The pharmaceutical industry swears the high cost of drugs is due to research and development costs, conveniently omitting the actual amount of money spent on the marketing of these drugs, which is exorbitantly more. A recent Deloitte report suggests that pharmaceutical companies are taking a hit because investments made in R&D on new drugs simply are not paying off anymore. [1]
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its subsidiary DePuy has been ordered by a federal jury in Dallas to pay more than $1 billion to settle allegations that the company hid flaws in its Pinnacle hip implants that had to be surgically removed. [1]
Source: CNN
A Gooding, Idaho, mom lost custody of her children and is facing charges after treating her daughter’s seizures with marijuana butter. [1]
Three-year-old Madyson began suffering seizures and hallucinations in early October after coming off of the prescription anti-psychotic drug Risperdal, which was being used to treat a history of seizures.
Madyson’s mom, Kelsey Osborne, explained:
“They [the seizures] would stop and come back, stop and come back with the hallucinations and everything else.” [2]
Kentucky’s attorney general, Andy Beshear, is suing Johnson & Johnson and its Ethicon subsidiary, alleging the Big Pharma giant “concealed and misrepresented” the risk of its transvaginal mesh products to doctors and patients. Johnson & Johnson called the lawsuit “unjustified.” [1]
On May 2, Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a U.S. jury to pay $55 million to a woman who had alleged the company’s talcum-powder products, which she had used for feminine hygiene, caused her ovarian cancer. It is the 2nd straight time the company lost a verdict.
Johnson & Johnson is currently facing about 1,200 lawsuits accusing it of failing to warn consumers about the cancer risks associated with its talc-based products.
Roundup is being found everywhere! Sadly, this includes in mother’s breast milk and in fetal tissue. Now, over 3000 boxes of ‘organic’ panty liners have been pulled from stores in France and Canada after Monsanto’s favorite herbicide was found in the cotton-based Organyc brand.
Kenneth Frazier, a chief executive of Merck & Co. and chairman of the industry lobbying group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, wants you to know why drug prices have gotten so out of hand.
According to Frazier:
