{"id":672802,"date":"2026-11-02T16:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T16:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/672802\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T16:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T16:14:09","slug":"pharmalittle-drugmaker-payments-to-russian-middlemen-alleged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/672802\/","title":{"rendered":"Pharmalittle: Drugmaker payments to Russian middlemen alleged"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was relaxing and refreshing, because that oh-so familiar routine of Zoom meetings, deadlines, and bustling about has predictably returned. Not surprising, though, is it? To cope, we are pursuing the usual ritual of firing up the coffee kettle and brewing cups of stimulation. Our choice today is cinnamon mocha. Yummy. Meanwhile, here is the latest menu of tidbits to help you along on your journey. We hope today is productive and meaningful, and do stay in touch. \u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four big drugmakers paid tens of millions of dollars to proxies to supply lifesaving drugs to Russian government entities as part of a corrupt system that helped keep prices high and limit access for cancer patients and others with serious ailments, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.icij.org\/investigations\/cancer-calculus\/pharma-giants-pay-millions-to-russian-distributor-entangled-in-corruption-allegations-to-win-cancer-drug-business\/\" id=\"https:\/\/www.icij.org\/investigations\/cancer-calculus\/pharma-giants-pay-millions-to-russian-distributor-entangled-in-corruption-allegations-to-win-cancer-drug-business\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists<\/a> reports. Whistleblower reports allege that between 2020 and 2023, Merck (known as MSD outside of the U.S.), Eli Lilly, Novartis, and AstraZeneca paid \u201cexcessive\u201d bonuses to a company called R-Pharm and other intermediaries in Russia, even as the middlemen participated in dubious bidding practices or faced scrutiny for alleged bid rigging or anticompetitive conduct.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Investors and doctors are intensely following an experimental therapy positioned to rival Dupixent, the top-selling drug in immunology, and results from a key study are fast approaching, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2026\/11\/02\/kymera-therapeutics-trial-results-eczema-dupixent-rival\/\" id=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2026\/11\/02\/kymera-therapeutics-trial-results-eczema-dupixent-rival\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">STAT<\/a> tells us. Kymera Therapeutics plans to announce data from a mid-stage clinical trial of its lead asset, KT-621, in eczema before the end of the year. Analysts at the Jefferies investment bank have called the pending results \u201cone of the most impactful readouts this year\u201d for immunology and inflammation disorders. Why? Success, or failure, could have major consequences for Kymera, its growing list of competitors, and millions of people in the U.S. who live with eczema.<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-text\">STAT+ Exclusive Story<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-login\">Already have an account? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/login\/\" data-stat-login=\"\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker login cta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Log in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"restricted-content-breaker-bg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/stat-plus-breaker-bg.png\" alt=\"STAT+\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"stat-plus-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/stat\/images\/stat-plus-logo-white.svg\" alt=\"STAT+\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tThis article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tUnlock this article \u2014 plus in-depth analysis, newsletters, premium events, and news alerts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-content-breaker-wrapper-cta mobile\">Already have an account? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/login\/\" data-stat-login=\"\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker login cta mobile\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Log in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tIndividual plans<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tGroup plans<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" class=\"stat-button view-all\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker view all plans\" aria-label=\"View All Plans\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">View All Plans<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-content-text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTo read the rest of this story subscribe to STAT+.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" class=\"stat-button restricted-button\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker subscribe cta 1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was relaxing and refreshing,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[103,61,60,371,79958,2369],"class_list":["post-672802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-medication","tag-pharmalittle","tag-stat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}