Pfizer’s top executives are predicting the Trump administration will try to eliminate big rebates off prescription drug prices that manufacturers pay to middlemen, a move that could sharply reduce patients’ out-of-pocket costs. Pfizer shares jumped 3 percent on the comments, made to analysts during a conference call Tuesday to discuss Pfizer’s second-quarter results. Patient copayments…
Merck Beats Views On Sales Jumps For Cancer Drugs, Vaccines
Soaring sales of cancer drugs, vaccines, and veterinary medicines drove Merck & Co.’s 5 percent jump in second-quarter revenue and the company lifted its outlook for the year. Long known for primary care with its allergy, cholesterol, diabetes, heart and osteoporosis medications and shots to prevent common children’s ailments, Merck now focuses more on so-called…
First Drug Approved For Most Common Inherited Kidney Disease
The FDA has approved the first drug to slow kidney decline in patients with the most common inherited kidney disease. Jynarque (jihn-AR’-kew), from Japan’s Otsuka Pharmaceutical, was approved Tuesday for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. The progressive genetic disorder is the fourth-leading cause of kidney failure. It causes fluid-filled cysts to develop in and damage…
Tax Overhaul Charge Hands Merck 4Q Loss Despite Higher Sales
Drugmaker Merck posted a loss of $872 million in the fourth quarter, as a big charge related to the recent U.S. tax overhaul more than offset higher medicine sales. Its adjusted earnings still topped Wall Street’s expectations, though. The maker of Januvia diabetes pills and cancer drug Keytruda took a charge of $2.6 billion to…
Pfizer, Riding Tax Changes, Puts Up Huge 4Q Profit
Pfizer’s fourth-quarter profit soared to $12.27 billion thanks to a huge tax benefit related to the U.S. tax system overhaul. The biggest U.S. drugmaker on Tuesday reported an $11.34 billion benefit, mainly from recalculating deferred tax liabilities. Pfizer also said it will take a charge of approximately $15 billion, payable to the Treasury over eight…
Johnson & Johnson Loses $10.7B After Sweeping U.S. Tax Changes
Johnson & Johnson posted a rare quarterly loss, a whopping $10.71 billion, due to a $13.6 billion charge related to last month’s U.S. tax overhaul. While the loss was expected and the company’s adjusted results beat Wall Street expectations, shares fell more than 4.1 percent, an unusually big swing for the health care giant. On…
Viagra Goes Generic: Pfizer to Launch Own Little White Pill
The little blue pill that’s helped millions of men in the bedroom is turning white. Drugmaker Pfizer is launching its own cheaper generic version of Viagra rather than lose most sales when the impotence pill gets its first generic competition next week. Pfizer Inc. will begin selling the white pill at half the $65-a-pill retail…
Pfizer Beats 3Q Net Forecasts On Lower Charges, Higher Sales
Pfizer doubled its third-quarter profit, thanks to slightly higher sales, lower one-time charges and reduced spending on production and administration. The drug giant edged past Wall Street’s profit expectations and improved its 2017 financial forecast. The maker of Viagra and pain treatment Lyrica on Tuesday said it will decide next year whether to sell or…
Merck Swings To 3Q Loss On Big Charge But Raises Forecast
Lower sales for multiple medicines and a whopping charge for a big collaboration in cancer drugs drove Merck & Co. to a third-quarter loss of $56 million. But the Kenilworth, New Jersey, company beat Wall Street’s muted expectations and it also narrowed, and raised, its outlook for the year. Merck on Friday reported a loss…
FDA Rejects Muscular Dystrophy Drug, Says It Doesn’t Work
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has rejected an experimental drug for a common type of muscular dystrophy. The FDA’s decision Wednesday was expected because the agency had said the drug didn’t work in two key patient tests. Last month, FDA advisers voted 10-1 against recommending approval. The drug from PTC…
FDA Rejects Muscular Dystrophy Drug, Says It Doesn’t Work
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has rejected an experimental drug for a common type of muscular dystrophy. The FDA’s decision Wednesday was expected because the agency had said the drug didn’t work in two key patient tests. Last month, FDA advisers voted 10-1 against recommending approval. The drug from PTC Therapeutics was intended for…
FDA Approves Better Vaccine Against Painful Shingles Virus
US Regulators Approve 2nd Gene Therapy For Blood Cancer
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — U.S. regulators on Wednesday approved a second gene therapy for a blood cancer, a one-time, custom-made treatment for aggressive lymphoma in adults. The Food and Drug Administration allowed sales of the treatment from Kite Pharma. It uses the same technology, called CAR-T, as the first gene therapy approved in the U.S.…
Johnson & Johnson Tops Street 3Q Forecasts, Hikes Forecast
Higher spending across the board drove Johnson & Johnson’s third-quarter profit down 12 percent, despite a big sales jump fueled by recent acquisitions, hot new cancer drugs and strong sales of other key medicines. However, the health care giant easily topped Wall Street expectations. With momentum in product sales across all three business segments, Johnson…
Merck Scraps Disappointing Experimental Cholesterol Drug
Merck has decided to abandon efforts to market a closely watched experimental cholesterol medicine after mediocre test results. Merck’s decision Wednesday to not seek regulatory approval after years of testing marks the fourth time this type of once-promising drug has been scrapped. Merck had continued to study its drug, a so-called CETP inhibitor called anacetrapib,…
FDA Acts to Encourage Generic Competition for Complex Drugs
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is opening a new front in its efforts to reduce high drug prices by encouraging development of generic versions of hard-to-make medicines. Complex drugs and drug-device combinations generally are very expensive and some are widely used. Often, they don’t get generic competition right after their patent expires, as happens…
FDA OKs Continuous Blood Sugar Monitor Without Finger Pricks
U.S. regulators have approved the first continuous blood sugar monitor for diabetics that doesn’t need backup finger prick tests. Current models require users to test a drop of blood twice daily to calibrate, or adjust, the monitor. The pain of finger sticks and the cost of testing supplies discourage many people from keeping close tabs…
New Drug Reduces Heart Attacks, but Is That Enough?
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — So-so results for a new type of cholesterol drug have left Merck in a quandary: Does the company try to bring it to market or scrap it? A large, long-term study of the drug showed that it prevents heart attacks and reduces the need for heart procedures, while three similar drugs…
FDA Approves New Drug to Treat All Forms of Hepatitis C
U.S. regulators have approved the first drug to treat all forms of hepatitis C in as little as eight weeks. The pill combination from AbbVie Inc. was approved Thursday by the Food and Drug Administration for adults without significant cirrhosis, a type of liver disease, and many patients who were not cured by prior treatment.…
Key Drug Sales Push Pfizer Profit Up 50 Percent
Rising sales of most key drugs, lower one-time charges and reduced manufacturing costs helped drive Pfizer’s second-quarter profit up 50 percent. The top U.S. drugmaker beat Wall Street profit forecasts, tweaked its own 2017 forecast, and predicted numerous lucrative drugs will be approved over the next half-decade. Still, cheaper generic competition continues to gnaw away…
Key Drug Sales Push Pfizer Profit Up 50 Percent
Rising sales of most key drugs, lower one-time charges and reduced manufacturing costs helped drive Pfizer’s profit up 50 percent in the second quarter. The top U.S. drugmaker by sales beat Wall Street profit forecasts, tweaked its own forecast for the year, and predicted numerous lucrative drugs will be approved over the next half-decade. Still,…
J&J Tops 2Q Profit Forecasts
Johnson & Johnson Tops 2Q Forecasts
With recent acquisitions and new product approvals expected to boost sales, health care products giant Johnson & Johnson has raised its financial forecasts for the year, despite a dip in second-quarter profit. The higher forecast pleased Wall Street, pushing shares up $1.51, or 1.1 percent, to $133.60 in premarket trading. Its biggest acquisition ever, the…
FDA Takes Steps to Boost Generic Competition, Limit Prices
The Food and Drug Administration said it’s taking steps to boost the number of generic prescription drugs on the market in an effort to make medicines more affordable and to prevent price gouging. Copycat pills generally have been much cheaper than original brand-name drugs. But recent high-profile cases have shown how lack of competition and…
Merck Says New Type of Cholesterol Drug Worked in Big Study
Merck & Co. said Tuesday that a new type of cholesterol drug reduced heart attacks, deaths and other complications of heart disease in a huge, late-stage study. The positive result was a welcome surprise because three previous experimental drugs of the same type had failed. Merck’s pill, anacetrapib, might eventually give high-risk heart patients a…