JustCare

Tag: Pfizer

  • Coronavirus: Older adults without booster shots are still at significant risk

    Coronavirus: Older adults without booster shots are still at significant risk

    The latest COVID-19 data reveal that vaccines are not enough to protect many older adults from serious illness if they have the virus. Fenit Nirappil and Dan Keating report for The Washington Post that a higher proportion of vaccinated older adults are dying. Apparently, over time, COVID-19 vaccines do not work as well as you might hope; to minimize risk, older adults need booster shots.

    In January and February, more than four in ten people who died of COVID-19 were vaccinated. Most of them had not received a booster shot. Last September, just 23 percent of people who died of COVID-19 were vaccinated.

    Researchers who analyzed the data found no meaningful difference between people who had had the Pfizer vaccine and people who had had the Moderna vaccine. For both, it appears that the vaccine’s full protection lasts for about three months after the second vaccine.  That said, one CDC expert said that Moderna appears to offer a somewhat more effective vaccine against hospitalization than Pfizer.

    For people over 65, Moderna is 87 percent effective against hospitalization versus Pfizer, which is 77 percent effective. And, the effectiveness of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine appears to increase over time.

    Some people are mixing up the types of vaccines they receive. But, they do so at their own risk. There is no data on whether that is either safe or effective.

    Note: People who are unvaccinated are most likely to die from COVID-19.  In fact they have a 20 times greater likelihood of dying from a COVID-19 infection than people who are vaccinated and boosted. Still, two-thirds of deaths from the omicron variant of COVID-19 were people over 75. Most of those deaths, among the vaccinated, were people who had not gotten a booster shot.

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  • Pfizer continues to hike up drug prices

    Pfizer continues to hike up drug prices

    No one should have any doubt as to whether Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies will hike up drug prices as often as they can get away with. When it comes to prescription drug prices, pharmaceutical companies have no legal obligation to anyone other than their shareholders. Jake Johnson reports for Common Dreams that Pfizer takes the lead among its peers in hiking up drug prices.

    Pfizer raised prices on 125 drugs so far this year. Pfizer profits are already sky high because of the pandemic and sales of its vaccine. In 2022, it is projected to generate$54.5 billion from vaccine sales.

    Which Pfizer drugs are getting more expensive? To name three, its pneumonia vaccine, a treatment for breast cancer and a treatment for heart disease.  The prices of two of these drugs are going up nearly seven percent. And, the third drug is going up six percent.

    How much money are we talking? For some drugs, we’re talking hundreds and even thousands of dollars. For Ibrance, Pfizer’s breast cancer drug, the increase is $901, to nearly $14,000.

    Americans are seeing price increases on a total of 554 drugs since the beginning of this year. About one in four of these drugs cost more than $5,000.

    Why does Congress continue to let pharmaceutical companies hike up prices? Why won’t the US use its purchasing power to rein in prices on drugs and save lives?

    We need Congress to step in.  Build Back Better Act, if passed, would rein in drug costs for several dozen drugs and prohibit drug price increases more than the rate of inflation. But, Senator Manchin is blocking its passage.

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  • Coronavirus: Should you get the Pfizer booster vaccine?

    Coronavirus: Should you get the Pfizer booster vaccine?

    The FDA gave emergency approval to Pfizer’s “booster” vaccine for people over 65 who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 at least six months. And, soon after, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  announced that it supports that decision as well as booster shots for people who have a serious medical condition or work in a high-risk settings.

    In short, about 60 million of the 100 million people who received the Pfizer vaccine and who are at high risk of getting a serious case of Covid-19 are eligible for the booster shot.  The booster is the same Pfizer vaccine as people originally received, just a third one, to boost people’s antibody levels and better protect them.

    Older adults and people with compromised health need vaccine protection. Covid-19 is the deadliest disease in American history, deadlier than the Spanish flu of 1918.

    Pfizer had wanted the booster to be available to all 100 million Americans who had received its vaccine. But, an expert FDA panel did not support Pfizer’s request, nor did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Still, projections are that booster shots around the world will contribute $26 billion to its bottom line in 2022, PBS reports.

    Should you get a booster if you did not get the Pfizer vaccine? The FDA has not yet given approval for a booster to people who had the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. For that reason, experts have not  recommended a Pfizer booster to people who received the Johnson & Johnson or Moderna vaccines.

    Some experts believe that people who are immunocompromised should get the third vaccine even if it is a different brand from the brand they initially received. But, one FDA representative says there is not enough evidence to know whether it would be as effective as getting a third injection of the same vaccine you originally received.

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  • Coronavirus: Pfizer puts profits ahead of public health

    Coronavirus: Pfizer puts profits ahead of public health

    What would a corporate COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer do in the face of a pandemic? You guessed it: Use its power to put maximizing profits ahead of the public health. And, that’s just what Pfizer did when the federal government gave it the power to determine how the vaccine is distributed, reports StatNews.

    Pfizer figured out that if it packaged its vaccine for distribution in 80 pound boxes, it would add to its enormous profits. Each box would hold 1,170 vaccine doses. Never mind the consequences for Americans. Pfizer did not care that its packaging severely limited where it could send the vaccines.

    For its part, the federal government naively believed that all it needed from Pfizer was agreement to distribute the vaccines without a plan as to where the vaccines were being sent. It did not insist on dictating the number of vaccines in each container. And, Pfizer refused to consider sending shipments of 100 vaccine doses at a time.

    This explains why big establishments in urban areas received the Pfizer vaccine first and rural communities and small medical establishments had to wait. Only the big facilities could keep large quantities of vaccines in cold storage and use hundreds of vaccines at a time. Local pharmacies and primary care doctors could not handle huge supplies of the vaccine.

    Of course, Pfizer denies that its distribution plan had anything to do with maximizing profits. But, large boxes of vaccines simplified Pfizer’s job and kept its costs down. Their government contract included the cost of delivery so a team at Pfizer figured out how to get its vaccines out at the lowest possible cost.

    The Pfizer box has other limitations. It can only be opened two times each day for no more than three minutes at a time. It needs new dry ice to continue to keep the vaccine cold.

    The federal government had to dedicate a lot of resources to determining who could receive the vaccine, instead of coordinating the administration of the vaccine. Needless to say, government research from 10-years ago shows that vaccines should be able to be distributed in small quantities to reach more people in more places.

    Of course, Pfizer could have used multiple-sized boxes in its distribution of the vaccine, but that would have raised its costs and reduced its profits. More dry ice, more labor and more delivery locations. In sharp contrast, Moderna’s boxes contained 10 or 11 doses, so small retail pharmacies and private medical practices could take delivery of them.

    The big culprit here is the federal government. The Trump administration is guilty of not dictating the terms of delivery. After all, it was buying enormous quantities of the vaccine and should have had significant leverage over its distribution, even if Pfizer wanted that control.

    The Biden administration has been able to use its leverage to reduce the Pfizer box size to 450 vials.

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  • Novartis, Sanofi and Pfizer engaged in illegal kickbacks and bribery

    Novartis, Sanofi and Pfizer engaged in illegal kickbacks and bribery

    There’s a long history of pharmaceutical companies engaged in bribery and other illegal activities. The pharmaceutical industry routinely puts its interests before the public health every way it can. In the last week, Novartis, Sanofi and Pfizer have been called out for engaging in illegal kickbacks and bribery.

    Stat News reports that Sanofi is paying nearly $12 million for violating the Anti-Kickback Statute, in this case, paying kickbacks to people with Medicare through charitable donations. Older adults and people with disabilities using Lemtrada to treat multiple sclerosis received the money to cover their copays. In addition to Sanofi, Johnson and Johnson, Amgen, Pfizer, Biogen and Novartis have settled similar lawsuits.

    The federal Anti-Kickback Statute forbids pharmaceutical companies from paying money to people with Medicare and others in federal programs to use their medicines. Sanofi refused to admit guilt, claiming it was simply supporting charitable organizations.

    Stat News reports that Novartis is paying $678 million to settle charges of illegal kickbacks to doctors in the US in the form of high honoraria for prescribing large amounts of its drugs. Novartis held more than 80,000 sham events since 2011. According to an FBI official, Novartis also bribed doctors to prescribe more of its drugs.

    Stat News also reports that Novartis is paying $345 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Department of Justice to settle a federal criminal case. The government had charged Novartis with bribing doctors, hospitals and clinics in South Korea, Vietnam and Greece to prescribe its prescription drugs, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The health care providers allegedly cooked their books in order to hide the bribes.

    If this weren’t bad enough, Novartis also allegedly inappropriately conducted clinical trials in an effort to better market its drugs. An audit found no compelling scientific reason for the trials. Novartis paid health care providers who prescribed its drugs to attend conferences around the world.

    High level Novartis executives were implicated. They appear to be getting off scot-free.

    Meanwhile, Pfizer has brought a lawsuit that challenges the legality of laws that prohibit it from paying Medicare Part D drug copays for people with a severe heart condition. It says it wants to help people pay for tafamidis which is prescribed to treat the heart condition and costs $225,000 a year.  Of course, the easiest way to help patients would be to lower the cost of the drug.

    Instead, Pfizer wants either to pay copays directly or to pay copays through charities. But, the underlying motive is to boost sales for the very expensive drug, while keeping the drug price high. And, the Office of the Inspector General treats such activities as fraud.

    Pfizer’s argument is that there is no other drug for this condition. So, it cannot be engaged in illegal steering for this drug. It further claims that it is unconstitutional, violating the equal protection clause and the first amendment, to bar the company from supporting charitable organizations. People with Medicare not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or other federal programs to cover the cost of the drug and not wealthy enough to pay for the drug’s out-of-pocket costs themselves are hurt.

    Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Senator Elizabeth Warren are leading a charge to fight these pharmaceutical company practices. Drug companies get big tax breaks and profits from their “charitable donations.”  Their drug prices need to be lower.

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  • Pfizer, Teva and other generic drugmakers charged with illegally driving up drug prices

    Pfizer, Teva and other generic drugmakers charged with illegally driving up drug prices

    The New York Times reports that forty-four states filed a lawsuit against Teva, Pfizer, Novartis, Mylan and several other generic pharmaceutical companies for illegally conspiring to drive up generic drug prices as much as ten-fold. The suit charges that they were engaged in price-fixing for more than 100 generic drugs. If found guilty, what punishment would fit the crime?

    More than 12 pharmaceutical companies and their executives are implicated in the lawsuit. And, the state prosecutors claim that the executives were aware that their activities undermining competition in the generic drug market violated the law. They allegedly colluded to raise prices on all the drugs they could.

    These unwarranted and illegal price hikes on critical generic drugs drive up national health spending, hurt state and federal budgets and undermine the health and financial well-being of patients. 

    The complaint describes an “industry-wide” practice of colluding to raise prices that is “pervasive.” Not surprisingly, Teva and Pfizer deny all charges against them.

    Generic drugs whose prices were inflated include drugs to treat HIV, asthma, cholesterol, ADHD and cancer as well as blood thinners, contraceptives and antidepressants. Specifically, the following drugs:  lamivudine-zidovudine, budesonide, fenofibrate, amphetamine-dextroamphetamine.

    The attorneys general’s lawsuit was filed in the Federal District Court in Connecticut. In a tweet, William Tong, the Connecticut attorney general, said that the behavior of these generic drugmakers was “a highly illegal violation of antitrust laws.”

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  • Does Pfizer care about malfunctioning EpiPens?

    Does Pfizer care about malfunctioning EpiPens?

    The New York Times reports that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accused Pfizer of failing to address complaints about malfunctioning EpiPens, used to prevent serious allergic reactions. Hundreds of people are reporting that EpiPens have killed or harmed them because of a malfunction in its drug delivery mechanism. Does Pfizer care about malfunctioning EpiPens?

    Pfizer owns the patent on the EpiPen’s delivery system. The delivery system is supposed to ensure that people get the proper dose of epinephrine. That dose prevents a serious allergic reaction. If it does not work, people’s lives can be at risk.

    Pfizer claims that people who report being harmed may not have used their EpiPens properly. They are not medically trained. Needless to say, EpiPens are designed so that you do not need to be medically trained to operate them.

    Pfizer further claims that people cannot prove a “causal” link between a death and the malfunction of the EpiPen. However, after FDA intervention, including inspection of the manufacturing plant and many discussions, Pfizer did recently recall 13 lots of the EpiPen because of device malfunction in its drug delivery mechanism.

    The EpiPen has been in the spotlight this past year because of its steep price hike, as Steven Findlay reported for Just Care back in August 2016. Mylan, which manufactures the EpiPen, increased its list price almost fourfold to $608 from $165 five years earlier. The drug it dispenses is a generic, which costs almost nothing to manufacture.

    Both the malfunction and the cost of the EpiPen are two of thousands of reminders that the pharmaceutical marketplace is dysfunctional, non-competitive, and unsustainable. Everyone of us pays the price for the dysfunction, in higher insurance premiums and higher taxes. And people who use the drugs, as well as their loved ones, suffer all the more.

    If you want Congress to rein in drug prices, please sign this petition.

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