Pharmaceutical companies

Drug company payments to doctors linked to differences in regional prescribing

Payments from drug companies to physicians are associated with greater regional prescribing of branded products, according to US research.…

Four NHS geographic committees to be set up to appraise drugs across England

Four regional medicines optimisation committees will be set up across England to reduce the duplication of drug evaluation in the NHS. …

Injectable asthma drug reslizumab approved by European Commission

The European Commission has approved a marketing authorisation for reslizumab (Teva Pharmaceutical Industries’ Cinqaero), an injectable treatment for use in severe asthma.  The decision follows a recommendation in June 2016 by the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medi…

Orlistat side effects were underreported, study shows

Adverse effects that occurred during clinical trials of Roche’s obesity drug orlistat in the 1990s appear to have been substantially underreported in both published papers and summarised clinical study reports submitted to the European Medicines Agency for drug approval, an analysis has found.…

GSK partners with Google on bioelectronic medicine

GlaxoSmithKline and the parent company of technology giant Google have formed a new business devoted to the development of bioelectronic medicine.…

Celesio’s acquisition of wholesaler Sangers gets competition approval

Celesio has received the all-clear from the Competition and Markets Authority for its acquisition of the Northern Ireland-based pharmaceutical wholesaler United Drug Sangers.  Celesio has already acquired other businesses owned by United Drug Sangers’ parent company UDG Healthcare: …

Spend on high-cost medicines contributing to NHS budget overspend, MPs warn

Excessive spending on specialised services fuelled by use of high-cost medicines and medical equipment is threatening the ability of the NHS to fund wider NHS services, MPs on the Public Accounts Committee have warned.…

GSK and AstraZeneca chiefs brought into ministerial Brexit working group

The chief executive officers of the UK’s leading pharmaceutical companies will be advising the government on the main priorities for the life sciences sector in the event of the UK leaving the EU.…

Rio Olympics: how will scientists outpace drug cheats?

Some athletes are willing to take huge risks by using drugs to gain a competitive advantage. But anti-doping scientists are working hard to improve detection methods and develop new strategies to ensure a fair competition and to protect athletes’ health.…

Doctor and pharmacist payments by pharma revealed in database

An online database of payments and benefits in kind made by the pharmaceutical industry to doctors, pharmacists and nurses was published for the first time on 30 June 2016, enabling the public to see how individual professionals are paid by the pharmaceutical industry.…