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Guess How Much Big Pharma Paid in U.S. Taxes on $110 Billion of Profit in 2022
Contrary to the myth, Americans pay quite a lot of taxes. In 2022, for instance, employees paid an average tax rate of 24.8%, or 0.2% more than in comparable countries. U.S. federal taxes on individual income can be as high as 37%.
The same isn’t true for corporations, however. They all pay a flat federal tax rate of 21%, regardless of their profit — a change introduced in 2017 as part of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s corporate tax cuts. Previously they had brackets, too, up to 35%.
Yet companies often get away with paying much less. For example, eight big pharma players — AbbVie, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Gilead, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Pfizer — paid just above 2% in U.S. taxes on a combined $110 billion in profits for 2022.
The tax system is designed in a way that makes it easy to exploit, and pharmaceutical companies don’t miss their chances. In 2022, for instance, Setser noted in his testimony, AbbVie declared losses of nearly $5 billion in the U.S. — and $20 billion in profits internationally. The company has reported losses in the U.S. every year since 2013, despite the fact that it makes most of its profits there, thanks to its blockbuster arthritis drug Humira.
Recalled Gerber Baby Formula Was Sent to U.S. Retailers After Recall Began, Wholesaler Says
An infant formula recalled over potential bacteria contamination was distributed to retailers across eight states after the initial recall notice, according to a release published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week.
In March, Perrigo Co. issued a voluntary recall of certain lots of its Gerber Good Start SoothePro Powder Infant Formula “out of an abundance of caution” due to the possible presence of Cronobacter sakazakii, a germ that can cause serious or deadly infections in infants.
The recall impacted Gerber Good Start formula manufactured between Jan. 2 and Jan. 18 at Perrigo’s Eau Claire, Wisconsin, facility. The recalled formula was sold in three different sizes at retailers nationwide, according to a March 17 recall notice.
Cronobacter sakazakii was the same germ that sparked Abbott Nutrition’s recall following a nationwide shortage of powdered infant formula last year. According to the FDA and CDC, Cronobacter sakazakii is found naturally in the environment and is “particularly good” at surviving in dry foods like infant formula — which can get contaminated at home or in processing facilities.
Soft Contact Lenses May Contain Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals,’ Research Finds
Many types of soft contact lenses available in the U.S. could contain toxic “forever chemicals,” new research has found. All 18 sets of soft contacts evaluated in a recent consumer study came back with various levels of organic fluorine — an indicator for the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
While these compounds have been used for decades due to their water- and stain-resistant properties, PFAS are also linked to a variety of illnesses, such as kidney cancer, thyroid disease and testicular cancer.
“The presumption that these organic fluorine levels measured in contact lenses are safe is laughable,” Pete Myers, chief scientist of Environmental Health Sciences, said in a statement.
“We know enough about PFAS chemicals to guess and fear that fluoropolymers in human cells or in the environment are anything but a pretty safety picture,” Terrence Collins, director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Institute for Green Sciences, said in a statement. “I advise that such contact lenses be rigorously avoided,” Collins added.
Nevada Secures $152 Million Opioid Settlement With Pharmacy Chain CVS
Nevada and pharmacy chain CVS have reached a nearly $152 million settlement to be paid over the next decade to end a lawsuit over opioid claims, state Attorney General Aaron Ford announced Tuesday.
According to an Associated Press analysis, the settlement is one of the 10 largest between a single state and a single company over opioid claims. It also puts the total money Nevada expects to receive from opioid litigation settlements since 2020 at $606 million, according to Ford’s office. It marks the largest sum the state has brought in opioid-related litigation by itself.
CVS was one of a number of companies that the state sued in the case filed in June 2019. A lawsuit against one company — Teva Pharmaceuticals — remains to be settled, and Ford said the state is preparing to go to trial in August.
Drugmakers, pharmacies, wholesalers and other companies have agreed to settlements of lawsuits over the opioid crisis nationwide totaling more than $50 billion. Much of the money is to be used to deal with an overdose crisis that is linked to more than 100,000 deaths a year in the U.S.
U.S. Challenge to Amgen Deal Threatens Big Pharma Business Model
U.S. trade regulators’ surprise attempt to block a pending drug industry merger is creating alarm that the government will upend a successful business model in the industry.
Big, rich drugmakers often buy smaller companies or their drugs, using their heft to bring the medicines to lucrative markets. On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit to stop Amgen Inc. from buying Horizon Therapeutics Plc for $27.8 billion, what would be the company’s largest acquisition, citing the potential for Amgen to pressure buyers to pay high prices for Horizon’s drugs.
U.S. Approves Emergency Use of Bird Flu Vaccine to Save California Condors
U.S. officials on Tuesday announced the emergency use of a bird flu vaccine to protect the California condor, a critically endangered and magnificent animal that has already bounced back once from the brink of extinction.
After finding a California condor dead from highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, in March, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sought help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Since then, at least 13 condors with bird flu have died, USDA said in a press release.
Before condors are vaccinated, the wildlife service will conduct a pilot safety study starting this month on North American vultures, marking the first time the vaccine has been tested on wild birds in the United States, said Joanna Gilkeson, a wildlife service spokesperson.
EU, United States Launch Joint Health Task Force
The European Union and the United States have launched a new joint health task force to cooperate on cancer, global health threats and related supply chains and infrastructure, officials told a press conference on Wednesday.
The task force was set up on the heels of a cooperation agreement signed in June last year to tackle health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic.
The EU and the U.S. said they are seeking to establish “durable global mechanisms” to handle health threats including avian flu, Marburg disease, antimicrobial resistance as well as post-COVID-19 conditions.
Moderna Hits Back at Alnylam’s ‘Baseless’ Patent Infringement Claims
The U.S. COVID-19 health emergency might be over, but vaccine-related lawsuits are moving forward in full force. After Alnylam levied patent infringement claims against Moderna last year, the mRNA specialist is hitting back. In a pair of countersuits, Moderna claims Alnylam “baselessly seeks to profit” from Moderna’s inventions.
Alnylam first sued Moderna in March 2022, claiming patent infringement on its so-called ‘933 patent. The patent covers delivery technology that Alnylam says is infringed by Moderna’s popular vaccine Spikevax.
Alnylam later claimed violations on another patent that it received in July. The company did not seek to stop sales of the lucrative mRNA vaccine but instead requested damages and royalties.
But Moderna isn’t having it. “Alnylam played no role in Moderna’s significant accomplishments,” the company said in a pair of countersuits filed last week.
