Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Health sued a global marketing company Publicis for engaging in unfair and deceptive marketing schemes to help a pain medication maker to market and sell certain pain medications that are addictive painkillers. The work included creating sales training materials and emails and other information distributed to prescribers to...
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Category: Pharmaceutical
Drug maker Fresenius Kabi Oncology pays $50 million after guilty plea to destroying records before FDA plant inspection
Drugmaker Fresenius Kabi Oncology Limited (FKOL) was sentenced to pay $50 million in fines and forfeiture after pleading guilty to concealing and destroying records prior to a 2013 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plant inspection. The United States charged FKOL with violating the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by failing to provide...
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Telemarketers pay $4 million to end case of soliciting patients and paying telemed docs for prescriptions for compounded drugs for kickbacks
Two telemarket company owners Jack Lee Stapleton and Jack Hunter Stapleton will pay $4 million to end allegations they engaging in schemes to generate prescriptions for...
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Coronavirus in China could threaten U.S. pharmaceutical ingredient sourcing
There is an important and interesting article in today's STAT which points out that as the coronavirus spreads through China the pharmaceutical industry may be impacted significantly as China now has 13% of all facilities that make ingredients for medicines that are sold in the U.S., according to the Food and Drug...
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Common Types of Pharmaceutical Fraud
As part of the government’s efforts to reduce fraudulent behavior, it offers financial compensation to people who report certain types of fraud. These individuals, also known as “whistleblowers,” are an important source of information for the government, which is why it rewards them a portion of the proceeds it recovers in fraud...
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Researchers find drug which can stop spread of influenza virus and is now in preclinical testing
Researchers at Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University have found a new compound which can cause mutation in the genetic material of the influenza virus. The findings show the ability to stop the spread of the influenza virus in the respiratory system of ferrets and in human airway tissue, according to study...
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Johns Hopkins study finds that taking Tylenol while pregnant increases child risk for ADH or autism spectrum disorder by 3 times
A study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins found that exposure to acetaminophen (Tylenol) in the womb may increase a child’s risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or autism spectrum disorder. The researchers analyzed data from the Boston Birth Cohort, a 20-year study of early life factors influencing pregnancy and child development....
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Reckitt Benckiser Group to pay $22.7 million to Kentucky in Medicaid fraud case for Suboxone administration without counseling
Reckitt Benckiser will pay $22.7 million in state and federal Medicaid dollars after reaching an agreement with a pharmaceutical distributor over its improper marketing and promotion of the drug Suboxone.
The civil settlement resolves allegations that, from 2010 through 2014, Reckitt, directly or through its subsidiaries, knowingly:
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Generic form of heartburn drug Zantac still on shelves despite warnings that it may contain known carcinogen
The manufacturer of a generic form of the heartburn drug Zantac, Novartis, will cease distribution of the medicine after investigations suggested that generic and branded versions contain a known carcinogen. A distribution halt is not the same as a full recall, and generic Zantac (ranitidine) remaining on store shelves can still...
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Why insulin and other medications are so much cheaper to buy in Canada $32 versus $320 in the U.S.
Canada, like many other industrialized countries, has price controls on the cost of pharmaceuticals. The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board strictly regulates the price of patented medicine sold in Canada so that it is not excessive. However Canada does not regulate the price of generic drugs. The United States has...
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