a report that urges hospitals to highlight medications on patient charts in order to avoid medication reconciliation errors. The group estimates that mistakes involving drug mix-ups result in at least 7,000 deaths a year and that about 63 percent are due to communication errors. An alert sent by the organization advocating...

• Surgeons Urge Ending the Use of Heart Drug

  Denise A. Rubin | January 26, 2006 2:18 PM | 0 CommentsNew York City, NY

  A report being published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that the heart surgery drug aprotinin, sold as Trasyol, poses unnecessary risks to patients and should be replaced by safer alternatives. Doctors found that the blood-clotting medication can cause kidney failure and increase the prevalence of heart attacks and strokes. Bayer disputes the finding, which will be reviewed by the...

• Judge Rules Drug Companies Must Face Suit Over Pricing

  Denise A. Rubin | January 26, 2006 2:16 PM | 0 CommentsNew York City, NY

  A federal judge decided that top drug manufacturers must face a class-action lawsuit from consumers who claim they were overcharged for prescription medication. Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., AstraZeneca Plc and GlaxoSmithKline Plc have all been named as defendants. Drug companies set prices based on the Average Wholesale Price formula, which is used to reimburse federal health...

• FDA Warns of Cancer Risk with Elidel and Protopic

  Staff Writer | January 23, 2006 8:53 PM | 1 CommentNew York City, NY

  Last week, the FDA approved two new warnings on the labeling for two skin care drugs, Elidel and Protopic. Although a causal link between these two topical drugs and certain cancers has not yet been established, patients receiving these drugs have reported a higher incidence of cancers, namely skin cancer and lymphoma. Patients taking these drugs are encouraged to consult with their doctor to...

• Drug pricing

  Jeremy Thurman | January 20, 2006 3:18 PM | 0 CommentsNew York City, NY

  Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., AstraZeneca PLC and GlaxoSmithKline PLC must face a class-action lawsuit from consumers who say they were harmed by the way the companies charged for their drugs, a judge said Thursday. Federal Judge Patti B. Saris in Boston said she will certify a nationwide class action for people who paid even a small portion of the cost of the companies'...