Pharma

TANSTAAFL

July 28, 2006

Probably about half the readers have seen these initials before, but less of you know where it originated. Robert Heinlein created this shorthand in his 1966 novel – The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Many have adopted this acronym for regular usage. The NY Times has an important article about pharmaceutical companies and “free lunch” [...]

Read the full article →

2 bits, 4 bits

November 28, 2005

Gimme an Rx! Cheerleaders Pep Up Drug Sales As an ambitious college student, Cassie Napier had all the right moves – flips, tumbles, an ever-flashing America’s sweetheart smile – to prepare for her job after graduation. She became a drug saleswoman. At game time, Onya cheers on the Washington Redskins. But she saves some of [...]

Read the full article →

A nice story – the war on TB

November 25, 2005

Health Officials Hail Battle Against TB Health officials hailed a global partnership against tuberculosis on Thursday that is providing developing countries with $70 million in investments and technology to help them produce low-cost drugs to fight the disease. The project, led by the World Health Organization, pools the resources of drug companies, universities and international [...]

Read the full article →

Decreasing drug sales

November 14, 2005

Big Drug Makers See Sales Decline With Their Image The drug industry’s image problems are beginning to hurt pharmaceutical companies where it matters most – at the bottom line. A year after Merck’s withdrawal of its arthritis medicine Vioxx led to an industrywide credibility crisis, the Food and Drug Administration is blocking new medicines that [...]

Read the full article →

Too many scripts

October 27, 2005

Why are we taking so many pills? That might not matter if there were no downside. But even as direct-to-consumer advertising has drummed up unprecedented demand for drugs, two defenders of America’s health – physicians and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – have let down their guard. The result, he says, has been tragic, [...]

Read the full article →

Some questions and comments

October 18, 2005

1. I was asked if there is an existing generic statin. Lovastatin is available as a generic. It does seem to have inferior properties to simvastatin and atorvastatin. 2. My commenting friend – Chlorthalidone man – comments: Don’t forget the “me too” drugs like ARBs. They work essentially the same way. Of course even Medrants [...]

Read the full article →

Switching to simvastatin

October 18, 2005

Medication costs are one problem (amongst many) which plague our current health care system. We (physicians) often look forward to the time when medications lost patent protection. Simvastatin (Zocor) loses protection very soon – Lipitor or Generic? Billion-Dollar Battle Looms Starting next June, insurers and government agencies will have the opportunity to save billions of [...]

Read the full article →

Reducing drug costs

October 10, 2005

Doctors can find cheap or free drugs for patients (Americal Medical News subscription required) Many physicians are aware that hundreds of public and private programs throughout the U.S. offer free or discounted medications to patients with low incomes. Now several medical organizations and the nation’s drug industry are teaming up to let doctors know that [...]

Read the full article →

Me too drugs

October 9, 2005

Roy Poses, over at Health Care Renewal, has written an outstanding piece on pharmaceutical costs – Most Drug Expenditures for “Me-Too” Drugs. Roy has written a wonderful important piece – please go read it. viagra free viagra buy viagra online generic viagra how does viagra work cheap viagra buy viagra buy viagra online inurl viagra [...]

Read the full article →

pharmaceuticalized American life

September 30, 2005

Tense? Lonely? There’s Promise in a Pill In his hilarious stand-up routine, Chris Rock talks about the ubiquitous television drug commercials that “keep naming symptoms till they get one that” the viewer’s got. Sometimes, he says, the ads don’t even tell you what the pill does: “You see a lady on a horse or a [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries