Meds

Arimidex price markup at major pharmacy chains

Meds
October 22, 2010

The commonly prescribed breast cancer drug, Arimidex, was released as a generic in June 2010. The generic name is anastrozole. I called several local pharmacies last week to find out how much this medicine would cost for a one-month supply. I found some very surprising results:

Costco: $27

Walgreens (with Saver Card): $325 (without Card): $380

CVS: $361

Walmart: $347

Target: $340

These are not typos. Costco is selling a one-month supply of generic Arimidex for $27, …

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Finasteride, fruit, and the matter of prostate health

Meds
October 14, 2010

by Arnon Krongrad, MD

The noose was loose on its neck. At first I worried, but then I relaxed. This was a bottle of pomegranate juice, the antioxidant superpower. As the billboard implied, it could cheat death. Perhaps if I consumed pomegranate juice, I could cheat death.

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission charged POM Wonderful, LLC, makers of pomegranate products, with deceptive advertising. …

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DTC advertising, and its history with the FDA

Meds
September 18, 2010

Advertising is everywhere.

That should come as no surprise to anyone who has lived in modern America. It is impossible to turn on the television, ride the subway, or even sort through the daily mail without coming across an ad for a new car, a soft drink, or the latest digital toy. These advertisements have only one goal: to entice you to buy their products. This is harmless enough when these …

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How drug companies sell psychiatrists on their drugs

Meds
August 26, 2010

An excerpt from Unhinged: The trouble with psychiatry- a doctor’s revelations about a profession in crisis. Copyright © 2010 Daniel Carlat. Excerpted with permission by Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

In 1993, the FDA approved Neurontin for the treatment of epilepsy. This should have been a cause for celebration at Warner-Lambert, the drug company that introduced it, but the celebration was muted. The FDA had …

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Creatine causing muscle cramps and how supplements may be dangerous

Meds
August 18, 2010

About a month ago, a 44-year-old insurance executive came to see me with complaints of headaches and muscle cramps. His pain was caused by the typical cluster headache located behind one eye, accompanied by one-sided tearing and nasal congestion, and often triggered by occasional wine or chocolate. The muscle cramps mainly affected the legs and seemed to worsen after exercise.

When I got the results of his lab work, I was …

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Pharmaceutical sponsored dinners have educational value

Meds
August 5, 2010

It is insulting to think that doctors who are ostensibly smart enough to save one’s life are in fact so stupid, or merely gullible enough, to be swept away by what is in actuality only a very weak potion of sales-presentation intermixed with and embedded within generally informative and pharmaceutical-balanced subject-focused medical lectures.

Such lectures occur usually at a private function room at a restaurant or, in conjunction with a served …

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Medications that increase the risk of photosensitivity

Meds
August 3, 2010

by Marianna Rakovitsky, RPh

Oh, Summer! The weather is warm, the sun is shining and it is the time when we try to get outside as much as possible. Summer is my favorite time of the year. I love the beach, days that are filled with light and sunshine,  trips to the orchards and hanging out in the backyard. The sunshine that makes the summer such a …

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The Massachusetts gift ban benefits health insurance companies

Meds
July 23, 2010

by Edison Wong, MD

With the recent proposal to repeal the so-called Massachusetts “gift ban” (more appropriately referred to as the “interaction ban”), I asked myself who stands to gain the most from such bans?

Is it the consumers or patients? Is it the physicians or their practices? Is it the federal or state governments? Nope. Sadly, it is the insurers who gain the most, at the expense of patients.

The …

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Ask your pharmacy to price match prescription drugs

Meds
June 12, 2010

As we have established repeatedly on LesliesList.org, prescription prices can vary a lot from one pharmacy to another.

But did you know that some pharmacies will actually match a competitor’s price? This could save you a ton of cash, but you have to know how, and whom, to ask for this service. Pharmacy retail chains all have different policies. I spoke to a pharmacist recently at each of the seven top …

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Your asthma or COPD inhaler is not available, and what to do

Meds
May 28, 2010

As reported in MedPage Today, the FDA announced the end for CFC-propelled inhalers. Of the seven inhalers with deadlines for removal, only three are still being made:

Flunisolide (Aerobid Inhaler System) on June 30, 2011
Albuterol and ipratropium combination (Combivent Inhalation Aerosol) on Dec. 31, 2013
Pirbuterol (Maxair Autohaler) on Dec. 31, 2013

The reason for this is because CFC’s are harmful for the environment, and the newer inhalers have to be replaced with …

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Alternative medicine isn’t taught to doctors in medical school

Meds
April 26, 2010

by Crystal Phend

Physicians don’t know much more about complementary and alternative medicine than their patients do, according to a new survey.

Most healthcare professionals who answered an online survey of Drug and Therapeutic Bulletin subscribers said their profession was just as poorly informed about herbal medicines (75.5%) as the general public (86.3%).

And almost half of respondents rated their own knowledge about herbal medicines as “quite” or “very” poor (36.2% and 10.4%, …

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Neosporin and other OTC drugs to avoid

Meds
April 12, 2010

Most people use non-prescription medications without giving much thought to the potential side effects or problems that may be associated with their use.

Here are 5 popular OTC meds you should avoid, and better alternatives. I bet most of you use one or more of these. Neosporin, Topical Vitamin E, Afrin nasal spray (or other short acting nasal decongestant sprays), daily headache medications, and sedating antihistamines.

1. Neosporin: Neosporin in the most …

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Your metformin may smell like dead fish

Meds
March 1, 2010

Originally published in MedPage Today

An immediate-release form of the antidiabetic agent metformin has a dead fish odor that may cause patients to stop taking the drug, clinicians warned.

Metformin is known to cause adverse gastrointestinal effects such as diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, flatulence, distention, and abdominal pain. Those side effects “often necessitate discontinuing the drug,” a group of physicians and pharmacists …

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Why doctors are too quick to prescribe drugs for ADHD

Meds
February 1, 2010

Originally published in MedPage Today

by Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today Staff Writer

Physicians may be too quick to medicate children suspected of having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The etiology of the disease is not well understood, and while some cases may have neurological causes, children may respond to psychotherapy instead, Esther Fine, PhD, a psychoanalyst in private practice in Los Angeles, told …

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How can doctors stop drugs prescribed by other physicians that are no longer effective?

Meds
January 30, 2010

Here are two vignettes illustrating the failure of doctors to master the obvious and maybe a window onto the future struggles to control medical costs.

A 90-year old is referred for care due to “end stage dementia.” End-stage dementia is medical speak and as such does not really convey the appropriate imagery. It means a skeletal man, in a wheelchair or mostly in bed, with diapers, who has does not know …

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How psychiatrists may be giving their patients too many drugs

Meds
January 16, 2010

Originally published in MedPage Today

by John Gever, MedPage Today Senior Editor

Psychiatrists who prescribe drugs for their patients today usually give more than one at a time, often with little scientific basis, researchers said.

About 60% of patients with psychiatrist office visits leading to a drug prescription received at least two medications in 2005-2006, according to government survey data analyzed by Ramin …

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Why you should stop taking Vytorin for high cholesterol

Meds
November 16, 2009

At the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, the results of the ARBITER 6-HALTS study were released. No Vytorin was used in the study, but I am sure that all the headlines will mention Vytorin.

The actual study published ahead of press online in the New England Journal of Medicine. Essentially, they enrolled over 200 patients from Walter Reed and Washington Adventist who had known heart disease or were at …

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