Product News and Recalls

Bayer official: Operating cost cuts to put more drugs on market

An official with German pharmaceutical giant Bayer said during a conference call recently that the company intends to put substantial resources into getting new drugs out on the market.

During a recent conference call with J.P. Morgan Global, Jörg Reinhardt, the CEO of Bayer’s Healthcare Division, said a productivity and efficiency effort at the corporation is expected to produce an estimated $430 million in annual savings, “significant parts” of which will go toward development and launches of products.

“…We could already this ...

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Woman immobile, unable to work after hip implant

The Minnesota/St. Paul Star Tribune ran a story on March 12 featuring a woman whose DePuy metal-on-metal replacement hip failed prematurely, leaving her unable to work or walk. For a time, her kidneys and liver failed. She is also in pain. She blames it all on the artificial hip, the Star Tribune reports.

The report says that Wagner-Morley and thousands more like her throughout the United States have led medical professionals to question the idea of “metal-on-metal” devices, in which both ...

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Report spotlights Bayer birth control controversy

The National, an English-language newspaper published in the United Arab Emirates, published an account on March 12 of the controversy surrounding birth control pills that contain the synthetic hormone drospirenone.

Such pills include Yasmin, Yaz, Ocella and Beyaz, manufactured by Bayer.

The report mentions the U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel that met in December to vote on whether the benefits of the medications outweigh the risks, and eventually voted 15-11 to keep the medications on the market.

But subsequent investigations by the ...

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Medical journalist warns of deceptive practices

Medical investigative journalist Jeanne Lenzer has written a piece for the Website Reporting on Health, warning consumers about the stealth advertising techniques that the healthcare industry frequently uses to promote its products.

According to Lenzer, public relations professionals representing the industry frequently pay physicians or other medical professionals to endorse products or services, under the guise of making an independent and unconditional recommendation.

Other tactics include paying professional or patient advocacy groups to make a certain endorsement, and even creating such groups, ...

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Joint replacement up, despite problems

A recent report in the Boston Globe takes note of a growing trend that involves younger people requesting joint replacement surgery.

More people in the demographic that doctors have dubbed “young actives” – those in the 45-to-64 age group – are getting the surgery not for basic mobility, but to maintain their athletic lifestyles.

The report notes that the number of joint replacements has risen steadily over the last two decades, despite complaints about problems with the procedures and the need for ...

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Costs keep women from using birth control devices

Devices such as IUDs are the most effective means of birth control, but few women use them because of the up-front costs, according to a story from the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday.

The story reports a wide range of costs for birth control among uninsured women, from $9 a month for generic pills to $90 a month for some newer brands. And getting a doctor to insert long-term devices such as IUDs can cost anywhere from $600 to $1,000.

According to ...

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