Everywhere I look today, I see ads claiming huge savings from drug discount cards. These cards promise huge savings to consumers, yet they are unable to deliver on these outrageous statements. Now, when I see these ads, I’m skeptical — and you should be too because not all the claims are real.
The old saying, “If it seems too good to be true then it probably is” also applies to drug …
Drug discount cards: Tips and tricks to watch out for
You’re at the doctor’s office, and you see strolling up to the window a good-looking, well-dressed professional. They’re usually pulling a little discreet cart, and after a few words with the receptionist they’re rushed right back. Sometimes they’ll bring a tray of cookies, or they’ll be followed by a caterer with a cartful of food.
You think they had an appointment? No, but you can be they’re here to see the …
Is your physician immune to drug marketing?
When you reach for ibuprofen for your sore back or a pill to help you sleep, are you sending a bad message to your kid?
Yes, says Bryant Gumbel in his video commentary about the drug charges against ball player Alex Rodriguez. While he thinks that Rodriguez should be punished for being a liar and a cheat, he doesn’t think that people should be shocked by the fact that Rodriguez was …
Are parents active parts of a national drug epidemic?
You probably already know that what you do know about your medicine could kill you. You may not know that what you don’t know could do so as well. Hold that somber thought — we’ll get back to it.
You, and I, and everyone else has seen those direct-to-patient drug ads that Big Pharma runs on primetime television. Invariably, they feature a person skipping through butterflies and wildflowers, demonstrating the …
Remember the side effects of needed drugs that go untaken
Annoying mall vendors have been pushing what may be one of public health’s greatest accomplishments—and few have taken notice. Behind pillow pet stations and the candle stand, mall shoppers can find electronic cigarettes, or “vapes.” Often targeted at smokers wanting to quit, e-cigarettes offer many of the joys of smoking without one of its major components: smoke.
Smokeless cigarettes have become a hot product, with an estimated $1.7 billion in sales …
Can e-cigarettes be a public health victory?
It wasn’t so much the side effects — nausea and belly pain that had once kept me from enjoying my aunt’s home cooking. I didn’t fill my prescription for the malaria prophylactic Malarone before a family trip to India because the $50 co-pay seemed outlandishly expensive to a medical-student-in-debt. Years later, I find that my patients skip crucial medications to treat diabetes and depression because of the reality or even …
The promise and peril of sharing costs with patients
Recently, I “launched” my oldest off to college. As anticipated, it was an intense emotional experience full of joy, sadness, and many things in between. (I have to tip my hat to Beverly Beckham for her piece I was the sun, the kids were my planets that was very helpful. However, I might have written that my child was the sun, a burst of light in our household, and the experience …
Are ADHD drugs responsible for mental illness in college?
Here’s an interesting clinical dilemma brought to my attention by another physician.
She was asked to refill a prescription for a drug called domperidone to help a patient with lactation. Domperidone is not FDA approved in the United States for any indication. However, in Europe and in Canada it is approved as a promotility agent for patients with a condition called gastroparesis, which causes the stomach to empty very slowly and results in …
Drugs that are not FDA approved: Is there a time to prescribe them?
After investigating the potential of cannabis as a medication over the last year, I had a change of heart. I am more convinced than ever that we need to study this like any other medication and not deny it to people who may currently benefit.
The response to our reporting on this topic has been robust, and we will continue to seek the answers people want …
A change of heart on medical marijuana
Dr. Sanjay Gutpa has come out on the side of medical marijuana. To him, that is a big deal. Here is a snippet of what he said:
I apologize because I didn’t look hard enough, until now. I didn’t look far enough. I didn’t review papers from smaller labs in other countries doing some remarkable research, and I was too dismissive of the loud chorus of legitimate patients …
Legalizing marijuana: What happens if Medicaid starts paying for it?
We have become a pill popping society. It makes absolutely no sense that 20 percent of our population regularly uses a psychotropic medicine and that the United States has more deaths each year from overdose with prescription drugs than from street drugs.
The causes of excessive medication use are numerous — the diagnostic system is too loose; some doctors are trigger happy in. their prescribing habits; the drug companies have sold …
The decision to end a treatment is as important as the one to start it
A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
Prescription drug abuse has reached crisis levels: overdoses and deaths from opioid analgesics have more than quadrupled in the U.S. since 1999. At the same time, a great deal of human pain and suffering remains inadequately treated. In fact, according to the Institute of Medicine, at least 100 million Americans suffer from …
AMA: Effective pain management with prevention of prescription drug abuse
Osphena (ospemifene) is an oral medication recently approved by the FDA for painful sex (dyspareunia) due to vaginal dryness for menopausal women. As typically happens when a new drug gets FDA approval the PR machine for the company goes into overdrive flooding the media with press releases. Since sex sells, well, Osphena received a fair amount of air time and print space. Headlines like FDA-Approved “Female” Viagra might lead someone to believe that Osphena is freaking amazing. Which, …
Is Osphena the new female Viagra?
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Electronic cigarettes are here, settling over the country, quite literally, like a fine white fog. Smokers in turn, have been turning to them as a tool to help them quit, though the device manufacturers are not allowed to market them that way in U.S. It seems intuitive that a device that mimics the action of smoking but without the combustion and …
E-cigarettes: Are they effective? Are they safe?
With Governor Rick Perry signing the restrictive Texas abortion bill into law many news organizations have shed light on traveling to Mexico for abortion and there has been much talk about the “Mexican abortion pill.”
The medication that people typically call the Mexican abortion pill is misoprostol, marketed under the trade name Cytotec. It is a prostaglandin analogue and is used for prevention of stomach ulcers. It also has many uses in OB/GYN …
Is the Mexican abortion pill safe?
You’re searching for a new primary care physician or a specialist. Is there a way you can know whether the doctor is more partial to expensive, brand-name drugs than his peers?
Or say you’ve got to find a nursing home for a loved one. Wouldn’t you want to know if the staff doctor regularly prescribes drugs known to be risky for seniors or …
Secrecy shrouds the prescribing habits of doctors
The recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court brought Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics back to the headlines, with interest being stoked by Angelina Jolie’s recent disclosure of her double mastectomy.
The lawsuit revolved around patents owned by Myriad related to its BRACAnalysis test, which assesses the likelihood that a person will develop certain cancers, including breast cancer, by searching the DNA for disease-causing …
The Supreme Court on Myriad: Will it stifle innovation?
“Promising new drug shown to be no better than placebo” – and so the careers of countless drugs in development have terminated, from pain medicines to chemotherapies to antidepressants. The success of investigational drugs depends on their capacity to outperform the pesky placebo effect, so researchers are often trying to control or minimize the placebo effect so they can demonstrate more clearly …
Move the placebo debate beyond the discussion of ethics
It’s happened at last: the epitome of ridiculousness in the already pretty ridiculous world of drug prior authorizations. I wish I could say that I made this up.
I got a fax from a pharmacy requesting a prior authorization for a brand name drug called Protonix, one of a family of medications used to treat ulcers, acid reflux, and other forms of tummy ache. This happens. Because there are five different …
The wacky world of prescription prior authorizations
Hardly a day goes by when some news outlet does not report, often breathlessly, some new breakthrough in cancer research. We need to turn a skeptical eye on most of these reports, particularly those that contain information about very preliminary research findings. The always astute Gary Schweitzer gives a good perspective on this in his HealthNewsReview.org; it’s a good site to bookmark if you follow the medical news.
News on cancer breakthroughs: Curb your enthusiasm
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