Pfizer is delving deeper into cancer research with a roughly $11.4 billion deal for Array BioPharma, a drug developer that has seen its shares soar since announcing positive clinical trial results earlier this spring. Pfizer said Monday it will pay $48 per share in cash for Array, whose product portfolio includes a treatment combination used…
Athenahealth Fetches $5.7 Billion Cash Buyout Offer
Jury Tells Aetna to Pay $25M to Late Cancer Patient’s Family
A jury has ordered Aetna to pay more than $25 million to the family of an Oklahoma City woman who died a year after the insurance company refused to cover a type of radiation therapy. Jurors found that Aetna doctors didn’t spend enough time reviewing Orrana Cunningham’s case before denying her coverage for proton beam…
UK Police Charge Drug Company After Babies Die in Hospital
British police have charged a drug company over contaminated food given to premature babies after three deaths were reported. London police said Wednesday that ITH Pharma would face seven counts of supplying a faulty medicinal product and failing to take adequate steps to prevent patients from becoming infected. The investigation started after three babies died…
EU Drug Agency Urges Approval for Dengue Vaccine
Europe’s drug regulator has recommended approving the first vaccine for dengue despite concerns about the vaccine’s wide use and a lawsuit in the Philippines alleging that it was linked to three deaths. The European Medicines Agency said Friday it had adopted a “positive opinion” of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi’s Dengvaxia. The vaccine is the world’s…
Chinese Vaccine Maker Fined $1.3 Billion After Scandal
A Chinese maker of rabies vaccine was fined 9.1 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) on Tuesday for falsifying production records in a scandal that prompted a nationwide crackdown on the industry. Disclosure of the case, and the failure of authorities to act immediately after finding inconsistencies in the company’s records in late 2017, triggered a public…
Trump Signs Bills to Help Patients Stop Overpaying for Drugs
Insurers will no longer be able to bar pharmacists from telling consumers when paying cash would be cheaper than using insurance for their prescriptions, as a result of bills signed Wednesday by President Donald Trump. The two bills had broad bipartisan support as a consumer-friendly move to correct “gag rules” that many viewed as an…
Health Company to Pay $270M Over Improper Billing Practices
A health care company has agreed to pay $270 million to resolve allegations it provided inaccurate information to Medicare, federal prosecutors said Monday. DaVita Medical Holdings admitted to practices that caused incorrect diagnosis codes to be submitted in order to obtain inflated payments, according to the U.S. Justice Department. California-based HealthCare Partners, which DaVita acquired…
Judge Bans Nevada Prison System From Using Drug in Execution
A judge has banned the Nevada prison system from using its supply of a drug in the lethal injection of a convicted killer. District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez wrote late Friday afternoon that Nevada prison officials obtained drug manufacturer Alvogen’s sedative midazolam through “subterfuge,” or deceit, adding the purchase was made in “stark contrast” to previous…
Novartis Plans to Cut 2,100 Jobs in Switzerland, Britain
Novartis said Tuesday it’s cutting some 2,100 jobs in Switzerland and Britain over several years as the Swiss pharmaceuticals giant tweaks its corporate structure to become more nimble and more efficient. CEO Vas Narasimhan said Novartis hopes to lower its overall headcount worldwide to below 100,000, from about 126,000 today. Much of that is due…