The pharmaceutical industry is a tremendously profitable one, as anyone who reads the business pages of their newspaper can see. Although it can take years to develop a new drug and bring it to market, the profits obtained from a breakthrough drug can be staggering. Last year Merck sold about $2.5 billion worth of Vioxx, and Pfizer sold about $1.3 billion worth of Bextra. The profits are huge, but so are the losses if a problem should develop with a pharmaceutical product. Pfizer voluntarily withdrew the popular anti-inflammatory drug Bextra from the market last month, and their stock has suffered from both the loss of sales and the potential for a large number of product liability lawsuits. Pfizer may have to endure a double whammy this year as the FDA announced that they are investigating reports that the impotence drug Viagra may be linked to cases of blindness in male users. Cialis and Levitra were also mentioned in the report, although most of the cases involved the use of Viagra.
The FDA reports shouldn’t cause alarm; the agency says that it is investigating fewer than 50 incidents of blindness in patients who use a drug that has been used by more than twenty million people since its introduction seven years ago. The FDA investigation says less about the likelihood of blindness in patients than it does about the agency’s own concerns about its reputation. The FDA rightly insists upon rigorous testing of drugs before they reach the market in the name of public safety. But that coin has two sides, and there are those who say that the agency is too quick to approve potentially dangerous drugs and others who say that the agency’s testing isn’t thorough enough. Adding fuel to the fire are the recent memos obtained from Merck employees that suggest that the company was aggressively marketing Vioxx even though their sales staff knew the drug was potentially dangerous.
There may be no link between Viagra and blindness at all, as the form of sudden blindness alleged to have been caused by Viagra use is common to the sorts of patients who have erectile disfunction. The FDA is just being cautious, as they should be. Further tests will determine if there is an actual link. The party likely to suffer immediately is Pfizer, as stockholders, already concerned about Bextra lawsuits, drove the stock price lower immediately upon the release of the Viagra news. Sales will probably decrease, too, as patients who are now accustomed to reading about drugs being withdrawn from the market may shy away from the product until further tests are done. That could present a huge income for Pfizer, as they currently sell about $2 billion worth of Viagra each year. The drug business is a profitable one, but like any business, comes with risks. This year, it would seem that Pfizer is getting a double dose of bad medicine.
Home Loans – Identity Theft Protection Could Hurt Home Sales
Identity theft has been a hot topic in the news during the last few years. Just a month or so ago, forty million credit card numbers were compromised due to a computer attack on a credit card processor. Consumers are rightly concerned, as it can take years to unravel the problems created when someone’s identity is stolen. New legislation in Texas and California, also proposed elsewhere, is designed to protect consumers by letting them put a “freeze” on their credit reports. Those in the real estate industry are worried, however, that doing so may make it difficult for some people to buy homes.
Debt Consolidation – How to Protect Your Credit Accounts from Theft
Last week, a security exploit at CardSystems Solutions, Inc, a credit card processor, may have allowed thieves to obtain as many as 40 million credit card numbers from unsuspecting victims. The theft was brought about though a virus introduced into the CardSystems that allowed external hackers to obtain access to the account information. Adding to the problem was the fact that CardSystems wasn’t supposed to have the account information at all. It appears that CardSystems “inappropriately” held onto the information after clearing the credit card transactions. At that point, the account information should have been deleted. CardSystems held onto the account information for supposed “research purposes.” Fortunately for those involved, the compromised information only included account numbers and not Social Security numbers, which would have assisted the thieves in identity theft scams. This latest security breach at a credit card processor outlines how anyone can be vulnerable to account or even identity theft. Is there anything that can be done about it?
New Bankruptcy Law – Targeting the Wrong People?
Last April, President Bush enthusiastically signed into law the oddly-named Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act. This bill, representing the biggest overhaul of bankruptcy law in twenty-five years, was written in order to discourage “bankruptcy of convenience.” Proponents of the bill, which included the credit card industry, say that the bill is necessary in order to stop an avalanche of bankruptcy filings by drug users and compulsive shoppers and gamblers. The law makes it harder to have debts wiped away, requires credit counseling for those considering bankruptcy, and holds attorneys responsible for paperwork errors by their clients in bankruptcy cases. The net result will probably be chaos, as fewer attorneys will handle bankruptcy cases, credit counselors will raise their fees, and more consumers with problem debt will be clueless as to what they should do next. Adding to the confusion are some new statistics that suggest that a large number of bankruptcies that are thought to be personal are actually business bankruptcies. As a result, the new law may be unfairly targeting consumers for punishment when they are not actually the biggest part of the problem. Worse, it could be harming small businesses.
