Tag: pharmaceutical industry

The Story: What President Donald Trump and his administration call "Operation Warp Speed" is an effort to develop and  distribute an effective vaccine for Covid-19...

NBC’s Laura Strickler joins MTP Daily to discuss her exclusive reporting that OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is offering $10 to $12 billion to settle more than 2,000 lawsuits against the company. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc MSNBC delivers breaking news,…

Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold joins MTP Daily to discuss his reporting that AG Bill Barr booked Trump’s DC hotel for a personal holiday party and President Trump trying to hold the 2020 G7 summit at his private club. »…

Good morning, As prescription opioids are blamed for fuelling a crisis that has killed thousands of Canadians, five pharmaceutical companies including Purdue Pharma have heeded a call from the federal government to stop marketing those painkillers. Purdue’s introduction of OxyContin in 1996 is seen as the root of the current crisis, as the company promoted the drug as safer and less addictive than other opioids. In February, Purdue’s parent company stopped promoting prescription painkillers in the United States, where it has previously acknowledged misleading marketing and paid more than US$600-million to settle criminal and civil charges. Ontario’s newly elected premier, Doug Ford, has already set work dismantling some of the previous government’s policies. Mr. Ford’s campaign promise to cancel cap and trade is prompting the federal government to say it’s reconsidering $400-million in funding. Francisco Valencia, the activist, has been a major voice for improving the South American country’s health-care system, which has collapsed. The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on gun crime in Toronto: “The mayor’s belief that “answers are easy” if the city just throws enough police at the problem is indicative of a failed mindset that has prevailed in Toronto for too long.” Kent Roach (The Globe and Mail) on self-defence: “We need to examine whether the 2012 changes to our self-defence laws have made it too easy for people to use guns to defend property, self and others. The CBSA says detention is used as a last resort, in situations where, for example, officers need to complete an examination, or have security concerns, or have grounds to believe the individual will not appear for an immigration proceeding. It is well past time to accept that the Supreme Court is a political institution and deal with it accordingly.” Help The Globe monitor political ads on Facebook: During an election campaign, you can expect to see a lot of political ads. The Globe and Mail wants to report on how these ads are used, but we need to see the same ads Facebook users are seeing.

The Story: On March 9, in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, a U.S. District Court judge sentenced a former hedge fund manager and drug...

The Swamp Is Incoherent on the Rule of Law, Thanks to Pharma. Recently, it has become clear that one of the biggest of those blind spots is the federal government’s treatment of the pharmaceutical industry. This can be most clearly seen in the troubling continuity between the favored policy of pharma-friendly elements within the Trump administration, and the Obama administration’s own weakness on a critical policy in the battle over drug prices: namely, the 340B drug pricing program. If they want an ability to sell drugs, price negotiation free, to the giant pot of money that is the Medicaid and Medicare Part B markets, then they have to also sell drugs at lower prices to a specific subset of hospitals that serve a disproportionate share of vulnerable populations, classified as “safety net hospitals.” To any executive, this should be both a financial and political no-brainer. Politically, engaging in such voluntary price slashing behavior can engender good will from a grateful public. View Cartoon However, despite all this, in recent years, this policy has long been in the crosshairs of the pharmaceutical industry. Never mind that cancer drugs are already among the most expensive, and thus the most profitable, drugs on the market. Nevertheless, in a show of politically senseless greed, pharma has done everything in its power to either weaken or end 340B altogether. Witness the fact that President Obama only permitted a policy fining companies that overcharged 340B hospitals and clinics to enter the books eight days before he left office. One presumes that Obama didn’t act sooner because he knew that his chosen successor, Hillary Clinton, needed all the pharma donations she could get.