Month: July 2013

Quarterly net earnings increase 21.8% for Allergan

Allergan reported net earnings of $359.9 million attributable to the company under generally accepted accounting principals for the quarter ended June 30, according to a company release. This marks an increase of 21.8% over the $295.4 million from the same quarter in 2012.Product net sales for the quarter were $1.577 billion, an increase of 10.6% over the company’s $1.426 billion in product net sales during the same period last year.

Merck quarterly net income drops $887 million

Merck’s generally accepted accounting principals net income for the second quarter was $906 million, down from $1.79 billion in the same period last year, according to a company news release.Patent expirations and poor foreign exchange rates are partially responsible for Merck’s sales for the period falling to $11 billion, down 11% from $12.3 billion in the same quarter last year, the release said.

AMA urges physicians to report conflicts of interest prior to Sunshine Act deadline

The Physician Payment Sunshine Act will require pharmaceutical and medical device companies to report on their interactions with physicians starting on Aug. 1, and the American Medical Association is urging physicians to report, update and correct their financial and conflict of interest disclosures.“The Sunshine Act affects all physicians with a current medical license and the changes are starting now,” Ardis Hoven, MD, president of the American Medical Association (AMA) stated in a press release. “Physicians should know that pharmaceutical and medical device companies must begin tracking and reporting information on (Read more...)

Valeant to cut staff with Bausch + Lomb buyout

Upon completion of Valeant’s $8.7 billion buyout of Bausch + Lomb, the new organizational design is expected to reduce the workforce by 10% to 15% across the newly combined company, according to a letter to workers from Valeant CEO J. Michael Pearson. The letter was also filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Worldwide, Bausch + Lomb employs approximately 11,000 people, while Valeant employs approximately 7,500, according to their respective websites.

Manufacturers exceed $1 billion in payments to IRS from medical device tax

Medical device manufacturers recently surpassed $1 billion in payments to the Internal Revenue Service for the medical device excise tax, which went into effect on Jan. 1, according to a joint announcement from the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance, Advanced Medical Technology Association and Medical Device Manufacturers Association. “The $1 billion threshold is frightening as every dollar spent paying for this medical device tax threatens medical innovation and American jobs,” Gail Rodriguez, executive director of the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA), stated in a press release. “MITA is pleased (Read more...)

Smart, Continuous Monitoring of Intra-Ocular Pressure with Triggerfish Contact Lens: Q&A with René Goedkoop, CMO of Sensimed

Smart contact lenses are no longer science fiction. In the last few years we have covered several smart contact lenses with different purposes. One of these electronic contact lenses is the Sensimed Triggerfish, a device capable of continuous measurement of the intra-ocular pressure (IOP). It is the first of its kind, since current measurement (Read more...)

BLOG: Who has dry eye?

Now that you’ve decided you want to treat dry eye, you probably are wondering what you’ve gotten yourself into.The first thing to figure out is who has dry eye. It turns out that almost anyone can have what we know as dry eye, but there is one very common type of patient with whom you always need to be on the lookout for dry eye in all its forms.