Big Pharma

Do These Drug Ads Offend You?

Martha Rosenberg | Posted 01.31.2012 | Healthy Living

Read More: Health Ads, Big Pharma, Big Pharma Ads, Medication Ads, Health Advertisements, Medication Advertisements, Health News, Healthy Living News

It's no secret that drug ads that sow hypochondria, raise health fears and "sell" diseases are often the most common -- and effective -- even when the drugs themselves are of questionable safety.

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Drug Giant's Profit Plunges After Introduction of Generic Lipitor

AP | LINDA A. JOHNSON | Posted 01.31.2012 | Business

Read More: Big Pharma, Quarterly Earnings, Pharmaceutical Industry, Video, Pfizer-Earnings-2011, Earnings Season, Lipitor, Pfizer Earnings 4q 2011, Business News, Pfizer Earnings, Generic Lipitor, Drug Makers, Business News

Pfizer Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit fell by half because it sold less Lipitor, the cholesterol fighter that's the biggest drug ever to go off patent, ...

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Paula Deen: From Big Food to Big Pharma

Kristin Wartman | Posted 01.23.2012 | Food

Read More: Big Pharma, Paula Deen, Big Food, Type 2 Diabetes, Paula Deen Diabetes, Food News

Personal responsibility and consumer choice are solutions heralded by conservatives and liberals alike--the idea being that ultimately good health comes down to what we choose to buy and eat. But it's not that simple.

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A Pennsylvanian's Guide to the Rick Santorum You Don't Know

Will Bunch | Posted 01.05.2012 | Politics

Read More: Big Pharma, Terri Schiavo, Mortgages, K Street Lobbyists, Opus Dei, Charity, Ethics, Rick Santorum, Outback Steakhouse, Barack Obama, Wal-Mart, Homesc, Pennsylvania, 2012 Election, Elections 2012, Rick Santorum 2012, Politics News

You could say that Rick Santorum is just another politician. But that would be giving him too much credit.

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7 Diseases Big Pharma Hopes You Get in 2012

Martha Rosenberg | Posted 12.14.2011 | Healthy Living

Read More: Big Pharma, Big Pharma News, Big Pharmaceutical Companies, Big Pharma Company, Pharma Companies, Big Pharma Companies, The Big Pharma, Fda Big Pharma, Pharma, Pharma Company, Health News, Healthy Living News

It used to be joked that a consultant is someone who borrows your watch to tell you what time it is. These days, the opportunist is Big Pharma, which raises your insurance premiums and taxes while providing you "low-priced" drugs that you paid for.

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British Drug Giant To Slash More Than 1,000 U.S. Jobs

Posted 12.07.2011 | Business

Read More: Big Pharma, Layoffs, Pharmaceutical Companies, Pharmaceutical Industry, Video, Job Cuts, Business News, Astrazeneca, Astrazeneca Job Cuts, Business News

LONDON (Reuters) - AstraZeneca is cutting nearly a quarter of its U.S. sales force in a second wave of redundancies in as many months as it seeks ...

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Drug Giant To Pay Hundreds Of Millions To Settle Charge

Posted 11.22.2011 | Business

Read More: Big Pharma, Merck & Co, Pharmaceutical Industry, Video, Merck-Vioxx-Settlement, Merck-Vioxx-Ads, Vioxx, Vioxx Settlement, Merck Vioxx Charge, Business News

Merck & Co will pay roughly $950 million to settle criminal and civil charges that it promoted the painkiller Vioxx for an unapproved use, the U.S...

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Drugmaker To Pay Huge Sum To Settle Bribery Probe: Report

AP | By The Associated Press | Posted 11.21.2011 | Business

Read More: Big Pharma, Pharmaceutical Companies, Pharmaceutical Industry, Video, Pfizer Settlement, Pfizer, Business News, Pfizer Bribery, Bribery, Business News

-- Pfizer Inc. will pay at least $60 million to settle allegations by the U.S. government that the drugmaker paid bribes to win overseas business, ac...

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What Can Give You Economic Misery, an Embolism, and a Backyard Full of Elephants?

Cliff Schecter | Posted 01.09.2012 | Politics

Although when it comes to the specific date of our mass death, Harold Camping might as well be talking Chinese nuclear development with Herman Cain, i...

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Book Review: Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker

DJ Jaffe | Posted 11.03.2011 | Books

Read More: Mental Illness, Big Pharma, Psychiatry, Anatomy of an Epidemic, Mentally Ill, Pharmaceutical Industry, Schizophrenia, Robert Whitaker, Psychology, Books News

What's amazing about Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic bullets, psychiatric drugs, and the astonishing rise of mental illness in America (2010, Broadway P...

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Drug Giant Beats Profit, Sales Forecasts

Posted 01.01.2012 | Business

Read More: Big Pharma, Earnings, Pharmaceutical Industry, Quarterly Earnings, Video, Drug Companies, Pfizer Earnings 2011, Business News, Pfizer, Corporate Earnings, Business News

Pfizer Inc reported better-than-expected quarterly results, helped by sales growth of its prescription drugs in emerging markets and its animal he...

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The Role Of Patents In Inflating Drug Costs: An Excerpt From 'Deadly Monopolies'

Posted 12.21.2011 | Business

Read More: Big Pharma, Pharmaceutical Companies, Video, Pharmaceutical Industry, Harriet A. Washington, Medical Patents, Prescription Drugs, Business News, Deadly-Monopolies, Drug Patents, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Patents, Business News

This is an adaption from "Deadly Monopolies" Harriet A. Washington's new book, which explores how the corporate takeover of the medical industry is af...

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We Should Stop Subsidizing the Price of Europe's Prescription Drugs

Hava Volterra | Posted 12.10.2011 | Politics

Read More: Big Pharma, Pharmaceutical Industry, Health Care, Politics News

An article in the Wall Street Journal caught my eye last week. NICE, the British national health care service's drug regulator, has decided it will n...

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The Connection Between Big Pharma And Our Kids

Marilyn Wedge, Ph.D. | Posted 11.25.2011 | Healthy Living

Read More: Big Pharma, Michelle Obama, Mental Health, Children's Health, Dsm-Iv, Childhood Bipolar Disorder, Joseph Biederman, Healthy Living News

I felt like I was really losing touch with my children, that there was a third force between me and them. That third force was big business, and it wasn't at all benevolent.

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Patients Deserve to Know

ProPublica | Posted 11.09.2011 | Healthy Living

Read More: Big Pharma, Pharmaceutical Companies, Dollars for Docs, Medtronic, Health Care Reform, Drugs, Doctors, Patients, Pfizer, Healthy Living News

By Tracy Weber, and Charles Ornstein, ProPublica Your doctor gives you an expensive new drug to control your cholesterol, or recommends a certain br...

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Our Love-Hate Relationship With Pharmaceuticals

Matthew Edlund, M.D. | Posted 10.31.2011 | Healthy Living

Read More: Pharmaceutical Companies, Drug Ads, Drugs, Malpractice Lawsuits, R&D, Efficacy, Medical Side Effects, Healthy Living Body, Health Care, Big Pharma, Healthy Living News

How did we get into this mess that produces untold suffering, impedes effective health care, and costs our economy sacks of bullion and lost productivity?

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Watch: Jane Fonda Reveals Secrets Behind Her Sex Success (

Posted 10.22.2011 | Books

Read More: Jane Fonda, Jane Fonda Testosterone, Septuagenarian, Big Pharma, Old People, Video, Jane Fonda Sex, Sex, Testosterone, Books News

Oscar-winner Jane Fonda has revealed the secret behind how she maintains her sex drive in her seventies - testosterone. The fitness queen dedicated...

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Are You Taking Pills You Don't Need? Ask Ghostwriters

Martha Rosenberg | Posted 10.08.2011 | Healthy Living

Read More: Ghostwriting, Healthy Living Body, Pills, Big Pharma, Medication Unnecessary, Pharmaceutical Advertising, Healthy Living News

But ghostwriting also helps the national malaise of people suffering from and treating diseases that didn't even exist before and ballooning government and private health plans costs.

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The Influence Of TV Drug Ads

Martha Rosenberg | Posted 10.17.2011 | Healthy Living

Read More: Mental Health, Healthy Living Mind, Big Pharma, Drug Advertising Risks, DTC Advertising, Healthy Living News

Thanks to DTC advertising, people began taking seizure drugs like Topamax and Lyrica for everyday pain or headaches and antipsychotics -- hello? -- for everyday blues or mood problems.

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Our Flawed Approach To Chronic Pain

Peter Abaci, M.D. | Posted 10.05.2011 | Healthy Living

Read More: Big Pharma, Healthy Living Body, Opioids Chronic Pain, Chronic Pain Treatment, Chronic Pain, Chronic Conditions, Pain Treatments, Healthy Living News

Well folks, despite all of our new technology and flashy treatments, I can tell you that the way chronic pain is being treated in our society is basically just as flawed as 2+2=5.

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FDA, It's Time to Rein in Misleading Pharmaceutical Ads

Jerrold S. Parker | Posted 10.01.2011 | Healthy Living

Read More: Pharmaceutical Industry, Advertising, Healthy Living Body, Pharma Ads, Health Care, Pharmaceutical Ads, Big Pharma, Yaz Advertisements, Misleading Pharmaceuticals, Healthy Living News

Therefore, it is up to regulators to ensure that dangerous drugs are kept off the airwaves -- as well as off the shelves. The use of clever marketing to mask the potential risks of popular products is a universal issue.

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'Mass Psychosis In The U.S.'

Al Jazeera | James Ridgeway | Posted 09.13.2011 | Business

Read More: Big Pharma, American Psychiatric Association, Zyprexa, Anti-Depressant, Mother Jones, Risperdal, Bipolar, Acid Reflux, Fda, Anti-Psychotic Drugs, Seroquel, Mental Illness, Pharmedout, Schizophrenia, Pharmaceuticals, Abilify, Business News

Has America become a nation of psychotics? You would certainly think so, based on the explosion in the use of antipsychotic medications. In 2008, with...

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Democrats Turning On Big Pharma In Debt Debate

HuffingtonPost.com | Ryan Grim | Posted 09.07.2011 | Politics

Read More: Big Pharma, Medicaid Debt, Pharmaceutical Industry, Chris Van Hollen Debt, Henry Waxman, Chris Van Hollen, Medicare, Medicaid, Chris Van Hollen Budget, Medicare Debt, Nancy Pelosi Pharma, Pharma, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- Democrats have targeted pharmaceutical profits as a means of raising revenue as part of the debt ceiling deal, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-...

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There Is No Free Market

Robbie Gennet | Posted 09.05.2011 | Politics

Read More: Big Pharma, U.S. Economy, Big Oil, Oil, Oil Prices, Free Market, Big Oil Tax Breaks, Oil Subsidies, Agriculture Subsidies, Big Oil Subsidies, Big Oil Tax, Politics News

In order for a market to truly be "free," it can't be manipulated or augmented via subsidies and tax breaks. The term "free" means "not physically res...

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How Does A $214 Million Earmark Gets Votes From Paul, Bachmann?

Roll Call | John Stanton | Posted 08.29.2011 | Politics

Read More: Big Pharma, Paul 2012, Michele Bachmann 2012, 112th Congress, Ron Paul, Bachmann, Ron Paul 2012, Pharma, Patent and Trademark Office, Michele Bachmann, Bachmann 2012, Earmarks, Gop, Wilmer Hale, Republicans Earmarks, Gop Earmarks, Republicans, Politics News

How does a policy earmark worth more than $214 million garner the votes of conservatives such as GOP Reps. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) and Ron Paul (Texa...

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