7/18/2015 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given the recall of Medtronic’s Shiley neonatal and pediatric tracheostomy tubes a Class I label, its most serious designation. Under a Class I label, the FDA believes that “there is a reasonable probability that use of these products will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.” Last
7/15/2015 Biotech manufacturer Celgene is making an earnest push to become one of the industry’s leaders following a wave of transactions aimed at increasing long-term sustainability. Celgene’s current success is largely based on the popularity of its breakthrough cancer drug, Revlimid; however Celgene is attempting to set itself up for future growth when Revlimid’s patent
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is joining famous environmental and consumer activist Erin Brockovich in its skepticism of Bayer’s popular birth control device, Essure. Bayer claims that the coil-like device is the only non-surgical permanent form of birth control on the market. The FDA announced last month that it will be conducting a
7/8/2015 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released the results of a 1093-patient study on Tuesday of drugmaker, Eli Lilly’s experimental drug necitumumab, aimed at treating a certain form of lung cancer. The information comes as the FDA will be conducting a panel of outside experts on Thursday, July 9th that will review the
7/3/2015 Following last week’s landmark Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, two leading health insurers will be combining to form the second largest company in the industry. Aetna, the third-largest insurer will acquire Humana, the country’s fourth largest health plan provider. Aetna will pay a cash and stock equivalent to
7/2/2015 In what may be the largest whistleblower lawsuit ever, the Justice Department, along with 11 states, are accusing Swiss pharmaceutical titan, Novartis, of running a massive kickback scheme through the U.S. Medicare and Medicaid programs. Specifically, the U.S. is accusing the drugmaker of referring patients to a handful of specialty pharmacies who sent in
7/1/2015 In a press release on Monday, Massachusetts-based medical device manufacturer, Abiomed, notified the public that the U.S. Department of Justice has dropped its investigation of the company’s Impella 2.5 heart pump. In the press release, Company CEO, Michael Minogue said, “We are pleased that the Department of Justice has chosen to close its investigation
6/29/2015 After a historic week in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to legalize gay marriage, as well as delivering a decision that will likely entrench Obamacare as the law of the land, the Court handed President Obama a major defeat to his environmental agenda. On the last day of the Court’s session, it ruled
6/26/2015 The U.S. Justice Department along with Michigan’s Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit on Thursday, alleging that four Southern Michigan hospital systems violated antitrust laws by agreeing not to compete with each other. The civil suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, claiming that the hospitals conducted a “hands-off” marketing arrangement, with each
6/25/2015 The Supreme Court delivered the much-anticipated King vs. Burwell decision on Thursday not to strike down a key portion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare. The 6-3 decision means that enrollees in states which have not set up their own health exchanges will continue to receive federal subsidies for health insurance. Currently,