Pharmaceuticals are amazing stuff. You can bitch and moan about their costs, side effects, or the number of them you’re taking, but what they’ve done to extend life and improve its quality is truly remarkable.
And for all the bad raps they get, I salute the pharmaceutical industry, and those who work anonymously in labs around the world, to bring us these miracles.
But …
The trend from drugs of value to medications of convenience
by Patrick Fitzgerald, MPH
Health advocacy organizations (HAOs) are typically organizations of prominent, trusted stakeholders who conduct campaigns to promote disease awareness, update members to new diagnostic tests and drugs, facilitate physician referrals, deliver health care services, and advocate for policies believed to be in their member’s best interest.
They range in size from national organizations with many thousands of members focused on widespread disease to smaller …
Health advocacy organizations and the lack of transparency
Many people believe that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States approves uses of drugs. It does not.
This confusion comes from insufficient clarity of language.
The FDA does approve whether or not a prescription drug can be manufactured, marketed, and sold, the language on the label, and the claims of advertising.
Drug manufacturers must use an elaborate, detailed, lengthy, and very …
The FDA does not approve the uses of drugs
Abilify, Seroquel, Zyprexa, Risperal – these are among the atypical antipsychotics for which Americans paid $10 billion in 2008. $6 billion of that was for off-label use.
The FDA only approves drugs when their safety and efficacy have been tested for specific conditions. For example, an antipsychotic might be approved for the treatment of schizophrenia. When it’s prescribed for anxiety or depression, that’s …
FDA regulation, and off label use of atypical antipsychotic drugs
Having a healthy level of respect for opioids is critical for any physician. For those of us who prescribe or recommend this class of medicines on a daily basis, this statement rings all the more true. Recent events and research reinforce this reality.
“Oxycontin, Other Opioid Painkillers Tied to Higher Health Risks” was the title of a recent BusinessWeek …
How the reformulation of Oxycontin has affected patients
by Christopher, BA
We all know of the folly “Just Say No” as it just does not work. I disagree that a physician should ignore the requests of her or his patients, based solely on the perceivable abuse of the drug Oxycontin.
This is an opiate that works wonders for patients in chronic pain situations, …
Should doctors give more Oxycontin to chronic pain patients?
Well, the nuclear crisis in Japan seems to be causing a run on potassium iodide (KI), and not just in Japan.
If news reports are to be believed, people in many other regions (such as the west coast of the US and Canada) are stocking up, and some of these people may have already started dosing themselves.
Don’t do that. Don’t …
Potassium iodide won’t protect you from nuclear reactor radioactive isotopes
It’s only been a little over fifty years since vaccinations became routine for the childhood killers like polio, measles, mumps and whooping cough. People my age and older had no choice but to suffer through childhood infectious diseases given how effectively and quickly they spread through a community.
Most of us survived, subsequently blessed with life long natural immunity. Some did not survive. …
Vaccination and the killers of yesterday now overcome by modern medicine
An excerpt from Uses and Abuses of Plant-Derived Smoke: Its Ethnobotany as Hallucinogen, Perfume, Incense, and Medicine.
by Marcello Pennacchio, PhD
Few plants have generated as much debate and controversy as cannabis (Cannabis sativa).
Throughout the ages, it has been labelled both a dangerous drug and potent medicine. Where the former is concerned, law-enforcement agents and governments spend millions …
Cannabis use and medicine, the debate over benefits and harms
Have you ever opened a prescription bottle to find the wrong pills inside? If so, you may have found it to be an expensive mistake.
Whatever the reason for the error (and there are numerous possible causes), here is how to best handle the situation.
Of course, it is always smart to confirm the medications, quantities and dosages at the pharmacy checkout. A mistake recognized at the time of purchase can be easily …
What to do with a prescription bottle with the wrong pills inside
Americans spend an astounding 34 billion dollars on alternative medicine annually. Given that so many of us put our faith in alternative care, I wanted to clear up some common misconceptions about it to help people make wiser choices when and if they turn to it.
What is alternative medicine?
In general, alternative medicine is used to describe practices outside the bounds of conventional medicine. …
Alternative medicine problems patients need to know about
A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
by Arnold J. Berry, MD, MPH
Drug shortages continue to impact patients across the nation. Over the past year, anesthesiologists have been faced with the challenge of finding alternatives for several unique drugs needed to safely provide anesthesia for patients having surgical, diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.
Anesthesiologists have …
ASA addresses drug shortages to ensure patient safety
I decided to dedicate a medical blog on smoking cessation after realizing that too many people in Douglas County (Omaha, Nebraska) smoke. Did you know that despite a smoking ban in restaurants and bars, 18.3% of people in Nebraska are smokers? That’s one in five people. And this number contributes to Omaha’s health ranking of 142 out of 182 cities in …
Taking Chantix to help smokers quit may be worth the risk
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That there are some serious misunderstandings out there about the difference between name-brand drugs and generics, as well as some bizarre assumptions about the merits of newer drugs. So here’s a quick primer on how you (and everyone else) are sometimes not getting accurate information about your pharmaceuticals.
As a society, we’re addicted to drugs. Almost all of them are legal, and we’re not abusing them per se, but we want …
A primer on brand name drugs and generics
Recently, I spent a few days in California when both my parents ended up in the hospital with different issues. They’re home, settled and doing well at this point.
Just as when I first wrote about experiencing healthcare with my family, there are important lessons to learn about this trip.
As we strive to achieve meaningful use and create health information exchange in the US, the …
Medication lists need to be shared in a meaningful way
As a primary care doc, I have compiled several tips to help patients save money on prescriptions.
All the prices quoted in the following examples are from Costco.
1. Patient assistance programs (PAP). Try to get free meds from the pharmaceutical company that manufactures your medication. Most of the time this service is only offered if there is not a generic available for your medicine. I heartily recommend you check out NeedyMeds.org and …
Tips to help patients save money on prescriptions
The non-profit media organization ProPublica last year announced a new website/database called Dollars for Docs. It lists cash payments made to 17,000 U.S. doctors by seven large drug companies.
I’ve been browsing through the database and I have some thoughts about its strengths and weaknesses—and how it might be useful for patients.
First, here’s what these journalists did. Rather than waiting for the provisions of the Physician’s Payments Sunshine Act …
ProPublica’s Dollars for Docs: Strengths and weaknesses
by Marianna Rakovitsky, RPh
Recently, I have talked about the concerns with the use of NSAIDs and their effects on the heart. All medications carry a risk of adverse effects. NSAIDs are usually very effective in controlling pain especially muscle and bone pain, but they also carry a potential risk of side effects such as stomach and kidney problems, increased risk of bleeding and adverse effects …
Alternatives to NSAIDs, pros and cons
The other day, I happened to be talking to Mark, a sales representative from one of the pharmaceutical companies. He’s the type of rep that many doctors don’t mind seeing – someone who is careful of your time, is happy to hunt down the answers to questions that come up on the medications his company makes, and brings by useful information about new drugs that seem to be practice-appropriate. He …
FDA regulation and non-approved use of drugs
Antibodies are complex proteins created by immune cells that are targeted to very specific parts of other large and complex molecules called antigens.
Much smaller molecules like nicotine, called haptens, do not normally induce any significant immunologic response so researchers chemically bound several nicotine molecules to a large protein to form an adduct. This combined molecule does induce an immune response, i.e, causes immune cells to produce antibodies targeted to the …
Nicotine vaccine to treat tobacco abuse and nicotine addiction
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