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Fifty-one percent of consumers report that prescription drug advertising keeps them informed of available treatments, according to a survey of 12,000 individuals conducted by The NPD Group, Port Washington, NY.

You, the doctor and the sales call.

In an effort to address the declining flow of much-needed medications used during surgery, the American Society of Anesthesiologists is calling on federal regulators and pharmaceutical industry leaders to take action quickly to end the nationwide shortage of anesthetic agents.

What's behind the new surge.

The Institute of Medicine of the Washington-based National Academy of Sciences has released "Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New System for the 21st Century," a follow-up to its earlier report, "To Err is Human." While "To Err is Human" concentrated on the issue of patient safety, the new report offers suggestions for wider healthcare reform.

Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ, and Mountain View, CA-based Alza Corp. announced that they have entered into an agreement under which Johnson & Johnson will merge with Alza in a stock-for-stock exchange, valued at roughly $10.5 billion.

Bagsvaerd, Denmark-Niche players with good exposure to US markets are showing strong growth, bucking the notion that size is everything in the pharmaceutical industry. And, if it is true that the industry is recession-proof, that situation is unlikely to change, even in the event of a US downturn.

Effective DTC Product Web Sites Must Synthesize Advertising and Labeling Requirements

Brussels-Two types of mutual recognition procedures are necessary to ensure that generics get to market as quickly as possible, according to the European Generics Medicines Association.

Pretoria, South Africa-Few people noticed that the ground had begun to crumble under Big Pharma when, after the failed World Trade Organization talks in Seattle, Washington, the Clinton administration indicated that it would take note of the effects of its trade policies on healthcare in developing countries. Multinational companies had hitherto been able to take the support of governments for granted when it came to policing intellectual property, but Clinton's move indicated a major shift in policy. Few noticed, because the rhetoric wasn't immediately matched by reality. In fact, the US government continued to pressure countries whose intellectual property protection seemed too weak. Then the new Bush administration, thought to be an unwavering ally of the pharmaceutical industry, indicated it would continue the Clinton policy.

Patents before profits. That soundbite snagged my ears and turned my full attention to the CNN business report. I recognized the voice and the face}Ray Gilmartin, chairman of Merck. Calmly and reasonably, he explained how extraordinary circumstances in the developing world demand that his company uncouple the normally fused objectives of high profitability and unwavering patent protection.

Developing Palatable Medicines for Children is Never Easy, But the Rewards Can Be Great

Uniondale, New York, USA-Thirty-eight companies submitted proposals to develop OSI-774, OSI Pharmaceuticals' lead cancer candidate, making it the most sought-after compound of 2000. The statistic was revealed with some satisfaction by Myrtle Potter, chief operating officer of Genentech, the joint winner-along with Roche, its majority stockholder-at the Economist Conferences' annual pharmaceuticals conference.

FDA's Final Rule Forces the Pharma Industry to Change It's Clinical Trial Culture

Genentech's sprawling campus overlooking San Francisco Bay seems serene on the surface, but internally, the company resonates with energy.

London-The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) has decided that Roche's Xenical (orlistat) should be available from the National Health Service for managing obesity and its related problems, but it should not be viewed as a slimming pill.

How to Hire the Right Reps, Train Them to Excel, and Retain Them for the Long Run

Although industry seeks to protect its rights, the only long-term solution is working with the international community to address the AIDS crisis and other serious health problems.

What the WLF decision means for pharmaceutical reps.

It seems nothing short of amazing to me that the vast majority of pharmaceutical reps bypass what is surely the most potent sales tool that exists. Before I became a provider 22 years ago, I was involved in sales. It was then that I realized that sales are greatly influenced by the nature and quality of the relationships between salespeople and their customers. Failure on the part of pharmaceutical representatives to develop good, strong relationships most often leads to poor prescribing habits on the part of the provider.

In an independent analysis of prescription drug treatments for hypertension, the Evanston, IL-based health data company Solucient found that 49% of patients who were started on an ACE inhibitor had no prior history of hypertension treatment during the previous 12 months. Moreover, three in four of those patients also had no history of heart failure or diabetes, two conditions that indicate ACE inhibitors as a first-line hypertension therapy.

According to "Outlook 2001," a report released by the Boston-based Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, the United States today spends nearly three times as much on physician services as it does for prescription drugs, and over four times as much as it does for hospital care. Although prescription drugs, as a share of total U.S. healthcare spending, increased from 5.5% a decade ago to 8.5% today, hospital expenditures declined from nearly 37% to 33% during the same time period, while spending on physician services remained nearly constant.

More than 20 new drugs were added to the Fall 2000 edition of Newtown, PA-based Scott-Levin's Managed Care Formulary Drug Audit. Betapace AF™ (sotalol HCl), a cardiovascular therapy manufactured by Berlex Laboratories Inc., Montville, NJ, was the new product with the highest level of formulary acceptance, according to the audit.

President Bush has sent his temporary prescription drug proposal for low-income families - called "An Immediate Helping Hand" - to Congress. The plan would provide block grants to states to cover drug costs for seniors 65 and older who have incomes of up to $11,600, and up to half the drug costs of seniors with incomes of up to $15,000. The plan would also cover drug costs for any Medicare patient, regardless of income, if his or her yearly drug costs exceed $6,000.

For the past four years, the volume of healthcare services mergers and acquisitions has always slowed in the fourth quarter. While the fourth quarter of 2000 was no exception, the size of the decline was larger than usual and the number of transactions fell below 100, hitting a seven-year low, according to New Canaan, CT-based Irving Levin Associates Inc. In its fourth quarter 2000 Healthcare M&A Report, the firm points out that there were just 90 healthcare services mergers and acquisitions announced, representing a 30% decline from the third quarter and a 43% plunge from the fourth quarter of 1999.

President Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) are set to battle over McCain's "Bipartisan Patient Protection Act of 2001," a patients' rights proposal he has introduced with Senators John Edwards (D-NC), Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Bob Graham (D-FL). The proposal would:

Antidepressants in the SSRI/SNRI class were the subject of the most pharmaceutical industry details and events during the third quarter of 2000, according to an audit by Newtown, PA-based Scott-Levin.

Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala released the nation's first standards for protecting the privacy of Americans' personal health records.

A new report by New York-based Datamonitor reveals that both traditional and innovative therapy opportunities will exist for breast cancer in the near future.

No one wants to hang around people who are sad all the time, or who have a chip on their shoulder.