Medical Costs: Why Target the Drug Industry Now

The pharmaceutical industry may indeed be a major factor in the future success of reducing workers' compensation treatment costs and improve the success rate of care. Such action will reduce the cost of medical treatment and likewise reduce permanent disability awards.

This week several landmark announcements were made regarding the treatment of mesothelioma and Hepatitis C. The pharmaceutical industry is making great strides if treatment and cure.

Perhaps targeting the drug industry at this time merely to reduce costs is short sighted. The entire program needs to be encouraged. 

US FDA: Designation for CRS-207 in Mesothelioma Treatment

Merck Announces Results from Phase 2/3 Study of Investigational Chronic Hepatitis C Therapy Grazoprevir/Elbasvir in Patients with Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease

Merck to pay $100 million in NuvaRing contraceptive settlement

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.reuters.com

Merck & Co said on Friday it will pay $100 million to resolve all U.S. product liability lawsuits alleging it downplayed serious health risks involving its NuvaRing intrauterine contraceptive device. The product, which contains the hormones estrogen and progestin commonly found in birth control bills, is associated with an increased risk of developing blood clots that can cause heart attacks, strokes or sudden deaths. Available to women in the United States since 2001, NuvaRing is one of several contraceptive products linked to this higher risk. Merck, the second-biggest U.S. drugmaker, denied any fault under the agreement, which must be accepted by 95 percent of about 3,800 eligible patients involved in lawsuits pending in federal and state courts. A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Roger Denton of Schlichter, Bogard and Denton, said the settlement, reached after nearly a year of negotiations, is "an outstanding result and in the best interests of all the women who have suffered an injury associated with the use of Nuvaring." Under the settlement, Merck would pay a fraction of what at least one company has paid in a similar settlement. German drugmaker Bayer AG said last year it had paid nearly $1.6 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits involving accusations that its Yaz and Yazmin birth control pills caused blood clots that led to strokes and heart attacks. Merck shares were up 1 percent at $54.32 on the New York Stock Exchange, in line with a 1.2-percent...

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Merck agrees to proposed $27.7 mln settlement over Fosamax lawsuits

Many injured workers have been prescribed Fosamax for treatment of their conditions. Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.reuters.com

By Nate Raymond and Jessica Dye NEW YORK Dec 9 (Reuters) - Merck & Co Inc said on Monday that it was prepared to pay $27.7 million to settle lawsuits by hundreds of people who sued the company over allegations that its osteoporosis drug Fosamax caused bones in the jaw to deteriorate. Lawyers for Merck and plaintiffs disclosed the proposed settlement at a court hearing in New York to resolve 1,140 lawsuits pending in federal and state courts. Any settlement would need to be approved by a judge. Merck, which confirmed the agreement later on Monday, said the accord requires a 100 percent participation rate and evidence that the claimants satisfy eligibility requirements. The deal covers about 1,200 people, the company said. "We hope to bring this to a successful conclusion," Paul Strain, a lawyer for Merck, said at the hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan before Judge John Keenan, who has presided over federal litigation by plaintiffs claiming that they developed osteonecrosis of the jaw from taking Fosamax. The condition is a disease that causes bones in the jaw to deteriorate or die. The settlement would resolve a large portion of the 5,255 product liability cases facing Merck over Fosamax, a one-time blockbuster drug with $3 billion in sales in 2007. Sales have declined since Fosamax lost patent protection in 2008. Through September, Merck had reported $421 million in Fosamax sales in 2013. Of the lawsuits over Fosamax, about 860 of the cases were before...

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