Markets

The 10 Weirdest Drug Stories of the Month

By Jim Edwards

Updated on: July 1, 2011 / 9:50 AM EDT / MoneyWatch

Bayer employs a man to kills ants ... Pfizer fills chickens with arsenic ... Check out how much GlaxoSmithKline made selling old computers. It all happened in June 2011.

Which came first, the chicken or the arsenic?
Pfizer suspended sales of poultry growth drug 3-Nitro after finding increased levels of arsenic in roosters.
The Greeks aren't paying their drug bills
Mired in debt, the government has ceased writing checks: "The problem has reached a critical point in the current year, as in the first quarter of 2011, hospitals and pharmacies purchased medicinal products worth about EUR70 million, of which only EUR332 have been paid! That is not a typing error," a billing memo said.
AIDS drugs can cause premature aging
Generic HIV drugs in Africa are causing premature aging and age-related illnesses such as heart disease and dementia.
Eli Lilly survey finds Asian wives do not want their husbands using ED drugs
Of 466 women, nearly 60 percent will not support their partners in using erectile- dysfunction drugs such as Viagra or Cialis -- even though nine out of 10 consider sex to be important to a relationship.
Seriously, J&J, again with the smelly wooden pallets?
The good news is that there have been so many Tylenol recalls they're no longer making news!
Pharma sales rep allegedly drugged daughter while he killed his wife
Police found evidence of two medications known to cause drowsiness -â€" adult-strength Tylenol cold medicine and a prescription drug called Pancof-PD â€"- on a hutch in Jason Young's daughter's bedroom. Pancof-PD is made by the same company that employed Young.
Ants stand no chance at Bayer
Even if they're discovered at 4.45 p.m. on a Friday, technical service lead Joe Barile will stay to kill them.
Glaxo made $1.8 million selling old computers
GSK recovered the old machines over a two-year housecleaning period that involved more than a half-dozen sites housing 20,000-plus workers.
Pharma analyst got story right -- so Bank of America got rid of him
David Maris realized in 2003 that Biovail's explanation for missing its quarterly estimates -- a truck crashed with lots of product in it -- was garbage.
Lunbeck tells prisons it is not safe to use pentobarbital for lethal injections
Well, duh! The company is also controlling distribution of the drug so that it will not be used in executions. Normally it's used for epilepsy.

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