The
Pharmaceutical "Business with Disease"
http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/THE_FOUNDATION/News/2004/pharmaceutical_business/index.htm
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State Files Class Action Suit Against Vioxx
A class action lawsuit has been filed in
>> Read article at
TheNewMexicoChannel.com
October8, 2004
Codex is coming and the pharma cartel starts to
spin the news:
Vitamins Raise Deaths Risk From Cancer?
On Friday, October 1, 2004 The Guardian newspaper (UK) along with many other
venerable newspapers and media sources throughout the world prominently
featured reports of a study to be published the following day in the well known
medical journal The Lancet. The Guardian report carried the disturbing
headline.
>> more...
October 8, 2004
Arthritis Drug Has Blood Cancer Risk
Johnson & Johnson is warning doctors that patients taking its rheumatoid
arthritis drug Remicade may have a higher risk of
lymphoma, a blood cancer, the company said on Friday. The warning will be added to the drug's package insert and means the
drug's safety profile will more closely match that of rival drugs in the same
class. The label will warn of a three-fold increase in the risk for rheumatoid
arthritis patients taking the drug compared with the normal population, said
Michael Parks, a spokesman for Centocor,
the J&J unit that markets Remicade.
>> Read article at Reuters.com
Time for a 'regime change' in attitude about medicine
Poof!
Half of our flu vaccine is gone, because the British government suspended the
license of a major manufacturer, Chiron, over a contamination problem. Is this
a public health nightmare, as the "authorities" are crying, or an
opportunity to stop and think?
>> Read article at SFgate.com
October 8, 2004
Drug giants 'ignored dangers of painkiller in pursuit of profits'
The multibillion-pound global pharmaceutical industry was accused yesterday of
ignoring safety risks in pursuit of profits after the largest withdrawal of a
prescription drug in history. Doctors on both sides of the
>> Read article at Netdoctor.co.uk
October 8, 2004
Bill Aims to Force Drug Makers to Register Trials of Products
Democratic lawmakers in Congress introduced legislation yesterday that would
require makers of drugs and medical devices to register clinical trials of
their products in a public database when they start and report the test results
on it. The legislation would require trial registration before a clinical trial
involving patients could be conducted at an academic
institution or a private clinic.
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
Head injury drug increases deaths
A head injury treatment used for the past 30 years
could be killing rather than saving patients, experts warn. A Medical Research
Council (MRC) study of more than 10,000 patients
found giving anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce brain swelling increased the
risk of death. The anti-inflammatory drugs, called corticosteroids, increased
the risk of death by about 20% within two weeks of patients with head injuries being admitted to hospital and the trial was stopped early
as a result.
>> Read article at News.BBC.co.uk
Vioxx News
Kenneth B. Moll & Associates, a
>> Read article at LegalNewsWatch.com
Diabetes 'catastrophe' means twice as many will suffer from it by 2010
>> Read article at Netdoctor.co.uk
New analysis of HRT
risks
Taking combined HRT can sharply increase the risk of
developing a blood clot for some women, according to new research, that adds to
the other risks associated with the therapy. HRT has also been connected in recent research to an elevated
risk of breast cancer and heart attack, prompting many women to seek herbal or
other alternatives to ease menopausal symptoms.
>> Read article at
NutraIngredients.com
October 6, 2004
Kerry camp shifts focus to 'imploding' US health system
A study released by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds insurance premiums in
the United States have soared by 59 per cent since 2000. On average, a family
health plan costs workers and their employers $10,000 (£6,000) a year.
Moreover, those without any health coverage increased by 3.2 per cent in 2003
compared to the year before to reach no less than 45 million Americans. Both
John Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards, are seizing on those figures and
other health care-related statistics - notably the soaring cost of prescription
drugs - to indict the Bush administration for failing to take action.
>> Read article at
Independent.co.uk
October 6, 2004
FDA Study Estimates Vioxx
Linked to 27,000 Heart Attacks
A study led by a Food and Drug Administration safety official projects that the
widespread use of Vioxx may have led to more than
27,000 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths before the drug's abrupt
withdrawal last week by Merck & Co., Wednesday's Wall Street Journal
reported. The number is in comparison to how many similar incidents would have
occurred had the same patients been taking Celebrex,
the Pfizer Inc. drug that competed with Merck's blockbuster arthritis
treatment. The analysis specifically found that from Vioxx's
approval in 1999, through 2003, an estimated 27,785 heart attacks and sudden
cardiac deaths "would have been avoided" had Celebrex been used instead of Vioxx.
>> Read article at Nadaq.com
October 5, 2004
Merck Faces Class-Action Complaint in Illinois Over Vioxx
Illinois residents have joined a growing line of plaintiffs suing the maker of
arthritis drug Vioxx, after Merck & Co.'s shock
announcement last week that it decided to withdraw its product from the
worldwide market for safety reasons. Attorneys filed a class action complaint
Monday in Cook County Circuit Court that covers the estimated 300,000 people in
>> Read article at Money.IWON.com
Are there problems with FDA safety review process?
Vioxx was the first prescription drug since 2001 to be taken off the market for safety reasons. The problems
with Vioxx raise questions about the FDA’s safety review process and the length of time it took
Merck to pull the drug, observers say. The FDA has
come under intense pressure from the industry and elsewhere
to approve drugs more quickly, despite clinical trials that some say enrol too
few patients and for too short a time for worrisome side effects to surface.
>> Read article at MSNBC.MSN.com
Why Medicare Wants More Drug Studies
The medical profession has a costly, little-known secret: Many treatments don't
work all that well for many -- even most -- people. And
doctors often don't know what are the best therapies for any given disease,
especially when faced with competing classes of drugs for, say, high blood
pressure. As a result, many people aren't getting the
best possible treatment -- and the resulting costs to the health-care system
are estimated to be in the billions.
>> Read article at BusinessWeek.com
Vioxx pulled from market: But is this
reason to celebrate?
The cable news channel I was watching today proclaimed the startling news that
Merck had withdrawn its multi-billion-dollar arthritis drug, Vioxx, from shelves worldwide because the medication had been linked to severe and even fatal heart
complications. The report advised anyone taking Vioxx
to contact their physicians about prescribing alternative medications. The
station then broke immediately to a commercial for Celebrex.
As a physician who has been cautioning patients about the ills of both
medications, I did not feel the urge to dance like the stars of so many
commercials for arthritis remedies. Both Celebrex and
Vioxx are known as COX-2
inhibitors, a sub-class of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS. Older NSAIDS include
ibuprofen, naproxen, indomethacin, and many others, including the prototype
aspirin. In 1998, fatalities due to NSAIDS among
arthritis sufferers rivalled deaths from AIDS.
>> Read article at PRWeb.com
October 3, 2004
New Epidemiologic Study Showed Vitamin D Inadequacy Is Highly Prevalent
Among Women Treated for Osteoporosis in North America
More than half of women currently treated for osteoporosis have suboptimal
levels of vitamin D, according to new research presented today at the American
Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) meeting
in Seattle. More than 10 million people in the
>> Read article at PRNewswire.com
Merck The Subject Of Purported Class Action Suit
Lawyers filed a purported class-action lawsuit against Merck & Co. (MRK), which Thursday recalled its blockbuster arthritis
medication Vioxx, which increases risk of a heart
attack or stroke.
>> Read article at DowJonesNews.com
October 2, 2004
Good Riddance to a Bad Drug
After three years of denying that the arthritis drug Vioxx
could induce heart attacks and strokes, this week Merck bowed to reality: it
withdrew Vioxx from the market. The impact of this
decision is far-reaching, and not only because tens of millions of people have
tried Vioxx. It also highlights the absence of Food
and Drug Administration oversight of the pharmaceutical industry as well as the
lack of comprehensive long-term studies of not only Vioxx
but its entire class of arthritis drugs.
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
Cholesterol lowering guidelines issued in July by the US National Institutes of
Health (NIH) are being challenged by a consumer
organisation that is petitioning the NIH to appoint an independent panel to
review them. The petition, organised by the Center
for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy organisation funded by
subscribers to its newsletter and by individual donors, has asked the NIH to
"create an independent review panel free of conflicts of interest to
review all the data in the five studies that led to [the July] update... If
warranted, [the NIH] should issue revised conclusions."
>> Read article at BMJ.com
Protecting profits
With several successful drugs due to come off-patent soon, pharmaceutical
companies are starting to worry about future revenues. But
changes in EU legislation could offer respite for these firms by granting
tighter controls over generic drugs makers. Pharmaceuticals are big business.
It is the world's most profitable industry: In 2002, (according to author and
former New England Journal of Medicine editor Marcia Angell) the
combined profits of the top ten drugs companies in the Fortune 500 list were
greater than the profits of the 490 other companies in the list combined, at
US$56 billion. But the sources of future earnings are
looking increasingly uncertain.
>> Read article at Lancet.com
Merck Announces Withdrawal of Vioxx Painkiller
Merck & Company announced today that it was immediately pulling its
arthritis and acute pain medication Vioxx from the
worldwide market after data from a clinical trial showed that the drug produced
an increased risk for heart attacks and strokes. Worldwide sales of Vioxx in 2003 amounted to $2.5 billion, the company
statement said and Merck's shares plunged by more than $12 — reducing the
company's market capitalization by about $26 billion.
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
September 29, 2004
European Commission proposes regulation aimed at promoting medicines for
children
The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a regulation on medicines
for children that aims to improve the health of the children of Europe by
ensuring the authorisation of medicines, specifically researched and developed
to meet their therapeutic needs.
>> Read article at
MedicalNewsToday.com
September 29, 2004
Sales reps told not to divulge Paxil data
In a memo last September, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) provided an update on concerns over its Paxil medicine, including study results showing a high
incidence of suicide and hostility, but instructed its sales representatives in
bold letters not to "discuss the contents" with doctors. A Glaxo spokeswoman denied any
attempt to conceal information from doctors but ethics experts questioned the
drug maker's intentions.
>> Read article at NJ.com
Side effects limit Tamoxifen use
Researchers at the
>> Read article at
SouthBendTribune.com
September 27, 2004
NIH seeks consulting ban
Under a proposal announced last week, all employees of the National Institutes
of Health (NIH), including intramural scientists, would be barred from engaging
in paid consulting activities with drug and biotech companies for at least 1
year while the agency reviews its procedures and develops more effective
oversight systems. The proposed ban, disclosed to employees in an E-mail
message last Friday (September 24), will affect more than 5000 scientists,
including several hundred who have existing consulting arrangements in place.
Those scientists will be instructed to cease those
collaborations once the ban is implemented, NIH officials said.
>> Read article at
BioMedCentral.com
September 24, 2004
Insider Challenges Drug Industry on Imports
A dissident executive from Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, denounced
the pharmaceutical industry on Thursday for resisting legislation that would
allow imports of low-cost prescription drugs from Canada and other countries.
His comments gave new life to a flagging effort by members of Congress from
both parties and both houses to pass such legislation this year.
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
The Raid on Medicare
The real cost of the Medicare prescription drug bill is finally emerging: The
drug industry gets more than $100 billion in profits, while seniors and
taxpayers get the tab.
>> Read article at Alternet.org
Antidepressant Study Seen to Back Expert
A top government scientist who concluded last year
that most antidepressants are too dangerous for children because of a suicide risk
wrote in a memo this week that a new study confirms his findings.
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
Seniors getting risky drugs
Medicines deemed hazardous to the elderly are still too often prescribed,
researchers have found.
>> Read article at latimes.com
Heart Ailment Warning on Cancer Drug
The government and Genentech are warning doctors that
Avastin, which is used to
treat colorectal cancer, increases patients' risk of chest pain, strokes, ministrokes, heart attacks and potentially lethal heart
ailments. A Genentech spokeswoman,
Colleen Sweeney, said Friday that heart ailments had killed some patients who
took the drug, but she could not say how many.
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
Wyeth to Appeal $1 Billion Diet Drug
Judgment
Drugmaker Wyeth will appeal
a $1 billion judgment against it over a drug used in the so-called fen-phen diet drug combination, after a
>> Read article at Reuters.com
Starting Young in Treating High Blood Pressure
As blood pressure levels rise among
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
August 9, 2004
Some Elderly Are Given Inappropriate Drugs, Study Says
One in five elderly Americans filled prescriptions for drugs deemed
inappropriate for older patients, a study of 1999 insurance claims said on
Monday.
>> Read article at Reuters.com
August 8, 2004
Prozac 'found in drinking water'
Traces of the antidepressant Prozac can be found in the nation's drinking
water, it has been revealed.
>> Read article at BBCNews.com
City Sues Drug Companies, Claiming Medicaid Fraud
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
Parkinson's Drug Linked to Heart Valve Damage
Parkinson's Drug Linked to Heart Valve Damage
>> Read article at Reuters.com
Pfizer Says Named In Suit Involving Zoloft Marketing
Pfizer Inc. says that it has been named in a lawsuit
alleging the company violated
>> Read article at
DowJonesNewswires.com
Facts & Statistics from the pharmaceutical industry
Some fascinating facts & statistics from the
Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry showing the extent of big pharma's financial activities.
>> Read article at ABPI.org.uk
Autoimmune Drugs Linked to Tuberculosis Cases
Drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases have been
linked to tuberculosis cases in
>> Read article at Reuters.com
>> Read article at Forbes.com
August 4, 2004
Spitzer Asks Drug Maker for Off-Label Use Material
Johnson & Johnson said yesterday that the New York attorney general, Eliot
Spitzer, had asked for information about six of its drugs, including marketing
materials, the results of clinical trials and data on prescriptions for
so-called off-label use. Johnson & Johnson is the third drug company to
come under scrutiny from Mr. Spitzer in recent months over its handling of
clinical trial data and drug marketing practices.
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
Bristol-Myers Squibb to Pay $150 Million in
Settlement
Drug giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. is paying $150 million to settle federal
regulators' charges that it manipulated its inventory of medicines in a
fraudulent scheme to inflate its earnings and meet Wall Street targets, the
Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday. The company agreed to
pay a $100 million civil fine and an additional $50 million to go to a fund for
shareholders in its settlement with the SEC.
>> Read article at Forbes.com
New York to Sue Pharmacy Benefit Company
>> Read article at Reuters.com
August 3, 2004
AIDS Medicines Are Approved
Federal regulators said on Monday that they had approved two AIDS drug
combinations designed to simplify treatment for patients in the United States
and in poor countries - and no doubt to maximize the marketing opportunities.
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
Crestor Side Effect Report Delayed
A drug company illegally delayed reporting side
effects linked to its anti-cholesterol drug Crestor,
a consumer advocate contended Tuesday in urging a Food and Drug Administration
investigation. It's the latest attack on Crestor by the private group Public Citizen, which argues
that Crestor is riskier than its competitors and
should be banned.
>> Read article at APNews.MyWay.com
Hazards of Modern Medicine
Iatrogenic illness -- disease produced as a result of
medical treatment -- is now recognised as a health hazard of global
proportions. MEDLINE (the computerised medical research database of the United
States National Library of Medicine) includes over 7,000 articles, reports, and
scientific research papers since 1966 that show a substantial number of
patients suffer treatment-caused disorders and adverse drug reactions. These
harmful effects, which can be serious and even lethal, are associated with
every facet of modern medicine including drugs, other medical therapies,
diagnostic procedures, and surgery.
>> more...
July 31, 2004
Scandals have eroded US public's confidence in drug industry
Only 13% of Americans believe that pharmaceutical companies are "generally
honest and trustworthy," putting the industry on a par with tobacco, oil,
and managed care companies, a recent Harris Poll survey has found. Public
confidence in drug companies has plunged harder and faster than for any other
industry, the survey indicates.
>> Read article at BMJ.com
First OTC Cholesterol Drug Launched in
In a clear move designed to increase the earning
potential of these drugs,
>> Read article at Reuters.com
In a Shift, Bush Moves to Block Medical Suits
The Bush administration has been going to court to block lawsuits by consumers
who say they have been injured by prescription drugs
and medical devices. The administration contends that consumers cannot recover
damages for such injuries if the products have been approved
by the Food and Drug Administration. The administration said its
position, holding that individual consumers have no right to sue, actually
benefited consumers. The threat of lawsuits, it said, "can harm the public
health".
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
Pfizer Reports China Has Lifted Its Viagra Patent
Regulators in
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
Glaxo, Pressured by Spitzer, Publishes Paxil Data
GlaxoSmithKline Plc, responding to a lawsuit claiming
it suppressed negative data about its antidepressant Paxil,
published results of trials showing the drug is broadly ineffective in children
and adolescents and could increase risks of suicidal behaviour.
>> Read article at Reuters.co.uk
A Large Medicine Maker But Not Competitive
>> Read article at China.Org.cn
President Bush Proposes Spending $15 Million To
Begin New G8 HIV Vaccine Initiative
President Bush proposed that the
>> Read article at
MedicalNewsToday.com
June 15, 2004
Over half of COX-2 patients take aspirin, possibly negating the COX-2 GI
benefits
Findings reported in a study published today in the Archives of Internal
Medicine found that over half of patients within a predominantly retiree
population taking COX-2 anti-inflammatory drugs on a long-term basis were also
taking aspirin therapy for its cardio-protective benefit. Previously published
clinical research has shown that using aspirin along with COX-2 therapies can
negate the gastrointestinal (GI) benefit of using COX-2's, one of the primary
reasons for using these more costly medications.
>> Read article at
MedicalNewsToday.com
June 12, 2004
GlaxoSmithKline faces US lawsuit over
concealment of trial results
The British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is facing a major lawsuit in the United States over
alleged concealment>of negative trial results involving its antidepressant paroxetine(marketed there as Paxil
and in Britain as Seroxat
>> Read article at BMJ.com
Greek authorities probe illegal clinical studies on elderly people
Prosecutors in
>> Read article at BMJ.com
Experts Urge Integrated AIDS Strategy
Mistakes made by industrialized nations in dealing with the AIDS epidemic could be repeated in developing countries unless HIV
prevention efforts are expanded along with treatment, experts warned. In a
report published ahead of the International AIDS Conference in
>> Read article at ABCNews.com
Glaxo climbdown
over Seroxat trials
Battered by accusations of a cover up of clinical data, GlaxoSmithKline
has agreed to release summaries of studies examining the safety and efficacy of
a key anti-depression drug.
>> Read article at ThisIsMoney.com
GlaxoSmithKline warned by FDA over TV ads for Paxil CR drug
GlaxoSmithKline PLC late Thursday was
warned by the US Food and Drug Administration that TV ads for its
anxiety drug Paxil CR are too broad.
>> Read article at III.co.uk
US Health Corps Prepare to Swoop on NHS
The UK government has issued a report which shows that
a
>> Read article at
CorporateWatch.org
May 25, 2004
Aspirin May Lower Risk of Breast Cancer, Report Shows
Aspirin seems to prevent the most common type of breast cancer, tumors stimulated by the hormone estrogen,
which account for 60 to 70 percent of all cases. Women who took aspirin 7 or
more times a week had a 26 percent lower risk of having those tumors develop than women who did not take it, according to
a report being published today in the Journal of the American Medical
Association
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
May 24, 2004
Drug firm threatened us, say MMR families
Families who claim the MMR vaccine has caused
illnesses in their children have accused one of the three drug companies
involved in the case of trying to intimidate them into dropping legal action.
>> Read article at Guardian.co.uk
Whistleblower removed from job for talking to the press
A
whistleblower who uncovered evidence that major drug companies sought to
influence government officials has been removed from his job and placed on
administrative leave. His findings showed that the pharmaceutical company
Janssen had paid honorariums to key state officials who held influence over the
drugs prescribed in state-run prisons and mental hospitals.
>> Read article at BMJ.com
Two more medicines advertisements blocked by
regulator
Promotional material for two anti-hypertensive agents
has been withdrawn after complaints to the
>> Read article at PharmJ.com
May 14, 2004
Pfizer guilty, to pay $430M
Pfizer Inc. will plead guilty to criminal charges and
pay $430 million in fines to settle charges that a company it bought illegally
promoted non-approved uses for a drug. The settlement with the world's largest
pharmaceutical company over Warner-Lambert, which Pfizer bought in 2000,
includes a $240 million criminal fine -- the second-largest
ever imposed in a health-care fraud prosecution.
>> Read article at CincyPost.com
April 16, 2004
FDA Move On Antidepressant Study
Scrutinized
The Food and Drug Administration is coming under scrutiny for its handling of a
staffer's conclusion that there were likely links between some antidepressant
drugs and suicidal tendencies among young people
>> Read article at
DownJonesNews.com
April 16, 2004
Cholesterol Drugs Tied to Birth Defects
Researchers from the U.S. National Institutes of Health found that statin use during the first trimester of pregnancy is
associated with severe central nervous system defects and limb deformities
>> Read article at HealthDay.com
Doctors Without Borders: Why You Can't Trust
Medical Journals Anymore
Should research scientists who have financial stakes in the products they are
writing about be forced to disclose those ties? To which the average person
might reasonably respond, of course they should. But
the more pertinent question is why scientists with financial stakes in the
outcome of scientific studies are allowed anywhere near those studies, much
less reviewing them in elite journals.
>> Read article at
WashingtonMonthly.com
April 7, 2004
Nominal Benefits Seen in Drugs for Alzheimer's Disease
The drugs now available to treat the memory and thinking problems of
Alzheimer's disease have not lived up to the public's high expectations for
them and offer such modest benefits on average that many doctors are unsure
about whether to prescribe them.
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
Eli Lilly Gives Research Foundation $6 Million
Eli Lilly settle out of court with Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in
patent infringement case. The lawsuit contended that work by two of the
foundation's doctors helped in the development of the Lilly drug Xigris to treat blood infections. The foundation wanted an
up-front payment for the development plus a share of Lilly's sales.
>> Read article at WLFI.com
April 6, 2004
FDA kept suicide findings secret
Ten months ago, when concerns arose about a possible link between children
taking antidepressant drugs and suicide attempts, senior officials at the Food
and Drug Administration ordered their leading expert to head up an examination
of the evidence. When the government scientist filed his report last winter,
however, his bosses decided to keep it secret — even though it found that children
who took the drugs were twice as likely to be involved in serious
suicide-related behaviour as those who did not
>> Read article at AJC.com
April 4, 2004
UK firm tried HIV drug on orphans
GlaxoSmithKline embroiled in scandal in which babies
and children were allegedly used as 'laboratory animals'
>> Read article at Guardian.co.uk
Supplement, drug reactions may not pose
serious risk
The growing use of dietary supplements has caused alarm in recent months among
the medical community who fear dangerous interactions with prescription
medicines. But a new study concludes that most potential drug-supplement
interactions are not serious
>> Read article at
Nutraingredients.com
>> Read article at Forbes.com
Antibiotic use linked to breast cancer risk
A
new study has found evidence that antibiotics use is associated with an
increased risk of breast cancer in women. According to the latest findings by
US researchers, women who take antibiotics are at a higher risk of being
diagnosed with breast cancer, and the risk rises depending on the number of
prescriptions taken
>> Read article at
DiscoveryHealth.co.uk
March 04, 2004
U.S. Lawmakers Push for Drug Monitoring Systems
U.S. lawmakers on Thursday
called for better government oversight of legal but potentially addictive
prescription drugs, including painkillers, stimulants and sedatives. Democrats
and Republicans said more monitoring programs are needed to track sought-after
drugs that are easily obtained through prescription forgery, corrupt physicians,
and patients switching from one doctor to another collecting
prescriptions.
>> Read article at Reuters.com
March 04, 2004
Consumer Group Says Ban Cholesterol Drug
A consumer group has asked the U.S. government to ban an AstraZeneca
cholesterol drug approved only months ago, citing reports of dangerous
reactions and one death. The prescription drug, Crestor,
hit the
>> Read article at Reuters.com
February 27, 2004
FDA considers tighter restrictions on drug
Recent restrictions have failed to reduce the number of pregnancies among women
using Accutane , an acne drug that causes serious birth defects — prompting
critics to call Thursday for major government curbs on who can get a
prescription and how. The Food and Drug Administration is asking its scientific
advisers what additional safeguards are needed to battle the birth-defect
problem that Accutane has posed since it first hit the market in 1982
>> Read article at Redding.com
HRT risks 'were known years ago'
Women could have been told about the risks of taking hormone replacement
therapy years ago. Researchers say studies showing HRT
may increase the risk of heart disease were published
as early as 1997. But most were done by drug companies
and were not publicly available. The risk was only formally acknowledged in
2002 when a large
>> Read article at BBCNews.com
More negative effects from HRT
Diminished hearing may be a further side effect of hormone-replacement therapy
(HRT), according to a small pilot study funded by the
US National Institutes of Health. Depending on the measure, HRT
recipients on average did anywhere from 10 to 30 per cent worse on hearing
tests than women who had not received HRT
>> Read article at
Nutraingredients.com
A Debate on Radiation in Breast Cancer
Radiation treatment is being prescribed for more and
more breast cancer patients, including women who would have been told just a
few years ago that they could skip it. The added therapy mostly affects those
women who are treated with mastectomy and chemotherapy, and have fairly good prognoses at what is called Stage 2 cancer. But
cancer experts and doctors are divided over whether these women really need
radiation to improve their chances of survival
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
The human right to health and medicine
The public needs to know the truth about the healthcare system, said Ismail Sukkariyyah , a medical doctor and former member of Parliament. One
area that has been lacking in particular, says Sukkariyyah , speaking a day
after a lecture on “Public Health as a Human Right” by health and human rights
activist Aida Seif El- Dawla
at the
>> Read article at Terra.net.lb
Pharmaceutical industry to lose out
More than R2 billion will be lost in the pharmaceutical
industry if the draft regulations on the Medicine Control Act are implemented.
This is according to some delegates meeting today at a Pharmaceutical Society
of South Africa (PSSA) seminar
>> Read article at SABCNews.com
Bush's AIDS Initiative
In his State of the Union address a year ago, President Bush announced an
ambitious new program to combat AIDS overseas. He pledged to spend $15 billion
over five years to prevent new AIDS infections, provide antiretroviral
treatment and care for the sick and orphans.
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
Scientists in
>> Read article at ABCnews.com
Controversial disease dropped from Prozac product information
The drug manufacturer Lilly has been forced to drop
one of the disorders it had previously listed for its antidepressant drug fluoxetine (Prozac), following a finding by the European
drug regulator that the condition was not a well-established disease entity.
Some health researchers welcomed the regulator's decision, saying premenstrual
dysphoric disorder (PMDD), which was only recently
described, was an invented illness and a strong example of the medicalisation of ordinary life
>> Read article at BMJ.com
Schering-Plough Halts Lung Cancer Study
Schering-Plough ends study of new cancer drug. The company said its drug Sarasar, one of the most important products in its pipeline
of experimental medicines, was not adequately effective against non-small-cell
lung cancer to justify continuation of the study
>> Read article at Reuters.com
Single Drug for Cholesterol, Blood Pressure Approved
The
>> Read article at Healthday.com
February 3, 2004
HRT raises risk of breast cancer
recurrence, alternatives needed
A Swedish study established to assess the effect of hormone replacement therapy
(HRT) for women with a history of breast cancer has
been stopped early after preliminary results show 'unacceptably high' risks of
breast cancer recurrence for HRT users
>> Read article at
Nutraingredients.com
February 2, 2004
Inquiry Sought in House Vote on Drug Plan for Medicare
A leading House Democrat has called on Speaker J. Dennis Hastert to initiate an
ethics investigation into accusations of bribery during last November's vote on
the new Medicare drug plan, warning that Democrats will conduct their own
inquiry if the House leader does not act. In a Jan. 20 letter
to the speaker, Representative Steny H. Hoyer of
Maryland, the Democratic whip, said an investigation by the House ethics
committee was needed to protect the reputation of the House after
Representative Nick Smith, Republican of Michigan, said groups and lawmakers
had offered support for his son's Congressional campaign if Mr. Smith backed
the measure, which passed 220 to 215
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
February 1, 2004
Making Drugs, Shaping the Rules
Since the mid-1990's, a group of drug companies, led by Johnson & Johnson,
has campaigned to convince state officials that a new generation of drugs -
with names like Risperdal, Zyprexa
and Seroquel - is superior to older and much cheaper
antipsychotics like Haldol. The campaign has led a dozen states to adopt
guidelines for treating schizophrenia that make it hard for doctors to
prescribe anything but the new drugs
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
The Vatican has become embroiled in the battle to reduce the cost of anti-HIV
medications, after a
>> Read article at Aidsmap.com
Trying to Police Misleading Drug Ads
"The F.D.A. is in a semi-lawless mode with
respect to enforcing drug advertising rules," said Sidney M. Wolfe,
director of the Health Research Group at Public Citizen in Washington, an
advocacy group. "It began in the
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
January 20, 2004
FDA Set to Step Up Its Scrutiny of Effects
of Herbal Supplements
In the wake of its decision to ban the weight-loss treatment ephedra, the Food and Drug Administration is planning to
step up its scrutiny of the health effects of a number of other herbal
supplements. In a speech Tuesday, FDA Commissioner
Mark McClellan is expected to highlight herbal products that the agency wants
to examine more closely
>> Read article at WSJ.com
Drug Companies Get Too Close for
A report from Harvard School of Public Health in The
New England Journal of Medicine indicates that the pharmaceutical industry
spends roughly $15.7 billion annually marketing medications, with $4.8 billion
dedicated to detailing individual physicians, or roughly $6,000 to $11,000 a
doctor a year. Studies indicate that most physicians meet with pharmaceutical
representatives four times a month. Studies also reveal that most physicians
erroneously believe the representatives do not influence prescribing habits
>> Read article at NYTimes.com
>>
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