Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals

Privatization of major medical laboratories from the National Hospital Service (NHS) in Britain has led to a dramatic decline in service quality, according to a "Transforming Pathology, the Serco way," a recent report from UK-based researchers Corporate Watch. Read More

Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical company, will appear before the Indian Supreme Court Wednesday to appeal against a patent rejection for a popular cancer drug. A decision in favor of the company could have a devastating impact on cheap supplies of many kinds of generic drugs for poor patients. Read More

Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) - the world's largest operator of private clinics and hospitals - has come under the spotlight for performing unnecessary cardiac procedures, notably in Florida. Read More

Should a private company be allowed to patent isolated human genes? A lawsuit to be heard Friday pits Myriad Genetics of Utah against the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Myriad wants to be the exclusive U.S. commercial provider of genetic screening tests for breast cancer or ovarian cancer. Read More

Are Africa and South East Asia just suffering from a deluge of fake medicines that is causing disease resistance to rise? Or are they also suffering from a deluge of poorly informed media articles, encouraged by the pharmaceutical industry that wants to make war on generic drugs? Read More

Why don't drug companies invest enough money in treating malaria and tuberculosis? A recent study published in the Lancet magazine estimates that 1,238,000 people died from malaria in 2010. Surely a wonder drug that stops these diseases would be wildly profitable? Read More

Should lobbyists for biotech and food companies make the rules on what kind of food you have in your kitchen? Meet Mella Frewen, Suzy Renckens and Harry Kuiper: Three examples of how the industries take advantage of the European Food Safety Agency(EFSA) failure to properly regulate conflicts of interest. Read More

Johnson & Johnson has been fined $1.2 billion in Arkansas over the sales of Risperdal, an antipsychotic drug. A circuit judge ruled that the company did not warn patients that the drug places elderly patients with dementia at an increased risk of major weight gain, possible diabetes and potential death. Read More

U.S. imports of sodium thiopental have been banned by a federal judge because of the poor quality of imports. The ruling has struck a serious blow against the death penalty because of the key role the drug plays in lethal injections. Not surprisingly, the state of Texas is furious. Read More

GlaxoSmithKline boss Sir Andrew Witty's pay package more than doubled to £6.7m last year - but the drugs group reckons he remains underpaid and has awarded him a new deal which could generate up to £10.4m this year. Read More