The European Union Times |
- Big Pharma overcharged NHS millions for anti-epilepsy drug
- NASA turns to Russia after Congress failure
- Donald Trump’s Plan to Significantly Reduce Income Taxes
- Mediterranean immigrant crossings hit 224,000 in 2015
- White South Carolina teen gunned down by cop gets no attention
|
Posted: 06 Aug 2015 02:14 PM PDT
 US pharma giant Pfizer and Hertfordshire-based drug company Flynn Pharma abused their market dominance by charging “excessive and unfair prices” for an anti-epilepsy drug, Britain’s competition watchdog has said. Following a comprehensive investigation, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) released a scathing statement on Thursday suggesting the two pharma firms may have breached UK and EU competition law. The alleged legal breach is estimated to have cost the National Health Service (NHS) dearly, with its spending on the drug increasing 22-fold in three years. CMA Senior Director of Antitrust Enforcement Ann Pope said firms that hold a “dominant position” in their market must ensure that their prices are “just and fair,” and that their conduct does not hamper competition. “The prices that the CMA is concerned about in this case are very high compared to those prices previously charged and have led to a big increase in the total NHS drug bill for what is a very important drug for tens of thousands of patients,” she added. Market monopoly The CMA’s inquiry focused on the sale of phenytoin sodium capsules in Britain. The anti-epilepsy drug is vital in preventing and controlling epileptic seizures and is used by up to 50,000 patients across the UK. Pfizer manufactures phenytoin sodium capsules and sells them to Flynn Pharma, which in turn distributes them to UK pharmacies and wholesalers. The CMA’s allegations relate to the prices Pfizer has charged Flynn Pharma since 2012, and the prices Flynn Pharma has charged UK customers over this period. Pfizer previously produced and sold the anti-epilepsy capsules to UK wholesalers under the brand name Epanutin. But the US pharma giant sold the UK distribution rights for the drug to Flynn Pharma in 2012, which rebranded the drug and started selling its own version throughout the UK in September of that year. Pfizer continued to manufacture the anti-epilepsy capsules, but sold the drug to Flynn Pharma at a much higher price than it had previously sold Epanutin in the UK. The CMA estimates the increase was up to 17 times that of Pfizer’s previous price. Flynn Pharma’s price increase that followed was up to 27 times the price Pfizer had previously charged UK wholesalers and pharmacies. NHS funding crisis Government figures show NHS spending on the anti-epilepsy drug has soared since Pfizer sold its distribution rights to Flynn Pharma. While the health service spent roughly £2.3 million (US$3.56 million) on phenytoin sodium capsules annually prior to 2012, that figure jumped to £50 million in 2013. Although NHS spending on the drug fell slightly in 2014 (£40 million), the CMA maintains the health service’s bill for the drug is deeply excessive. The CMA’s allegations against Pfizer and Flynn Pharma come as the NHS faces an almost-unprecedented funding crisis. NHS trusts have been ordered to slash spending and cut staff numbers, with a £2 billion black hole in health spending lingering. UK health service regulator Monitor wrote to every NHS trust in the country earlier this week, asking them to revise their budgets. “As you know, the NHS is facing an almost unprecedented financial challenge this year,” the letter told health service providers. “Current plans are quite simply unaffordable. As I have said before, if we are to do the best we can for patients we must leave no stone unturned in our collective efforts to make the money we have go as far as possible.” The CMA says no firm conclusion can be reached at present as to whether Pfizer and Flynn Pharma violated competition law. It has called upon both firms to submit evidence forthwith. If the firms are found to have violated their dominant market positions, they could be hit with financial penalties of up to 10 percent of their yearly global turnover. Pfizer insisted it is “co-operating fully” with the CMA’s investigation. The US firm has also defended its sale of the anti-epilepsy drug’s distribution rights to Flynn Pharma. “Ensuring a sustainable supply of our products to UK patients is of paramount importance to Pfizer and was at the heart of our decision to divest the product,” a spokesperson for the firm said. “The Statement of Objections is the CMA’s provisional findings only and all parties will now have the opportunity to respond to the statement before the CMA decides if there has been any infringement.” Flynn Pharma said it has a right to challenge the CMA’s allegations. “The CMA’s statement of objections does not prejudge the final outcome of the proceedings and addressees have the right to reply to the CMA’s allegations,” a spokesperson for the firm told the Telegraph. “Flynn intends to cooperate fully with the CMA in this matter and to vigorously defend itself against the allegations.” Source           |
|
Posted: 06 Aug 2015 02:07 PM PDT
 In this NASA handout photo taken during the Gemini 4 mission on June 3, 1965, Ed White became the first American to conduct a spacewalk.The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration told American lawmakers in a letter on Wednesday that the move was a result of the Congress failure to fund the Commercial Crew Program, The Hill reported. Based on the new contract, which will run through 2019, NASA would be dependent on Moscow for the program despite tensions between the United States and Russia over the situation in Ukraine. The letter, written by NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr., warned of missing a 2017 deadline to send astronauts to space on vehicles manufactured by Boeing and SpaceX. “The fastest path to bringing these new systems online, launching from America, and ending our sole reliance on Russia is fully funding NASA’s Commercial Crew Program in FY 2016,” Bolden wrote in the letter to Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas), who is in charge of supervising NASA funding in the House. Congress will need to back President Barack Obama’s $1.24 billion budget request for the program in order to meet the deadline, Bolden said.  This June 28, 2015 grab from NASA TV shows the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the unmanned Dragon cargo capsule on board appearing to explode shortly after launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida.House Republicans have proposed $250 million less than the request for the next fiscal year, while Senate Republicans have offered $300 million less. Boeing and SpaceX would most likely have to suspend operations next spring or summer if the budget is not approved, Bolden added. Obama’s budget requests for the years 2011 and 2012 had also been truncated by Congress. Commercial vehicles would be functional by 2017 if the program is fully funded, according to an unnamed spokeswoman for NASA. “At this point, because of the lack of funding, our commercial partners will likely not be ready by 2017,” she said. Source      |
|
Posted: 06 Aug 2015 02:02 PM PDT
 Frontrunner Donald Trump’s plan to radically reduce income taxes will bolster his popularity with the American people. In his book, “Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again,” published in 2011, and updated for the 2016 campaign, Trump put forward a plan to transform the government’s expropriation of income and wealth. Specifically:
“Imagine your paycheck was 40 percent higher than it currently is. What could you do with 40 percent more wealth? How many jobs and opportunities for others could you create?” “No doubt you work hard for your money — I know I do — and you should be permitted to keep more of it. Anything less creates a disincentive for a strong national work ethic,” Trump said. The plan will abolish the estate or “death” tax, lower tax rates on capital gains and dividends, reduce corporate tax rate from 39 percent to zero to spur job growth, and implement a simple “1-5-10-15 income tax plan” to address and fix the country’s unfair tax system. On Sunday Trump told CBS he pays as little taxes as possible. “I fight like hell to pay as little as possible for two reasons. Number one, I’m a businessman. And that’s the way you’re supposed to do it,” he said. “The other reason is that I hate the way our government spends our taxes. I hate the way they waste our money. Trillions and trillions of dollars of waste and abuse. And I hate it.” Source      |
|
Posted: 06 Aug 2015 01:42 PM PDT
 The United Nations refugee agency says some 224,000 invading migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year. William Spindler, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said that by the end of July, around 224,000 refugees had arrived in Europe by sea. Spindler also warned that the continent could brace and grapple with a high-scale refugee crisis. “What we have at Europe’s doorstep is a refugee crisis,” Spindler told the AFP news agency in an email on Thursday. About all of the refugees crossing the Mediterranean during that period, often in rickety boats and at the mercy of human traffickers, have landed in Greece and Italy, the UN official added. Spindler also noted that more than 2,100 people have drowned or gone missing during perilous journey across the Mediterranean over the past seven months. The remarks come as over 200 migrants attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean reportedly drowned on Wednesday after their overcrowded fishing boat capsized off Libya. The boat is believed to have been carrying over 600 migrants, including several women and children. Sources say around 400 people had been rescued from the water while 25 bodies had been recovered. The UNHCR earlier called on the European governments to provide legal alternatives so that desperate people in need of refuge can seek and find protection and asylum. Source      |
|
Posted: 06 Aug 2015 01:29 PM PDT
 After an independent autopsy showed that Zachary Hammond was shot by police from behind, the family of the unarmed South Carolina teen is wondering at the lack of national outrage in this case. Hammond was white. According to the police in Seneca, South Carolina, an officer shot Hammond “in self-defense” when the teen allegedly tried to run him over with a car during a drug arrest. An officer approached Hammond’s car in the parking lot of a Hardee’s restaurant on July 26, after an undercover officer arranged a marijuana buy with the teen’s date, 23-year-old Tori Morton. The initial police report mentions finding a bag of marijuana on Morton – who was charged with simple possession – but makes no note of the lethal shooting. The official autopsy confirmed Hammond was shot twice, but did not say from what angle. Hammond’s family arranged for an independent autopsy, which showed the 19-year-old had been shot from above and behind, suggesting that the official police story was inaccurate. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, attorney for Hammond’s family Eric Bland said that Hammond had been shot in the left rear shoulder, and through the back of his chest, indicating the officer fired from the side of a stopped car, through the open window. Bland says Hammond was on a first date with Morton, who was eating ice cream at the time, and that the police should have never used deadly force. Seneca is a city of 8,200 in the northwestern corner of South Carolina, near the university town of Clemson, and about 30 miles west of Greenville. Hammond’s death came a week after Samuel Dubose was killed in Cincinnati, Ohio under very similar circumstances. University of Cincinnati police officer Raymond Tensing said Dubose was trying to run him over with his car, and that he fired in self-defense. Once Tensing’s body camera footage was released, showing otherwise, the officer was indicted for murder. Tensing is white; Dubose was black. Dubose’s killing has attracted national attention, but Hammond’s was barely noticed. According to the Los Angeles Times, while Dubose’s name was mentioned in over 43,000 tweets between July 26 and August 4, Hammond’s appeared in 289 tweets in the same time period. Bland, the attorney for Hammond’s family, finds the discrepancy “very disturbing.” “An unarmed white teenager whose life is wrongfully taken at the hands of overzealous police is the same and equal to an unarmed black teenager whose life is wrongfully taken at the hands of overzealous police,” he told the LA Times. Police in Seneca are standing by their officer, though. Speaking to the Greenville News last week, Chief John Covington said the officer “actually had his hand on or very close to the car, possibly pushed off from the car,” and the teen “was not shot from behind.” “The attorney wasn’t there either,” Covington said. “He’s got to put his spin on things. His clients are the parents and they’re grieving. I understand that. My heart goes out to them.” Seneca police’s refusal to publish the official autopsy results or name the officer involved in the fatal shooting has raised eyebrows. The Charleston Post and Courier filed an open records request for the officer’s name, and the copy of the official incident report, neither of which have been released by the police. “It’s outrageous,” Bill Rogers, executive director of the South Carolina Press Association, told the Post and Courier. “The policeman is a public official. They can’t redact his name. That’s a clear violation of the law.” “We feel that releasing his name may possibly subject the officer and family to harassment, intimidation or abuse,” Chief Covington said in a statement, explaining that the department considers the officer a “victim of attempted murder” by Hammond. Rogers says this argument lacks merit and that the public has a right to know. “Other people might have had encounters with this policeman but they can’t come forward if the public doesn’t know who it is,” he said. Hammond’s death is currently being investigated by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). There had been 30 fatal police shootings in the state this year, as of August 3, compared to 42 in all of 2014, according to the LA Times. “The whole issue of race is getting distorted and what’s getting lost is the real issue which is excessive force,” Bland told the Washington Post. “All people need to be outraged out this. All people need to be asking the hard questions.” Source     |
