Many Americans these days are having a tough time keeping up with their prescription drug bill. Some have hit the doughnut hole in their prescription coverage, while others have never been able to afford coverage to start with. Due to insurance coverage picking up the tab on our prescriptions drugs, we have never really stopped to think about why the price of our medications is much higher than anywhere else in the world. I have done a little research and found that it is not as much of a safety issue as the government would have you believe, but more of a financial issue.

The government would like you to believe that prescription medications from anywhere other than the United States are not safe, no matter where they are from. This is simply not true. Many other countries such as Canada and Great Britain have just as strict of safety regulations and high quality standards for their medications, the only difference is they pay much less for theirs.

The reason Canadians can afford their medications is because their government imposes price controls on their medications. This means that drug companies cannot charge more for a particular drug than the market dictates is fair. Whereas here in America, we allow drug companies have patents and periods of market exclusivity which allow drug companies to charge as much as they want for a particular drug.

The funny thing is, even though the government tries to maintain that safety is the reason that drug importation is frowned upon, even though there are many government programs that encourage purchasing drugs from foreign countries. The Senate voted 62 to 28 to allow Americans to buy drugs from Canada and Europe. The truth is drugs from overseas and Canada are not of any lesser quality, but American drug companies pay the government well to keep a monopoly in the American prescription drug market. It turns out the government is not as concerned about your safety, as they are about making money.

Don’t allow the government to scare you away from saving money on your prescription medication. Do your research and keep your money in your pocket. Order your medications from proven, safe, online pharmacies found only here at
NoPrescriptioneed.com.

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Drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis is going to take a revenue hit this year after recently stopping production of their newest blood thinner drug. The decision comes after US regulators approved a generic rival to its Lovenox blood thinner.

Sanofi-Aventis recently released a statement saying its shares may decline as much as 4 percent at constant exchange rate. This is a much more bleak estimate than the one given earlier this year stating a increase in revenues of at least 5 to seven percent.

Losing market exclusivity is one of the main reasons that Sanofi-Aventis has been actively seeking to purchase Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Genzyme.

“Five or six of their top eight drugs are in the process of or will go generic this year and companies losing drugs are under more pressure to fill that gap,” a man with knowledge of the matter stated.

Sanofi-Aventis is the maker of other popular drugs like Actonel, Allegra, Nasacort and Plavix.

Sanofi better come up with some new drugs to fill the gap quickly, or the revenues will continue to fall.

A new weight loss drug is up for FDA approval and is looking to buck the recent trend of harsh weight loss medications.

The new drug Qnexa, which is a combination of the drugs lorcaserin and Contrave is looking to provide effective weight-loss without the dangerous side effects that have hampered other weight loss drugs like fen-phen and Meridia. Fen-phen was pulled from the off the shelves in 1997 when it was linked to a thickening of the heart valve.

Dr. Ken Fujioka, director of the Scripps Clinic Center for Weight Management in San Diego said, “It’s shown a 10 to 15 percent weight-loss in patients, which is very impressive.”

If the side effects prove to be minimal, this could end up being a great drug to help many who suffer from obesity reclaim there lives. As for now, the only FDA approved weight loss drug is over the counter Alli.

Today Mylan announced that they had received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Anastrozole tablets, 1 mg, the generic version of AstraZeneca’s Arimidex, a treatment for early breast cancer.

According to IMS Health, Anastrozole tablets had sales in the US of approximately $917 million for the last year ending March 31, 2010 . The product is available for immediate shipment.

Pr Newswire Reported that,

Currently, Mylan has 136 ANDAs pending FDA approval representing $94 billion in annual brand sales, according to IMS Health. Forty-one of these pending ANDAs are potential first-to-file opportunities, representing $20.4 billion in annual brand sales, for the 12 months ending Dec. 31, 2009 according to IMS Health.

This should help those who are struggling to pay for the treatment. If you would like to save even more on Arimidex, join No Prescription Needed today!

GlaxoSmithKline  and Medivir announced today an exclusive agreement for the commercialization of a new over the counter cold sore cream. Xerclear is the new product that will contain acyclovir and hydrocortisone for non-prescription use in multiple markets, including 14 major European countries.

This should bolster Glaxo’s over the counter medicine business. According to reports,

Swedish-based Medivir will get up to 3 million euros ($4 million) in upfront and pre-launch milestone payments, as well as up to double-digit percentage royalties on sales.

The new combo was granted marketing approval in  in last October and is based on strong clinical data. Xerclear was given “a unique label, which differentiates it from other topical cold sore products currently on the market,” GSK says.

According to the Pharma Times,

The treatment, previously known as Lipsovir, will be distributed as part of GSK’s over-the-counter Zovirax (acyclovir) franchise in multiple markets, including Europe, Russia, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand but not North and South America, China, South Korea and Israel. The drugs giant will pay up to 3 million euros in upfront and pre-launch milestones and up to double-digit royalties.

Only time will tell if Xerclear will ever make it to market in the US.

Today a new drug was approved for sale to fight against osteoporosis. The new drug Prolia comes from Amgen and is used to help prevent fractures in postmenopausal women. Last week, the medicine received approval for sales overseas.

Prolia is considered to be one of the most important drugs for Amgen’s future. The FDA’s decision was made nearly two months before the agency’s expected date, July 25.

Dr. Julie Beitz, director of an F.D.A. office of drug evaluation, said in a statement “Due to its prevalence, osteoporosis is a serious concern to public health…the approval of Prolia provides another treatment option for postmenopausal women with osteoporosis who are susceptible to fractures.”

This is good news for the rising number of postmenopausal women who recent studies have shown that one out of every two women over age 50 will break a bone in their lifetime as a result of osteoporosis.

Prolia will join other osteoporosis medications such as Fosamax and Boniva to help fight against bone loss in women over 50.

Today, a new arthritis drug manufactured by Pozen and AstraZeneca received FDA approval. The new drug Vimovo will combine the popular heart burn drug Nexium with a generic pain killer.

Vimovo will attempt to fill the need of a drug that can reduce the risk of stomach ulcers that usually accompany most commonly used pain killers. Vimovo is a combination of naproxen, an anti-inflammatory pain reliever, and Nexium.

According to WSJ.com,

Jefferies analyst Eun Yang projects peak annual sales of Vimovo at $300 million and expects it to launch in late summer, calling it a “modest” product for AstraZeneca.

Yang said Vimovo, as a combination product, mainly provides convenience to patients and could face insurance reimbursement challenges.

Combination drugs are not exactly groundbreaking but offer more convenience and sometimes are more cost effective and can be found in almost all drug categories. Some common combination drug examples are Lopressor (beta blocker/diuretic), Vytorin (ezetimibe/simvastatin), Avandamet (Metformin hydrochloride/rosiglitazone maleate), and Hyzaar (Losartan and hydrochlorothiazide).

Vimovo was approved to treat osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and to decrease the risk of developing gastric ulcers in patients at risk of developing non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-associated gastric ulcers. The pill is to be taken twice daily.

In a clinical trial of the drug, there was a 4.1% incidence of ulcers in Vimovo patients, compared to 23.1% among patients taking a coated form of naproxen. In a second similarly structured study, the incidence was 7.1%, compared to 24.3%.

Reports today show that Novartis said its profit climbed from $1.98 billion to $2.93 billion, as sales climbed 25% to $12.13 billion. Its “core” per-share profit of $1.45 was well ahead of analyst estimates of $1.26.

Novartis counted on Diovan, Lucentis, and Gleevec to keep money flowing in. Lucentis saw sales surge 59% to $364 million. Cancer-drug sales climbed 20% to $2.4 billion, with $1.03 billion of sales coming from leukemia drug Gleevec. Diovan sales edged up 3% to $1.44 billion strongly due to the fact that Teva won the right to sell generic version of Merck’s Cozaar (Diovan’s competitor).

According to Marketwatch.com,

It’s still pursuing the buyout of the shares it doesn’t already hold in Alcon. Novartis said it’s on track to get 77% of the company as a sale of a stake from Nestle closes. Minority shareholders of Alcon have rejected an offer from Novartis that was substantially less per share than what the Swiss drug maker was willing to pay Nestle.

Novartis said it’s still targeting mid-single-digit sales growth at constant currencies.

Unlike rival Eli Lilly, Novartis didn’t cut guidance due to the recently passed U.S. health-care legislation.

“The greater diversity and lower U.S. exposure in Novartis versus its peers serves it well in this regard,” said Jeffrey Holford, an analyst at Jefferies.

It is a shame that the drug companies are still raking in the profits while our country is in a recession. There is no excuse for our government to allow American consumers to be taken advantage of on a daily basis. You don’t have to pay these inflated prices for your prescription medication. Join NoPrescriptioNeeded.com today.

According to a recent report out of Washington, prescription drug heists are growing at an alarming rate. Thieves are stealing large quantities of prescription drugs for resale on the black market.

Just recently thieves knocked over a pharmaceutical warehouse in Connecticut, taking upwards of 75 million dollars worth of pharmaceuticals. According to stats, pharmaceutical heists in the U.S. have quadrupled since 2006.

Many contribute the rise to the easy sell of the drugs over the internet from no prescription pharmacies. Lifestyle drugs like Viagra and Cialis can easily be bought and sold online without any prescription.

“Whenever you have a health care system where drugs are very expensive and there’s a fragmented supply chain, you’re going to have a means to profit from stolen drugs,” said Ron Greene, a spokesman for FreightWatch.

The FDA is trying to tighten down on these criminals, issuing alerts to the public, working with manufacturers, wholesalers, pharmacies and law enforcement, and publishing lot numbers of stolen drugs on a Web site.

A well known low-cost drug known improved diabetes symptoms was found in a Boston study being published today, and its success supports an entirely new way of understanding the disease.

The drug, called salsalate, is also being studied as a potential treatment for repeat heart attacks and to stall development of Type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes, currently affects over 20 million Americans, most commonly affecting those that gain a considerable amount of weight. Scientists know there is a connection between weight gain and diabetes but have had a hard time connecting the dots. Salsalate is known to have anti-inflammatory properties, results of original studies suggest that the extra pounds cause chronic inflammation, triggering a cascade of problems from diabetes to heart disease to eye troubles.

“We should all exercise and reduce our body weight, but if we fail to do that, this might be a good drug,’’ said Dr. Marc Y. Donath, a diabetes researcher and professor at University Hospital in Zurich.

Though chemically resembling aspirin, salsalate causes far fewer stomach problems and has none of the bleeding risks. It has been used for about 40 years to treat the joint pain of arthritis, with few known side effects, and sells for as little as 16 cents per pill here at NoPrescriptioNeeded.com.

The only drawback is the drug’s low cost might actually hurt its chances of reaching patients. Normally, big pharma tries to shut down things like this that they don’t stand to make much money on.