| (AFX UK Focus) 2007-01-29 12:30 GMT: Schering-Plough 4Q profit up 75 percent
KENILWORTH, N.J. (AFX) - Drug maker Schering-Plough Corp. said Monday its fourth-quarter profit surged 75 percent as strong sales of its Remicade and Nasonex treatments helped offset rising costs. Net income after paying preferred dividends totaled $182 million, or 12 cents per share, up from $104 million, or 7 cents per share, a year ago. The latest quarter includes a charge of 4 cents per share to streamline the company's manufacturing operations and a charge of a penny per share to license an over-the-counter heartburn treatment. Excluding items, the company posted profit of 17 cents per share, in line with Wall Street's consensus estimate, according to a Thomson Financial poll. Sales grew 14 percent to $2.65 billion from $2.32 billion a year ago, beating analysts' forecast of $2.53 billion.
Over-the counter heartburn drug could save consumers thousands
The over-the-counter drug omeprazole (Prilosec OTC) is just as effective in easing heartburn and acid reflux as costlier prescription medicines--and could save consumers up to $2,000 a year, according to an updated report from Consumer Reports' Best Buy Drugs initiative.
Prilosec OTC and prescription versions of similar drugs, such as lansoprazole (Prevacid) and esomeprazole (Nexium), belong to a class of drugs called proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs). They are among the most widely prescribed drugs in the country, and manufacturers have put a great deal of marketing muscle into steering consumers to their brands. Nexium, for example, was the second-most advertised drug in 2005, with a $205 million direct-to-consumer ad campaign.
But according to the Consumer Reports' Best Buy Drugs report, none of the PPIs are significantly more effective than the others, with the only real difference being price.
Anita Creamer: She wasn't too fit to face heart disease
Janie Daigle already knew the statistics. Before joining the state Department of Justice as an attorney, she worked in the pharmaceutical industry. Besides that, she served for several years in the mid-1990s on the local American Heart Association board. So she knew that cardiac disease is the leading cause of death for American women, killing five times as many women as breast cancer does each year, and that 8 million women in this country live with heart problems. But she was in great shape, a longtime runner who'd just earned her black belt in tae kwon do. .
Can acupuncture help? I gave it a try
Not exactly the words you want to hear from the examination bed, but this was my life Wednesday on the Badie Tour. I stopped by Dragon Acupuncture & Herb in Duluth at the invitation of Jessica Lee, a licensed acupuncturist. We met a year or so ago at Donnie's Country Cookin,' a pretty good restaurant off Steve Reynolds Boulevard. Her brother and sister-in-law run it. Lee had told me she was a licensed acupuncturist, and that one day, she'd open her own place. Well, she has. So I paid a visit. She gave me a cursory look-over as soon as I stepped inside Suite 106 - the way I walked, my posture, my skin tone and eyes. For the physical exam, she checked my pulse, my eyes, and squeezed my extremities. By applying pressure to acupuncture points in my left leg, she correctly diagnosed that my right shoulder is a recurring source of pain.
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