Although known as a major supplier of generic drugs, India has begun to forge new alliances with big US and European pharma companies. Such collaborations are helping to shepherd Indian drug companies into a new era of innovative drug discovery, but regulations governing patents, drug approvals, and clinical trials are still in the process of being updated.

Pharmaceutical companies provide the majority of financial support for staging the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Annual Scientific Assembly. In return they are allowed to dominate the physical and mental environment. The assembly is opulent and entertaining, but undoubtedly much of the expense is passed to the health care consumer in the form of high-priced brand-name prescriptio...

BACKGROUND Concerns about the high cost of orphan drugs has led to questions being asked about the generosity of the incentives for development, and associated company profits. METHODS We conducted a retrospective, propensity score matched study of publicly-listed orphan companies. Cases were defined as holders of orphan drug market authorisation in Europe or the USA between 2000-12. Control ...

Vol. 34 No. 5 • May 2009 • P&T® 243 (see the April issue of P&T, page 175). Ms. Levine sued and received a settlement from the clinic where the drug was administered. She also named Wyeth as a defendant, claiming that the drug’s label should have more clearly instructed clinicians against using an IV push injection. The label, which the FDA had approved, warned about inadvertent intra-arterial ...