Johnson & Johnson To Pay $33M In Investigation Over Manufacturing Practices
“Johnson & Johnson’s disregard for proper manufacturing practices of children’s medications was unacceptable,” says Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan in a statement.
Stat:
J&J To Pay $33 Million For Lapses That Led To 'Phantom Recalls'
Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $33 million to 42 states to settle allegations that its over-the-counter subsidiary falsely claimed have to followed federal manufacturing practices that led to the recall of millions of bottles of Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, and Sudafed. The settlement comes eight years after an embarrassing scandal for the health care giant, which endured congressional investigations, shareholder lawsuits, and a disturbing loss of market share in a key business over its handling of the manufacturing lapses. (Silverman, 5/24)
Reuters:
J&J Settles Drug Manufacturing Probe By U.S. States For $33 Million
The company's Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc unit must also ensure that its marketing and promotional practices do not unlawfully promote over-the-counter drug products, the attorneys general said. (Raymond, 5/24)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Stat:
Drug Pricing Battle Hits Ohio With Dueling Ads Over Ballot Measure
The next battleground over prescription drug prices is now playing out in Ohio, where consumer groups and the pharmaceutical industry this week launched dueling ad campaigns over a controversial November ballot measure that is being promoted to lower costs. At issue is the Ohio Drug Price Relief Act, which would require state agencies to pay no more for medicines than the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The agency currently gets a 24 percent federally mandated discount off average manufacturer prices and the measure, if passed, would presumably benefit more than 3.4 million residents. (Silverman, 5/24)
Stat:
No One Says 'Cure,' But Pipeline For ALS Treatments Looks Promising
Considering it took more than two decades for a second ALS drug to make it to the US market, you might think that few companies are willing to take the risk of developing such treatments. But in fact, it hasn’t been for lack of trying. After the Food and Drug Administration approved MT Pharma America’s Radicava this month, experts said there have always been a number of possible therapies being explored and tested in ALS — commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease — but without much success. Now, though, researchers say advances in the field over the past few years mean the treatments that are currently in clinical trials seem to hold greater potential than in the past. (Joseph, 5/25)
The New York Times:
Rare Gene Mutations Inspire New Heart Drugs
What if you carried a genetic mutation that left you nearly impervious to heart disease? What if scientists could bottle that miracle and use it to treat everyone else? In a series of studies, the most recent published on Wednesday, scientists have described two rare genetic mutations that reduce levels of triglycerides, a type of blood fat, far below normal. People carrying these genes seem invulnerable to heart disease, even if they have other risk factors. (Kolata, 5/24)
The Cannabist:
Report: Medical Marijuana Could Poach $4 Billion From Pharmaceutical Sales Annually
If the United States legalized medical marijuana for conditions such as chronic pain, anxiety and seizures, cannabis could siphon more than $4 billion annually from the nation’s pharmaceutical industry, a new study hypothesizes. The report expected to be released Wednesday by New Frontier Data, a provider of data and analytics to cannabis businesses, is intended to show how cannabis could disrupt pharmaceutical sales in nine key treatment areas. (Wallace, 5/24)