Grow New Kidneys

In the Media

April 2005

	Congress Approves FY 2006 Budget Resolution, Including $10B in Medicaid Cuts; Plan Creates Medicaid Commission Summary from Kaiser Network.
	Medicare Manual Inaccurate, Confusing, Some House Democrats Write in Letter to CMS Administrator Summary from Kaiser Network.
	Most Recent Advances Made and the Competitive Struggle That Exists Between the Large Pharmaceutical Companies Research and Markets press release via PRNewswire/Yahoo.
	Amgen's First Quarter Net Income Rises 23 Percent to $924 Million Aranesp® sales now exceed EPOGEN®. Worldwide sales of Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa) increased 33 percent to $723 million. EPOGEN (Epoetin alfa) sales fell to $583 million from $590 in the first quarter of 2004. Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses were $577 million in the first quarter versus $513 million in 2004.
	Amgen In Same Spot Microsoft Was Three Years Ago (opens new window) Article from Forbes.com. According to a report from investment house Morgan Stanley, "We consider the erythropoietin franchise one of the great monopolies of our generation (behind Microsoft's Windows platform), ..."
	Amgen CEO: Medicare Changes Haven't Hurt Company Article from Dow Jones via iwon.com.
	Shire Grabs Transkaryotic (TKT) For $1.6 Billion TKT has two approved drugs, one being Dynepo™, an erythropoietin (EPO) used for the treatment of kidney disease-related anemia. Shire will gain the European rights and is well placed to leverage its existing Fosrenol® sales force in Europe to help Dynepo gain market share.
	Genzyme 1st-Qtr Profit Jumps 41 Percent Sales of the company's kidney disease drug Renagel, rose 19 percent to $99.4 million. (Reuters)
	United States Spends More on Health Care Than Other Nations But Receives Less, Opinion Piece Says News summary from Kaiser Network.
	MedPAC Meeting on April 21st on Improving Outpatient Dialysis Payment Policy Meeting Brief is 1-page pdf fille. RenalWEB news summary of last MedPAC meeting.
	USA Today Examines Medicare's Decision-Making Process for Which Services To Cover News summary from Kaiser Network.
	AFL-CIO Targets 'Excessive' CEO Pay (Los Angeles Times) The labor group cites six companies, including Amgen and Sempra, on compensation plans. AFL/CIO press release on the newly launched Executive Paywatch web site.
	Medical Journal Editors Condemn Ghostwriting Press release from Indiana University via EurekAlert.
	Researcher Sheds Light on Ghostwriting in Medical Journals Press release from Georgetown University Medical Center via EurekAlert. "The pharmaceutical industry relies on ghost-written publications in peer-reviewed journals as part of their marketing plans," said Adriane Fugh-Berman.
	Say No to the Free Lunch Editorial from British Medical Journal. The power of drug companies to buy influence over every key group in health care—doctors, charities, patient groups, journalists, politicians—has clearly shocked a UK parliamentary committee. It should shock us all.
	Statistics on Disease Prevalence Often Inflated Who's pushing the high numbers? Skeptical bio-statisticians blame drug companies and reporters for much of the hype. (Knight Ridder)
	New Testing for Aranesp® Amgen plans for more uses. (DailyNews.com)
	Industry of Influence Nets Almost $13 Billion Shadowy lobbyists ignore rules and exploit connections. Special Report from The Center for Public Integrity.
	Health Care Industry Reported Most in Lobbyist Spending By MARC LEVY, Associated Press Writer, The Associated Press
	Corporations Make Donations Without Whole Explanation Los Angeles Business Journal. Last year, Amgen arranged a partnership with the Public Broadcasting System in which the Amgen-controlled entity donated $1 million to be a sponsor of an upcoming four-part series on the health care system.
	Fresenius Medical Gets Subpoena From U.S. Gov't Fresenius Medical Care AG received a subpoena from U.S. authorities conducting a civil and criminal probe into its relationships with physicians. (Bloomberg) Press release from the FMC web site.
	Leading Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies Exposed to New US Price Controls in Medicare Part B Article from dBusinessNews.com.
	Medicare Pressure To Hit Drugmaker Revenue Reuters article via Yahoo.
	Monroe County (NY) Files Federal Suit Against 77 Drug Companies News article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
	Investing Returns That Defy the Imagination The Motley Fool

March 2005

	Doctor Who Exposed Dialysis-Related Medicare Fraud Will Get $56 Million Dr. Steven J. Bander will get $56M for revealing Medicare fraud at Gambro Healthcare U.S.A. (STLtoday.com)
	Drugmakers Developing Once-a-Month Medications Article from USA Today. Amgen is studying monthly dosing of its red blood cell booster, Aranesp, used by people with anemia caused by kidney disease. The drug is used every other week. Making a once-a-month pill costs the same for the manufacturer, so margins can be higher.
	Film Exposes Pharmaceutical Industry Secrets The plot of "Side Effects" is a fictionalized account of a former drug sales representative turned film writer/director. AP article via BusinessWeek.
	The Times of India: History of Corporate Medicine Medical science pursues a single mandate called 'outcomes'. Corporate pursuits would predominantly settle for the all appeasing term 'incomes'.
	Dan Schreiner To Be Medicare’s First Ombudsman As the ombudsman, Schreiner will be the single point of contact within CMS to oversee all beneficiary concerns. He will focus on appeals, complaints, grievances and requests for assistance.
	Trustees See a Gloomy Future for Social Security, Medicare Article from the Houston Chronicle.
	Economist Special Report Examines U.S. Prescription Drug Industry News summary from Kaiser Network.
	Senate Rejects Medicare Drug Price Negotiation A plan to allow the government to negotiate Medicare drug prices with manufacturers was narrowly defeated in the U.S. Senate on Thursday. (Reuters)
	Indian Passage of Patent Law Slammed AP via Yahoo News. International aid groups criticized India's passage on Wednesday of a new patent law ending the decades-old practice of allowing domestic drug companies to make low-cost copies of expensive Western medicines, saying millions of poor people across the world will be affected.
	Amgen, Inc. Finanicals EDGAR Online Financials. Notice that Amgen spent over $2.5 billion on "selling general and administrative" last year, which was 25% more than for research development. Where does much of the income that supports this spending come from? Hmmm.
	Medicare Part B Drugs Average Sales Price (ASP) Information Resource CMS announces the April 2005 ASP Pricing File and ASP NOC Pricing File and the revised January 2005 ASP Pricing File. The April 2005 and new January 2005 ASP drug pricing files contain three decimal places in the currency fields. The third decimal place is used for ASP based payments.
	MedPAC March 11 Meeting Transcript RenalWEB news summary of the latest Medicare Payment Advisory Commission meeting transcript. 28-page excerpt on "Improving Outpatient Dialysis Payment Policy".
	Medicare Reform May Cause Sales 'Blips' For Amgen Forbes.com
	Portfolios of US Giants Heavily Exposed to Medicare Reforms Article from PharmaLive.
	Writer with PKD Makes Hypothetical Address To Congress Emily's Journey column from DailyBulletin.com.
	Rx for Medicare Opinion piece from The Boston Globe.
	Poll Backs Research on Stem Cells Feature story from The Boston Globe.
	Biotech: The Death Of A Dream Read the first paragraph !!!
	Amgen Says CEO's Pay Rose 36 Percent Compensation information appears in the fifth story in this overview column from the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Pre-March 2005

	Illinois Attorney General's Office Files Lawsuit Against Drug Companies News summary from Kaiser Network. Additional article from The Chicago Tribune (registration required).
	Medicare Funding Worse off than Social Security If ailing U.S. benefit programs got help according to the size or urgency of their needs, Social Security wouldn't be first in line. The rising costs of Medicare and Medicaid are increasingly a concern for states. Knight Ridder article via The Miami Herald.
	Group of Senators Calls for Medicare To Negotiate Medication Prices With Drug Companies News summary from Kaiser Network.
	Patton Boggs Tops K St. Money League (Washington Lobbyists) (The Hill) In January, former senator John Breaux joined the Patton Boggs lobbying firm, which has the same Washington, DC address as Kidney Care Partners.
	Amgen Warns of Pressure on Sales Article from Financial Times. "Amgen is worried that changes in Medicare's re-imbursement programme will make its top-sellers, Aranesp and Epogen, unaffordable for many patients." (Editor's Note: With their gross margins, Amgen could reduce the price of Epogen® by 50% and still make a healthy profit. See this article from Motley Fool in 1999. At that time, Amgen had only two products and had a gross profit margin of 88%. (Drugs that sold for $100 cost $12 to produce). Amgen then raised Epogen prices in 2000, 2001, and 2002.)
	As Healthcare Progresses, So Does the Cost Article from The Boston Globe. "We need to think about healthcare the way we think about other services. In other words, we need to figure out what we are getting for our money."
	Sen. Dayton Introduces Proposal To Change Medicare Law, Allow Federal Government To Negotiate Drug Prices News summary from Kaiser Network.
	GAO Says Medicare and Medicaid Continue To Be High-Risk Federal Programs Due to Poor Management and Lax Payment Oversight The government’s non-partisan watchdog agency Tuesday issued its biennial list of the most wasteful, mismanaged, or trouble-prone federal programs (Journal Register News Service via Bristol Press). "For example, in a 2003 study of end-stage renal dialysis facilities, GAO found that significant numbers of patients received inadequate dialysis or anemia care." Page 86 of the 95-page pdf file.
	Center for Medicare Advocacy's Famous Fish T-Shirt Center For Medicare Advocacy web site.
	Another Way To Run a Drug Company - Profile of Novartis Chief Daniel Vasella The 51-year-old medical doctor is acutely aware of both his powers and his responsibilities. At Novartis, (the old ways of business) have been discarded in favour of strict and transparent corporate governance rules that invite scrutiny from the outside. (BBC)
	Patent Leathering Article comments on Amgen patents in UK courts.
	Daughter of Capitation We need to invent a new reimbursement system, aimed at chronic care, that rewards efficiencies and outcomes and encourages coordination. (H&HN)
	Government Officials Vow To Do More This Year To Rein in Expenditures on Care Article from American Medical News.
	$130 Billion Dollar Windfall For Bush Health Care Cronies Opinion piece from Scoop Media.
	Amgen Hires Lobbying Firm of Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti Story from The NY Times.
	Alston & Bird and the Renal Leadership Council Story from The Washington Post. The Renal Leadership Council Executive Director Marilyn Yager is based out of the Washington, DC lobbying firm Alston & Bird.
	Democracy on Drugs The Medicare/Prescription Drug Bill: A Study in How Government Shouldn’t Work. 8-page pdf file. Common Cause report.
	Alliance for Taxpayer Access asks NIH 'Who Really Owns Publicly-Funded Medical Research?'
	Report from Public Citizen: The Medicare Drug War Drug companies and HMOs led an army of nearly 1,000 lobbyists to promote misguided legislation and increase profits. 39-page pdf file.
	Former Senator Breaux Joins the Patton Boggs Lobbying Firm Patton Boggs has the same Washington, DC address as Kidney Care Partners.
	MedPAC January 12 Meeting Brief One page pdf file from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. The title of the brief is "Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments for outpatient dialysis services".
	Lowering Health Care Costs a Top Priority for Americans, Survey Finds
	Switch Raises Issues of Loyalty Former U.S. Representative Billy Tauzin is now president of the primary industry group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

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