And the Winner for Worst Biotech CEO Is….
If you guessed that Mitch Gold, who heads Dendreon, you would be right. He won this sad distinction in the annual reader poll conducted by The Street, where he nabbed 37 percent of the 1,800 votes for stunning investors – and just about everybody else – by scrapping his sales forecast for the year after […]
Read More »Category : News
The FDA Targets Novartis Manufacturing Plants
If you happen to run a big drugmaker, you know the FDA has its eye on you when a warning letter cites a host of problems at three manufacturing facilities and you are instructed to schedule a meeting within five days to discuss plans to rectify your myriad transgressions. In other words, the heat is […]
Read More »Category : News
AstraZeneca Is Cutting 1,150 Sales Jobs
Just weeks after disclosing plans to eliminate 400 jobs in its commercial business and US headquarters, AstraZeneca told employees this morning that anotehr 1,150 jobs will be choppedfrom the US sales force. The move will shrink the US sales force by 24 percent, according to a statement released by the drugmaker. In describing the move, […]
Read More »Category : News
White House Overrules FDA On Access For Plan B
In a move fraught with presidential politics, the US Department of Health & Human Services has overruled the FDA and thwarted a move to ease access to the Plan B pill, which is also known as the morning after pill. The contraceptive is currently available only to women age 17 and older without a prescription, […]
Read More »Category : News
Stop The Bleeding: FDA Probes Pradaxa Deaths
Less than a month after European regulators asked doctors to exercise caution about using the Pradaxa bloodthinner, the FDA has decided to investigate post-marketing reports of serious bleeding patients. As of November 6, the European Medicines Agency was aware of 256 cases of serious bleeding that results in patient deaths associated with the Boeheringer Ingelheim […]
Read More »Category : News
Despite Mandates, Few Study Results Are Reported
Four years ago, the US began requiring researchers to register studies of prescription drugs and report results on ClinicalTrials.gov, the federal database. But a new study found that, while the mandate increased the number of trials that were registered, 39 percent were actually registered late and results for only 12 percent of completed trials were […]
Read More »Category : News
Celsion Investor Claims CEO Tried To Bribe Him
Earlier this week, an aspiring drugmaker named Celsion announced that a $15 million private stock placement had succeeded in attracting investors. But one investor – the largest Celsion shareholder, in fact – claims Celsion ceo Michael Tardugno felt a little threatened by him and so offered the equivalent of a bribe before allowing him to […]
Read More »Category : News
The Death Of The Sales Rep Is Greatly Exaggerated
As the marketing teams in the pharmaceutical industry twist themselves into pretzels trying to rework their sales efforts, a fundamental premise has been that the sales rep is going the way of Willy Loman. Or at least, most reps As always, there are numerous surveys to measure the trend, sometimes yielding differing results, and the […]
Read More »Category : News
Drugmaker Sues Rival & Journal For ‘Fudging’ Data
In response to a perceived conspiracy, a little drugmaker has filed a lawsuit against a larger rival and its foreign parent; the publisher of the Journal of Perinatology; and the authors of a study that ran in the journal, because they allegedly ‘cherry picked’ and ‘manipulated’ data in such a way that its product was […]
Read More »Category : News
Cancer Drug Money Back Guarantee?
Last month, Roche began offering hospitals and insurers in Germany a money-back guarantee for its Avastin cancer med. Basically, the drugmaker will refund the cost – which can be anywhere from roughly $4,100 to $8,200 a month, depending upon the cancer being treated – if tumors continue to worsen within three to seven months. The […]
Read More »Category : News
