Back in February, Prescription Access Litigation (PAL) and PAL member AFSCME District Council 37 Health and Security Plan (DC 37) announced that a settlement in a nationwide class-action lawsuit brought by DC 37 and others against EMD Serono, Inc. and Me

PAL coalition member Patients Not Patents issued the following statement today. ABBOTT LABORATORIES DELETES SAFETY CONCERNS FROM WEB Washington, D.C., August 29, 2007 – Newly available data show that employees of Abbott Laboratories have been altering

Medicare Part B has long paid for drugs that are given in a doctor’s office, such as drug treatments for cancer. Until 2005, the price that Medicare paid to doctors for these drugs was based on figures called “Average Wholesale Prices,” or AWP. In 2003,

AP reported on August 17 that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) spent $10.7 million in the first half of 2007 to lobby the federal government. PhRMA is headed by the former member of Congress, Billy Tauzin. While in offic

Jane Brody's column today in the NY Times, "Cutting Cholesterol, an Uphill Battle," is an excellent overview of the lifestyle changes that one should make to lower high cholesterol, BEFORE resorting to prescription statins (Lipitor, Crestor, Zocor, etc).

The New York Times today published an article by Alex Berenson, "Plaintiffs Find Payday Elusive in Vioxx Cases". The article gives a good overview of Merck's legal strategy of refusing to settle any of the cases alleging that Vioxx caused plaintiffs' he

WebMD reported last week on a new study in the journal Sleep. The study found that doctors are widely prescribing sleeping pills and other drugs to children having sleep problems. An astonishing 81% of the 18.6 million doctor visits studied included a pr

Frequent readers of this blog are familiar with "Pharmie" (above), your guide to all things pharmaceutical. "Ask Pharmie" started as a feature in PAL's newsletter, which was printed approximately quarterly until the end of 2006. (Archive issues are here.

The Southern supermarket chain Publix announced today that it will be offering seven common prescription antibiotics for free in its stores, located in Flora, George, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. The move was reported in an AP story and in the