Pharma

A comment on the FDA perspective

September 11, 2005

A reader writes a challenging comment – which includes this statement: Dr. Avorn suffers from an aversion to letting patients and their physicians decide how their medications should be prescribed I disagree greatly with that asssessment. As I read the entire article, I believe that Dr. Avorn wants stricter standards for drugs which have less [...]

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Reconsidering the FDA

September 10, 2005

Jerry Avorn is one of the most important researchers of pharmaceuticals, their appropriate use and how to influence that use. He clearly understands the FDA, drug marketing and the problems of drug side effects. This weeks’ NEJM features a perspective which he wrote on the FDA. This perspective is available without subscription – and is [...]

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Standard pricing

August 27, 2005

I have previously written that I would like standard national pricing of drugs. Publish the wholesale prices for each drug – and then free markets could work. Free markets do not work, because the companies charge everyone something different. This example appears most egregious – California Accuses Drug Companies of Fraud The suit originally arose [...]

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An interesting perspective on the Vioxx damage award

August 24, 2005

Vioxx-type danger and legal frivolity Last week, a Texas jury found Merck was liable for the death of a man, Robert Ernst, who took Vioxx, the company’s painkiller. While the company will appeal an award of over $250 million to the Ernst widow, claiming that the jury did not find that Vioxx caused his death, [...]

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Drug prices increasing – duh!

August 17, 2005

Survey: Brand name drug prices rising The analysis by the nation’s largest lobbying group for the elderly, AARP, measured the prices drug manufacturers charge wholesale distributors for 195 medicines many elderly patients use, including those to treat high cholesterol, high blood pressure, arthritis pain and osteoporosis. Wholesalers then distribute medicines to pharmacies, who set their [...]

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RW takes a contrary view on pharmaceutical detailing

August 1, 2005

Detailing, samples, prescribing, and outcomes I don’t rely on drug reps or promotional material to keep current, nor should anyone. There’s no need. Present day information technology makes it unnecessary. We can easily get good quality unbiased information at the point of care. However, a sweeping prohibition against drug reps, samples and industry supported CME [...]

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The nesiritide story

July 15, 2005

I wrote about this drug a couple of months ago – Natrecor – an interesting controversy. One of the main parties to that controversy, Eric Topol (a very well known cardiologist) has a “perspective” piece in yesterday’s NEJM. My friend, Roy Poses, has summarized the article and given the references, so rather than duplicating his [...]

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Compulsive gambling as a side effect of a Parkinson’s drug

July 14, 2005

WOW! This is a new one for me. Study Links Parkinson’s Drug to Gambling oe Neglia was a retired government intelligence worker with Parkinson’s disease when he suddenly developed what he calls a gambling habit from hell. After losing thousands of dollars playing slot machines near his California home several times a day for nearly [...]

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Another company in trouble

July 6, 2005

Senators Ask Drug Giant to Explain Grants to Doctors The Senate Finance Committee yesterday began an inquiry into whether Johnson & Johnson used educational grants to promote the pediatric use of its former heartburn medication, Propulsid, even as internal company concerns mounted during the 1990′s about the drug’s safety in some children. The inquiry follows [...]

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AMA joins fight on TV drug ads

June 22, 2005

A.M.A. to Study Effect of Marketing Drugs to Consumers ADD another voice to the list of groups questioning how drugs are pitched to consumers. The American Medical Association, the nation’s largest organization of physicians, agreed yesterday to study whether consumer drug advertising leads to unnecessary prescriptions, potentially harming patients and driving up health costs. The [...]

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