GlaxoSmithKline to pay $3 billion fine for health care fraud

GlaxoSmithKline Corporate HQ Brentford, Middlesex, UK

British pharmaceutical manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges in the US and pay $US3 billion in fines for promoting its best-selling antidepressants for unapproved uses and failing to report safety data about a top diabetes drug. According to US federal prosecutors the deal with GlaxoSmithKline, the world’s fourth-largest pharmaceutical company measured by 2009 prescription drug sales after Pfizer, Novartis and Sanofi, also includes penalties for it improperly marketing half-dozen other drugs and comes on top of a $1.6 billion fine levied in May on Abbott Laboratories over the marketing of the antipsychotic drug Depakote, while an agreement with Johnson & Johnson over its off-label promotion of another antipsychotic drug, Risperdal, could see the pharmaceutical giant fined … Continue reading

Cancer drug Nexavar (Sorafenib) price to drop 97%

Buy meds online, buy pills online: Natco Pharma will manufacture a copy-cat version of Bayer’s cancer treatment drug Nexavar (Sorafenib) cutting the price by 97%.

Indian company Natco Pharma Limited will manufacture a copy-cat version of Bayer’s cancer treatment drug Nexavar (Sorafenib) in the first case of compulsory licencing there following a decision by the Indian Patent Office on Monday The Natco Pharma generic version of Nexavar (Sorafenib), used in the treatment of primary kidney cancer (advanced renal cell carcinoma) and advanced primary liver cancer, is expected to be up to 97 percent cheaper than the Bayer product According to media reports the Natco Pharma generic version of Nexavar (Sorafenib) will sell for around $US175) for a 120-capsule, one-month course of treatment, compared to about $5,500 for the Bayer branded product. The ruling will see Natco Pharma may a 6 percent royalty on net sales … Continue reading