Allergan is again resorting to side-by-side “before and after” images in a drug ad to prove that Rhofade – its new drug for the treatment of redness of the face, aka rosacea – works. This is the same technique the company used to promote Kybella for double chin syndrome. In the Kybella case, I analyzed…
Back in March, 2017, President Trump “called on the Food and Drug Administration to speed the approval of drugs to treat life-threatening diseases, deriding the agency’s current process as ‘slow and burdensome’”(here). According to Dr. Michael Carome, Director, Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, president Trump’s claims that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval process…
In December 2008, the PhRMA Board of Directors unanimously adopted measures to enhance the PhRMA Guiding Principles on Direct to Consumer Advertisements about PrescriptionMedicines. The revised Principles took effect March 2, 2009. Despite the thundering unanimity of the PhRMA Board, several current board members are NOT signatories to the principles. Specifically, Allergan, Alexion, Alkermes, Teva,…
Patient Centricity used to be a buzzword in that it was often mentioned but seldom practiced by pharma companies. A lot of progress has been made in the past years to achieve patient centricity, but not all drug companies have had much success. Unfortunately, that has had a negative impact on the industry’s reputation. Timothy…
Depending on who you ask, the drug industry’s reputation is at an all-time low (read, for example, “Pharma’s Rep Among Patient Groups Sinks to Near Historical Lows“) or an all-time high! For example, if you determine the reputation of a pharma company measured by “the general public who are somewhat or very familiar with the…
The FDA has made many efforts to deal with the current opioid addiction crisis. The latest is the establishment of a “Opioid Policy Steering Committee.” Some of these efforts may have been compromised by the influence of patient advocacy groups sponsored by drug companies that produce and market opioids. Such groups have gotten a seat…
PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry’s primary lobbying group, announced changes to its membership structure that purged 22 companies of their membership or associate membership status. Now, to be a member of PhRMA, you have to spend at least $200 million per year spent on research and research expenditures must equal to at least 10% of global…
Pharmaceutical sales representatives are faced with increasingly limited access to physicians as many academic medical centers and other healthcare centers adopt conflict of interest policies restricting detailing. This is another benefit versus risk challenge for physicians who need quick access to the latest information about novel drugs. Listen to podcast below: Read the transcript, which…
John (PharmaGuy) Mackspeaking at the March for Science in Doylestown, PA. My name is John Mack and I live in Newtown. On Twitter I am known as PharmaGuy – that’s P-H-A-R-M-A, plus “Guy!” I PUBLISH a newsletter for the pharmaceutical industry. And I have a graduate degree in Biochemistry. Every day we benefit from medicines…
More user fees paid to the FDA by the drug industry and the push for less rigorous scientific proof in clinical trials may lead to faster drug approvals, but also more deaths due to side effects. Where’s the balance between speed and safety? For the last few years I have been tracking data from the…