pharma

Let's put aside, for a moment, the no-pharma-freebies policy Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) has put into place, as interesting as it is as part of a larger movement in the industry. Yes, I do think that banning all promotional items and …

A thoughtful analysis by a medical device executive looks at three key models for universal healthcare, and concludes that no one of the three will work across the board. One of the main reasons we won't be able to pitch the existing private healthcare system, he says, is that direct-to-consumer pharma advertising creates a huge demand for expensive drugs. Given that …

Yesterday, we reported that Stanford University Medical Center has instated a policy prohibiting its physicians from receiving pharma and medical device industry gifts. Officials say it will prevent the industry from having any undue influence over doctors. But one FierceHealthcare reader objects to this line of thinking. "In a perfect world the policy made sense, but in the real …

New Hampshire became the first state to pass a law prohibiting pharmaceutical companies from collecting data on physician prescribing habits. The state's senate voted unanimously to support legislation sponsored by Rep. Cindy Rosenwald. The house has already passed the provision. New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) must now sign the legislation for it to become law. The AARP and the New Hampshire Medical Society have both come out in support of the legislation.

Why is this important? …

One of the factors which has given med tech an edge over pharma and biotech in recent years has been a comparative lack of regulation. That may be changing. The FDA this week released an internal report that concedes the agency could be doing more to regulate medical devices.

According to researchers, the Center for Medical Devices and Radiological Health, the agency body responsible for tracking potential problems, often does not have access to the data it needs to evaluate …

In contrast to pharma and biotech sectors, both of which are suffering from protracted growing pains, the medical device sector is red hot and likely to get hotter, writes The New York Times. All you have to do is look at the bidding war over Guidant. As "wave after wave of baby boomers" hits the market, business is only going to get better, the paper argues. The fusion of medicine and information technology is leading to a new generation of consumer-friendly devices designed to …

The FDA has announced major changes to its prescription drug labeling rules. The changes are intended to prevent medical errors by reducing the potential for confusion. Under the new regulations, drug labels will carry a highlighted section that summarizes known risks and includes information on recent changes. Officials at the agency say the new rules will likely lead to major changes in direct-to-consumer pharma advertising as well, as advertisers drop much of the fine print …

Over the years several companies have tried to target patients with information (and of course Pharma DTC advertising) in the physicians office. There's been TV, dedicated kiosks, and even plasma screens in the exam room, but none have really taken off. Now there's a new variant that may actually work. Phreesia is a start-up that's giving patients Wi-Fi enabled tablet PCs in the waiting room. They fill in a medical history (from veteran software company Primetime) which is printed out and …

In a little over a week from now, there's a special election in California
with several propositions on the ballot mostly to do with the political
future of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. But the two initiatives to do with drug
pricing (Props. 78 and 79) have seen an out-pouring of money, almost all of
it from drug companies. Their "Yes on 78, No on 79" commercials …

A news study conducted by researchers at Tufts argues that quicker FDA approval times for new drugs has had little or no impact on drug safety. That argument runs counter to critics who in part blame looser rules for the jump in safety problems in recent years. Researchers at the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development found that in the 1980s, 3.2 percent of drugs approved for sale in the US market were recalled. The authors note that since the year 2000, that number has fallen to …