Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
What Happened To $10B Gilead Allegedly Owes In Taxes? Group Asks Feds To Investigate
Stat: IRS Is Urged To Investigate Gilead For 'Dodging' US Taxes
An advocacy group is urging the US Internal Revenue Service and the US Treasury Department to investigate Gilead Sciences for allegedly shifting billions of dollars of income offshore in order to avoid paying taxes. The request from Americans for Tax Fairness comes one month after the group released a report accusing the drug maker of dodging $10 billion in taxes. The move also comes shortly after the federal government went to court to force Facebook to respond to summonses in connection to an investigation into whether the firm shifted certain property rights to an Irish subsidiary. (Silverman, 8/11)
In other pharmaceutical news —
The Wall Street Journal: Biotech’s Resurgence May Cost Big Pharma
There are signs that a new wave of deals is brewing in the biotech sector. That is juicing shares and pushing up valuations. Some likely buyers are Amgen, Gilead Sciences, and Merck, which are among the large drugmakers who have said this year that they are on the hunt for deals. Among possible sellers are Medivation, which signed confidentiality agreements with several potential acquirers earlier this summer, a precursor to a possible sale. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that the biotech giant Biogen has attracted preliminary interest from at least two potential suitors. (Grant, 8/11)
The Washington Post: Do The New Merck HPV Ads Guilt-Trip Parents Or Tell Hard Truths? Both.
Merck, which is running its first television commercials on human papillomavirus (HPV) in half a dozen years, has ignited a fierce debate over whether the pharmaceutical giant is trying to "shame" parents into getting their children vaccinated for the most common sexually transmitted infection. The ads, which first aired June 28, are running on major network and cable channels, in day time and prime time, including during the Olympics, when a lot of people are watching TV with their families. They don't mention Merck's Gardasil, the most widely used vaccine for HPV. Instead, they take aim at a tender spot: parents' worries about doing right by their kids. (McGinley, 8/11)
