Inside ‘Project Onyx’: How Biogen used an FDA back channel to win approval of its polarizing Alzheimer’s drug
When Aduhelm’s prospects appeared dead, Biogen mounted a secret campaign to resurrect the drug and convince the FDA to approve it. More
How Patent Extensions Keep Some Drug Costs High
The Biden administration has a chance to help curb drug costs in naming a new patent office director, some experts say. More
Pharma funded more than 2,400 state lawmaker campaigns in 2020, new STAT analysis finds
STAT’s findings provide an unprecedented look at drug industry influence in state capitols across the 2020 election cycle. More
A U.S. company that ruined vaccine doses gave its top executives hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses.
The government has so far paid Emergent BioSolutions $271 million, even though American regulators have yet to clear a single dose of vaccine produced at its manufacturing plant in Baltimore. More
Ethical Issues Raised Over FDA Collaboration with Biogen on Failed Drug
The FDA collaborated with Biogen to conduct repeated re-analyses of aducanumab for Alzheimer's and FDA committee members are raising concerns. More
Rather than turning its back on the QALY, pharma should collaborate on efforts to improve it
The quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) attempts to capture the impact of disease. It's a metric worth improving, not discarding. More
Americans paid two to four times as much for some drugs as in three other countries
“We can no longer tolerate the American people paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs," said Sen. Bernie Sanders. More
FDA Seeks a New Way to Review Old Drugs Without Causing Prices to Soar
A misguided federal program called the Unapproved Drugs Initiative, which put the FDA’s stamp of approval on old drugs, led to higher prices. It’s scrapped. So now what? More
Drug companies keep merging. Why that’s bad for consumers and innovation.
Over 30 years, dramatic consolidation has meant higher prices, fewer treatment options and less incentive to innovate. More
United States spent $162 million on remdesivir development but holds no patents, review finds
Members of Congress asked for a GAO review of taxpayer spending that went toward to Gilead's coronavirus drug. More
Taxpayers Fund Research and Drug Companies Make a Fortune
The pharmaceutical industry doesn’t want things to change, but Americans can have both lower prices and innovation. More
Universities launch opioid litigation archive to ‘ensure history doesn’t repeat itself’
The goal of the Opioid Industry Documents Archive is to provide transparency into the strategies companies used to increase sales. More
‘The public is being denied the truth’: A legal expert blasts Purdue’s bankruptcy plan to end opioid lawsuits
The process "appears to be a system designed to protect the creditors, but it’s not," said legal expert and advocate Charlotte Bismuth. More
The Drugs at the Heart of Our Pricing Crisis
Biologic drugs rack up billions in annual U.S. sales. Here’s a solution to lower the costs. More
Blue Cross of Minnesota lawsuit takes aim at ‘Pharma bro’
Lawsuit alleges monopoly scheme by drug company once headed by now imprisoned Martin Shkreli. More
Why the new pharma business model can be bad for research and development
A new report from Rep. Katie Porter has an illuminating case study on the value of antitrust in health care. More
Remdesivir, Given to Half of Hospitalized Covid Patients in U.S., Is Big Win for Gilead — Boosted by Taxpayers
With U.S. cases skyrocketing, demand for Gilead’s dark horse antiviral is only growing. Biden appointees propose potential legal tactics to tamp down the price for patients. More
We Already Paid for These Vaccines Once
So why do we talk about Pfizer or Moderna, when these should be the people’s vaccines? More
WHO platform for pharmaceutical firms unused since pandemic began
Covid-19 ‘pool’ to share information has received no contributions since May 2020 More
Problematic Promotion of Medications by Nurse Ambassadors—Legal and Ethical Issues
In August 2020, the pharmaceutical company AbbVie agreed to pay California $24 million to settle a whistleblower case that involved its nurse ambassador program for adalimumab (Humira), while not admitting any wrongdoing. More