Last week we discussed a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak which was linked to contaminated pharmaceuticals from a Massachusetts specialty pharmacy. Authorities say that problems at the New England Compounding Center were documented for years but the pharmacy had always managed to avoid severe fines and public exposure of the unsanitary conditions at its facilities. The>> Read More

The United States Department of Justice recently announced the largest-ever criminal and civil settlement involving a pharmaceutical company. British healthcare giant GlaxoSmithKline LLC agreed to pay $3 billion to resolve government complaints that the company engaged in a variety of illegal behaviors including promoting a dangerous pharmaceutical to treat depression in teens. The most recent>> Read More

In our last post we discussed a recent landmark settlement between drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline and the Department of Justice. Federal prosecutors accused the health care giant of promoting the antidepressant Paxil to teenagers despite little evidence that the drug was effective in treating individuals under age 18. Warnings on the drug’s label now indicate that individuals>> Read More

Drugmakers Takeda and Affymax recently announced a recall of their anemia drug Omontys. The drug has caused anaphylaxis in some patients, which has caused some patients to die. The Mayo Clinic describes anaphylaxis as a severe allergic reaction which is caused by the immune system releasing dangerous amounts of chemicals into a patient’s system in>> Read More