More concern over the proposed mega-merger of drug giants Pfizer and Wyeth and the anticipated end result for consumers: Higher drug prices and fewer breakthrough medicines.
Consumers Union today sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging it to carefully review Pfizer’s purchase of Wyeth and its impact on drug prices, as well as innovation and competition.
“In recent years, the FDA has seen fewer new molecular entities being submitted and has designated fewer drugs as truly breakthrough products. Does this merger change, for better or worse, the recent trend line? The merger will result in thousands of employee lay-offs. What percent of those lay-offs are in research and development, and are those lay-offs strictly in areas where the two companies were duplicating research, or are new and unique lines of research being terminated?,” writes CU health policy analyst Bill Vaughan.
Earlier this week, the Greenlining Institute requested the merger be blocked unless the companies lower drug prices, saying the acquisition “perverts” the U.S. government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, since Pfizer would be relying on loans from five banks aided by the bailout.
And a few days ago, we outlined why such a merger underscores the need for real funding of unbiased, independent research to tell consumers and their doctors which medications and treatments work best – not just which have the best marketing campaigns.
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