Mental Health Blogs

I don’t often comment on the ebb and flow of pharma corporate news, but via Pharmalot comes news that AstraZeneca is asking its entire US sales force–some 5,000 to 6,000 people–to “self identify” whether or not they want to accept a buyout from the pharma giant. Don’t think that AZ is getting out of the drug business, but like a lot of pharma companies it faces several products going off-patent over the next few years (Seroquel, Crestor, etc.), so it’s cutting costs where it can. Quite a few pharma companies (lilly, BMS, AZ) are facing a serious “pipeline problem” of not having new drugs forthcoming to market to the public.

As a longtime critic of Big Pharma, I find it rather odd that there have been no new product introductions of “breakthrough” drugs in recent years after decades of seeming innovation. In the mental health world, it sure does strike me that pharma has stopped trying to churn out new anti-depressants (aside from the Effexor-knockoff Pristiq), perhaps because there is no more commerical advantage to be wrung out of the chemical imbalance hypothesis of depression. At least in a patented product sense of things.

But, who knows? Perhaps pharma will surprise me some day soon.

Go to Source

Related posts:

1. Court Rules AstraZeneca Overcharged KY Medicaid Program
2. AstraZeneca Defends Seroquel Weight Gain Warnings
3. Lexapro Sales Stabilized By Lexapro Sales To Teens
4. NAMI Board Member Was Paid Consultant To AstraZeneca On Seroquel
5. Lawmakers Seek To Limit TV Drug Ads