Evergreening - Call for UK to ditch AstraZeneca's Nexium, other drugs | Quotes | Company News | Reuters

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By Ben Hirschler

LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Britain's state health service should ditch some drugs that are not worth using, including AstraZeneca's (AZN.L) top-seller Nexium for heartburn, to provide funds for new treatments, experts said on Friday.

Dyfrig Hughes of Bangor University and Robin Ferner of Birmingham's City Hospital said such medicines could be relegated to a blacklist of products that cannot be prescribed on the National Health Service (NHS).

Their suggestion, in an article in the British Medical Journal, underscores a growing debate over value for money in healthcare.

Britain's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has taken a global lead by recommending which drugs should be reimbursed on the NHS, using a systemised approach that is watched closely by other countries. Continued...

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via uk.reuters.com

Posted via web from Jack's posterous

Abbott - Vicodin CR: evergreen fail

Abbott Laboratories fired 200 sales representatives preparing to market Vicodin CR (Continued Revenue) after the company stopped plans to introduce the drug this year, people familiar with the matter said.

The drugmaker said in October that the drug, an extended release form of Vicodin, failed to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. The company hasn’t released details of the so-called complete response letter from the FDA.

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