A reader of this blog recently wrote to us here at Prescription Access Litigation and reported that the Cephalon (Nasdaq:CEPH) had closed its Patient Assistance Program for Provigil, its prescription drug for Narcolepsy and other sleep disorders. Why wo

Who is behind a new FDA website aimed at helping consumers understand and interpret direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising? The FDA unveiled the “Be Smart about Prescription Drug Advertising” website this week and a press release notes that it was developed

The blurb below comes from an opinion in Knipe v. SmithKline Beecham, a suit against the maker of the antidepressant Paxil over the suicide of a 15-year-old boy. In February 2001, deceased Plaintiff Jake Garrison (“Jake”) was referred to dermatologist Boo

JAMA Session There's much to mull over in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, which devotes a good chunk of pages to industry funding of Continuing Medical Education, following this history of industry involvement in CME l

We heard the Early Reader gets the Bookworm, but whether that’s fact or fable, the Reader gets an early start this week with news that Stanford University School of Medicine will be decoupling pharmaceutical industry funding from its continuing medical ed

For the past six years, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has put out a short video segment called "Patient Safety News," which FDA says is: "a televised series for health care personnel, carried on satellite broadcast networks aimed at hospitals an

Data-mania! Eighteen states considered restrictions on commercial use of prescriber data this year, according to this Associated Press story.  But a pending decision in the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals (IMS v. Ayotte) about the legality of the first-in-na

Wyeth v. Levine, a case being heard by the Supreme Court in November, has been in the news a lot lately. The case concerns the injuries suffered by Diana Levine, a professional musician in Vermont who Wyeth [NYSE:WYE] nausea medication called Phenergan in

We’ve frequently reported here on the Prescription Access Litigation (PAL) blog about the class action lawsuit brought by PAL coalition member SEIU Health & Welfare Fund and others against Abbott Laboratories [NYSE:ABT], challenging Abbott’s December 2003