In the News

There is so much information that is being published daily about the pharmaceutical industry and your right to safe and affordable prescription drugs. Take a look at the articles below. Make sure to take a moment and let us know your thoughts.

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The Hill
December 12, 2010

By Jason Millman

The pharmaceutical industry is on the verge of a major victory as the lame-duck congressional session winds down.

An effort to severely restrict pharmaceutical industry deals from delaying the entry to the market of low-cost generic drugs appears likely to die in the lame-duck. That could kill the legislation for some time because a Republican House is seen as unlikely to support the measure. Read more

December 16, 2010
The New York Times
By Duff Wilson

Four pharmaceutical companies paid more than half of the $19.8 billion in civil and criminal settlements the last 20 years for improper billings to federal and state governments, according to a report Thursday by Public Citizen’s Health Research Group.

“Step aside, defense industry, there’s a new defrauder in town,” the group said on its Web site with the release of a 35–page report. Read more

December 13, 2010
PharmacyChecker.com
By Gabriel Levitt and Margaret Rode

The Obama administration is taking actions to address the illegal sale of counterfeit prescription drugs online. These efforts can benefit patients who could fall victim to rogue online pharmacies, but may also limit access to safe and affordable medication provided by non-U.S. international online pharmacies, many based in Canada. Millions of uninsured and under-insured Americans have purchased prescription drugs through, and relied on, such websites to afford medicine.

Last Monday, the White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC), Victoria Espinel, stated that her office was in discussions with Google, Go Daddy, American Express, and Microsoft about cracking down on online pharmacies, and that an announcement about IPEC’s plans moving forward will be made within weeks. This statement seems to be a follow-up to a late-September meeting held by IPEC, which brought together domain registrars and registries to discuss voluntary protocols to combat the sale of non-controlled counterfeit medication online. As we reported, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) notably declined its invitation to attend this meeting, and at least one of its attendees, Go Daddy general counsel Christine Jones, as reported on Domain Incite, communicated that intellectual property protection was not discussed and voluntary protocols were not agreed to. Jones also shared her understanding that an “FDA solution” might be used to combat counterfeit drugs being sold online. Espinel’s statement last week suggests the same. Read more

October 12, 2010
The Wall Street Journal
By Jonathan Rockoff

Growing numbers of Americans with health insurance are walking away from their prescriptions at the pharmacy counter, the latest indication that efforts to contain costs may be curbing health-care consumption.

A review of insurance-claims data shows that so-called abandonment—when a patient refuses to purchase or pick up a prescription that was filled and packaged by a pharmacist—was up 55% in the second quarter of this year, compared with four years earlier. Read more

November 10, 2010
POLITICO
By Chris Frates