Year: 2014

(Reuters) – Merck and Co Inc and GlaxoSmithKline Plc are not reimbursing drug co-payments for patients who purchase their health insurance through state and federal exchanges set up under the Obamacare program. The two drugmakers said their decision, first reported by Bloomberg News, is based on uncertainty about whether insurance programs offered under the Affordable Care Act are governed by federal laws that ban kickbacks to businesses. At the same time, most drugmakers offer patient assistance programs, or coupons, to people who might otherwise not be able to afford medications that have been prescribed by doctors. Merck, which makes drugs such as Januvia for diabetes, said it plans to revisit its decision once more information is available about implementation of the law governing the federal health program.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Twenty-five pharmaceutical companies are voluntarily phasing out the use of antibiotics for growth promotion in animals processed for meat, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.

Sarah Murnaghan Rule Change Set to Expire, Under Review

By P.J. Huffstutter CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. regulators on Wednesday said that 25 out of 26 drugmakers that sell antibiotics used in livestock feed for growth enhancement have agreed to follow new guidelines that will make it illegal to use their products to create beefier cattle, heftier hogs and other outsized animals. The companies – which include Eli Lilly & Co’s Elanco Animal Health unit, Bayer Healthcare LLC’s animal health division and Zoetis Inc – have agreed to start the process of removing any growth promotion claims on their products’ labeling, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA announced the guidelines in December, as part of an ongoing bid to stem a surge in human resistance to certain antibiotics.

By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) – A socialite whose weight-loss supplement was linked to suspensions of several NFL players in 2008 for banned substances pleaded guilty on Wednesday to drug misbranding. Nikki Haskell and her company, Balanced Health Products Inc, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal district court to a misdemeanor count of misbranding in connection with the sale of a pill called StarCaps, whose label did not disclose the presence of a diuretic called bumetanide. Haskell, who billed herself as the "Diet Queen to the Stars," has been an occasional presence in celebrity social circles, with the New York Post's Page Six gossip column reporting her appearance at events involving Aretha Franklin and Ivanka Trump. She was the chief executive of Balanced Health, which marketed StarCaps as an "all natural diet supplement" containing papaya and garlic.

By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday, led by losses in the technology and materials sectors, as geopolitical concerns rose after the United States and the European Union agreed to work together on tougher sanctions on Russia. But the major indexes reversed course in the afternoon as technology stocks turned sharply lower. Among technology stocks, Facebook was one of the biggest decliners a day after the social networking company said it would acquire two-year-old Oculus VR Inc, a maker of virtual-reality glasses for gaming, for $2 billion. The United States and the European Union agreed to work together to prepare possible tougher economic sanctions in response to Russia's behavior in Ukraine.

CHICAGO (AP) — A smartphone app for recovering alcoholics that includes a panic button and sounds an alert when they get too close to taverns helped keep some on the wagon, researchers who developed the tool found.

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) – A large international team of scientists has built the clearest picture yet of how human genes are regulated in the vast array of cell types in the body – work that should help researchers target genes linked to disease. The three-year long project, called FANTOM5 and led by the RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies in Japan, involved more than 250 scientists across 20 countries and regions. "Humans are complex multicellular organisms composed of at least 400 distinct cell types. This beautiful diversity of cell types allow us to see, think, hear, move and fight infection – yet all of this is encoded in the same genome," said Alistair Forrest, scientific coordinator of FANTOM5.

An Oklahoma judge ruled on Wednesday the state’s secrecy on its lethal injections protocols was unconstitutional, a decision that could delay executions in other states where death row inmates are planning to launch similar challenges. County district court judge Patricia Parrish ruled the state violated due process protections in the U.S. Constitution by not providing the name of the drug supplier, the combination of chemicals and the dosages used in executions. Oklahoma’s attorney general said the office will appeal. Oklahoma and other U.S. states have been struggling to obtain drugs for executions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Americans could get extra time to enroll for taxpayer-subsidized coverage this year under President Barack Obama's health care law. That would let the administration boost sign-ups and aid Democrats under attack over the program's troubles.