Industry news

Pharmaceutical Companies Buy Rivals’ Drugs, Then Jack Up the Prices

Write to Jonathan D. Rockoffand Ed Silverman / The Wall Street Journal

More pharmaceutical companies are buying drugs that they see as undervalued, then raising the prices. It is one of a number of industry tactics, along with companies regularly upping the prices of their own older medicines and launching new treatments at once unheard of sums, driving up the cost of drugs.

Virus Protects From Other Viruses

GenomeWeb

An ancient retrovirus that's been integrated into the human genome appears to become reactivated during embryonic development to help ward off other viral invaders, Carl Zimmer writes at the New York Times.

Decline in U.S. science spending threatens economy, security: MIT

Sharon Begley / Reuters

Warning of an "innovation deficit," scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say declining government spending on basic research is holding back potentially life-saving advances in 15 fields, from robotics and fusion energy to Alzheimer's disease and agriculture.

Why Cross-Country Comparisons on Drug Prices are Misleading

Malcolm Gladwell / PhRMA

Too often, critics greatly exaggerate price differences between the U.S. and other countries to create an erroneous impression that medicines are a major driver of U.S. health care cost growth – ignoring that medicines account for a small share of health spending differences between the U.S. and other countries. They also fail to acknowledge the ramifications of centralized price control policies other countries use to achieve whatever price differences do exist.

New study examines the potential value proposition of retail clinics

Antoinette Alexander / Drua Store News

Retail health clinics are now a part of the health care landscape with the potential to become a much more powerful enabler of a “culture of health,” according to a recent report by Manatt Health, the health care division of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.
 

China steps up decentralized drug industry regulation, market prices push

EJ Lane / FeircePharmaAsia

China authorities at the highest level are acting on legislation that would, among other things, decentralize drug industry regulation and free some price controls.

Device companies team up to launch Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association in Singapore

Varun Saxena / FierceMedicalDevices

Industry bigwigs are teaming up to create the first medical device industry association focused solely on Asia. The member companies of the just-launched Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed) include Abbott, Baxter, B. Braun, Becton Dickinson, Boston Scientific, Cardinal Health, GE Healthcar, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Philips, Siemens, Stryker and Zimmer.

24 April 2015

Marinus Pharmaceuticals insider Gail M. Farfel Sells 30,000 Shares (MRNS)

Seth Barnet / WKRB News

Marinus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MRNS) insider Gail M. Farfel sold 30,000 shares of Marinus Pharmaceuticals stock on the open market in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.48, for a total value of $284,400.00. 

It pays to seek EMA advice, analysis shows; the earlier, the better

Nuala Moran / BioWorld

Taking the EMA's advice on trial design is both voluntary and costly, but a new analysis shows that doing so vastly increases the likelihood of getting marketing approval.

Watch out, Big Pharma: A Teva-Mylan combo would remake the industry Top 10

Carly Helfand / FiercePharma

As of 2014, Teva ($TEVA) is in the No. 11 spot on the list of pharma's top revenue generators. But if it gets its way and lands a deal for rival generics maker Mylan ($MYL), just how much will it be moving up the charts?