Current Events and Their Impact

          When people think about the Pharmaceutical industry and current events the first thing that comes to mind is usually negative. Things like recalls for drugs that have been found to have dangerous side effects, or a shortage in flu shots and medicines. Contrary to popular belief, there are numerous positive advances in medicine being made everyday. Unfortunately the negative side of the industry is more news worthy than the positive and therefore more people see the bad side of the pharmaceutical industry. 
          Recently some positive news has come out of Europe about a blood thinner produced by the Pharmaceutical company, Bayer AG. The company applied to have it's drug, Xarelto be available to a wider range of patients, including those who are at higher risk to have a stroke, those who have "deep vein thrombosis, or DVT, and for the prevention of recurrent DVT and pulmonary embolism", according to an article by Natascha Divac. This news came shortly after a United States panel recommended approval for the drug, causing Bayer stock to rise. According to the article, "Blood thinners in the stroke-prevention indication are estimated to have a market potential of around $14 billion by 2017, with an estimated 4.5 billion patients affected by the problem world-wide". The Pharmaceutical industry is not generally known for making large contributions to stabilize and economy, but advances like this certainly can help. 
          It's not all good news in Europe though. European drug officials limited the use of a popular heart-rhythm drug Multaq. Officials cited safety reasons for the increased regulation of the drug. Just like with the drug produced by Bayer AG, the United States is expected to make similar limitations with the heart-rhythm drug in the coming months. Multaq saw a decrease in sales in 2011, making only 179 million in revenue. This is especially disappointing as Multaq was forecasted to be a billion-dollar-a-year drug. 
           It's quite clear that the Pharmaceutical industry has its share of good and bad stories, although the bad ones are usually the ones that get the most exposure. 


                 -Gabriel Resstack





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