Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Pharmaceutical Testing Facility Gave Fraudulent Data. Why Didn't FDA Withdraw Approval?
Stat: FDA: Withdraw Approval Of More Than Tainted 400 Drugs
When the FDA learned that a testing facility in India had submitted fraudulent data for more than 400 drugs (most of them generics), the agency should have withdrawn them from the market. Instead, it has allowed these drugs to continue to be prescribed and distributed for at least a year as the pharmaceutical companies retest them for equivalency to the original brand-name drugs. (Suzanne Robotti, 8/12)
Stat: Some 'Inconvenient' Truths About Pharmacy Benefit Managers
Pharmacy benefit managers have been in the crosshairs of late, as the focus of media scrutiny, government investigations and reports, and proposed federal legislation. A few recent examples make the point: A New York Times story in June 2024 bore the headline, “Pharmacy benefit managers are driving up drug costs for millions of people, employers and the government.” (T. Joseph Mattingly II, David A. Hyman and Ge Bai, 8/12)
Stat: Give Pharmaceutical Leaders The Benefit Of The Doubt
Pharmaceutical leaders face competing pressures. Their companies are expected to develop products that reduce the burden of disease and make the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health “one of the fundamental rights of every human being.” (Fred D. Ledley, 8/7)
