Originally published in MedPage Today
by Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today Staff Writer
Contrary to information that led the FDA and other regulatory agencies to release warnings about varenicline (Chantix), a new study has found “no clear evidence” of a relationship between the risk of suicide and the smoking-cessation drug.
Both varenicline and bupropion (Zyban), another drug used in smoking cessation programs, were …
Does Chantix increase suicide risk?
Recently, a former staff medical writer at a MECC (Medical Education Communication Company) anonymously alerted me to a particularly sleazy advertising tactic used by a medical writing company. This person had worked as a pharma-supported medical writer for several years, but recently quit because, “I really couldn’t stomach the ethical problems associated with writing for the pharma industry.” Recently, looking for medical writing jobs, this writer came across a company …
Medical ghost-writing influences doctors to prescribe more drugs
by Diana Lee
A recent episode of the A&E show Intervention about a woman with occasional migraines and other serious health problems who takes up to 50 Percocet pills a day made me uncomfortable. Maybe Danielle, the woman featured in the episode, really does have migraine attacks. But she is also an addict. One condition really has nothing to do with the other. Many people with acute or chronic pain use …
Migraines and the stigma of chronic pain medication use
Ghostwritten clinical papers. Off-label marketing. Channel-stuffing. Hiding of negative data.
Pharma companies have earned a hefty percentage of the opprobrium heaped on them by a skeptical public. And it’s mainly because of a failure to heed the Golden Rule. We all know the “classical” Golden Rule: Treat others the way you’d wish to be treated. But in so many cases, drug manufacturers seem to adhere to a different version: the Gold-in …
Drug company ethics and the pharmaceutical industry’s pursuit of profit
The FDA has declared war on acetaminophen, with Vicodin and Percocet being collateral damage. You can bet Dr. Gregory House is sweatin’ pretty hard over this news.
In the last few days, acetaminophen, otherwise known as the brand name Tylenol, has been squarely in the FDA advisory panel’s crosshairs. In general, it’s a very safe medication, but there is …
Vicodin and Percocet banned and taken off the market, or is a black box warning more likely?
A recent study in Lancet becomes the first study to pull back the curtain on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its impact on global health.
Since the money the Gates Foundation spends on global health (61% of its total $2.01 billion budget) is almost as large as the entire budget of the WHO, and because it is not a passive donor (it actively engages in policy making and agenda …
Here are some of the more interesting comments readers have left recently.
1. Carla Kakutani on the lack of primary care access in Massachusetts:
So we have a chicken and egg problem. Do we wait health care reform until we have revived US primary care, or is that even possible without health care reform to create the disruption needed to change our entrenched fee-for-service, procedure-happy payment …
6 top medical comments, May 3rd, 2009
The following op-ed was published on February 26, 2009 in the USA Today.
Have you ever noticed the pens, coffee mugs and prescription pads at your doctor’s office? Chances are, they were prominently adorned with the brand name of the prescription drug its company is touting.
The pharmaceutical industry has been giving these types of small gifts to doctors for years, in hopes of raising physician awareness of …
Op-ed: Pads, pens, prescriptions
What does that mean to you? More patients than you think are confused by drug labels:
Did that mean a total of two, or a total of four? A third of patients who were deemed literate got confused. A more clear instruction would be: “Take two tablets in the morning and two tablets at night.”
The fix is not complicated. When I write a prescription, I spell out how …
What “take 2 tablets twice daily” really means on a label
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