Meds

Making up drug studies, and is the pressure for results too intense for clinician-scientists?

Meds
March 21, 2009

You may have heard the story of anesthesiologist Scott Reuben, who allegedly fabricated the results of 21 medical studies.

Orac, over at his blog Respectful Insolence, provides some perspective of the issue, saying, “Dr. Reuben’s fraud appears to eclipse even that of Andrew Wakefield [the disgraced researcher who wrongly linked autism to the MMR vaccine].”

Apparently, the pressure for academic physicians to generate results is intense, often with …

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Why free antibiotics are a terrible idea, and what drug and grocery stores should give away instead

Meds
March 11, 2009

So, while watching Lost the other night, I saw an add for a local grocery chain advertising free antibiotics.

Apparently, it’s a nationwide promotion, with multiple chains using antibiotics as a “loss leader” to bring people into their stores.

Well, it has now gotten the attention of both the CDC and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, with latter organization writing, “If you give antibiotics …

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AstraZeneca’s weight gain and diabetes side effect cover up, and the sleazy Seroquel sex scandal

Meds
March 1, 2009

In the staid world of drug research, this is about as scandalous as it gets.

The antipsychotic drug quetiapine, or Seroquel, is coming under fire. As MedPage Today reports, damning e-mails from the past are resurfacing, implicating the drug maker for “burying” studies linking the drug to weight gain and diabetes.

But here’s where it gets juicy.

AstraZeneca’s former US medical director has admitted prior sexual relationships …

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Op-ed: Pads, pens, prescriptions

Meds
February 26, 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 …

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USA Today op-ed: Will restricting gifts to doctors reduce pharmaceutical influence?

Meds
February 26, 2009

So, what’s better than having one opinion piece published in a week?

Well, how about two.

My latest USA Today op-ed was published this morning: Pads, pens, prescriptions.

I talk about the “voluntary ban” that the pharmaceutical industry has instituted on itself, preventing doctors from receiving any type of gifts from drug representatives.

Will restricting gifts to doctors remove the specter of Big …

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Cheap Viagra can kill, or, the dangers of counterfeit erectile dysfunction drugs

Meds
February 24, 2009

When looking for a prescription of Viagra, Cialis, or Levitra, make sure you get the real thing.

Amy Tuteur points to a recent NEJM article detailing cases in Singapore where hospitalized men were found to have taken imitation erectile dysfunction medications containing contaminents like the glucose-lowering medication glyburide, as well as host of herbal substances.

Glyburide, in particular, can be deadly in those who do not have diabetes, …

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Is fibromyalgia real, and if so, are drug companies profiting from the uncertainty of the disease?

Meds
February 18, 2009

Fibromyalgia is a condition that has no clear cause, and there’s no definitive diagnostic test.

However, there is no doubt that the symptoms are real, and many patients are suffering from the disease. Two brand-name medications, Lyrica and Cymbalta, represent several billion dollars in revenue.

The Washington Post points out that both Pfizer and Eli Lilly donated more than $6 million in education funding in 2008 to …

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Should some doctors be restricted from prescribing narcotic pain medications?

Meds
February 18, 2009

The FDA is about to get serious on inappropriate prescribing of narcotic pain medications.

What exactly they’re going to do is unclear, but as reported in the NY Times, it “will result in further restrictions on the prescribing, dispensing and distribution of extended-release opioids like OxyContin, fentanyl patches, methadone tablets and some morphine tablets.”

Part of the problem is that some patients who present with musculoskeletal injuries …

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