Author Archive
Big pharma has big problems
By David Williams Big pharma has big problems. The root cause is a lack of research and development productivity, which means a dearth of new products to make up for looming patent expirations. Something near half of big pharma’s revenues…
Researchers question publishing ethics of leading economics journal
By Sarah Arnquist A Harvard Health Policy Review article that details two researchers’ account of unethical editing at the Journal of Health Economics (JHE) mysteriously has gone missing from the Internet (but not entirely–here’s the PDF). Actually, the journal’s entire…
Stanford Med School rejects industry funding for continuing education
By Sarah Arnquist Stanford University’s medical school announced this week new restrictions on educational contributions by drug and medical device companies, which turn out to be among the strictest in the nation. The rules are an effort to limit industry…
Flacks peddle false “reality”
By Matthew Holt Such a pity that the NY Times has been so beaten up by the commies amongst us that it actually now feels that it has to point out where Peter Pitts and Janet Trautwein get their money….
Flaks peddle false “reality”
By Matthew Holt Such a pity that the NY Times has been so beaten up by the commies amongst us that it actually now feels that it has to point out where Peter Pitts and Janet Trautwein get their money….
Identified bullshit peddlers peddle bullshit “reality”
By Matthew Holt Such a pity that the NY Times has been so beaten up by the commies amongst us that it actually now feels that it has to point out where Peter Pitts and Janet Trautwein get their money….
Viagra prescribed more safely online than in regular practice?
By Matthew Holt Really? Can this be true? Well so says a bunch of academics writing in the Mayo Clinic’s journal. They looked at records of questionnaires taken and prescribing decisions made by a licensed, regulated online pharmacy called KwikMed…
Drug advertisements annoying and possibly misleading
By Sean Neill Sean Neill is a South African-born, British-trained anesthesiologist, who recently relocated to Midwestern USA. He blogs regularly at OnMedica about his cross-cultural experience, frequently pointing out oddities of American health care. Watching television in America takes some…
Happy Birthday, Viagra!
By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn It’s the drug that raised the profile of medicine in popular culture. It’s been hawked by a prominent politician and has been the butt of jokes on late-night TV. It’s Viagara, and it’s turning 10 today. The…
TECH: Drugs & technology–Allscripts and SafeMed
To finish off the last but not least of my HIMSS interviews, here are two companies that both announced being part of the Google ecosystem on the Thursday of HIMSS. One is well known and a leader in ePrescribing and…
PHARMA: The ACP does the right thing
In 1937 marijuana was banned by Congress. The only question asked was, “what’s the position of the American Medical Association?”. It actually was in favor of keeping marijuana legal for medical purposes. But the response given to Congress by whoever…
PHARMA: The statin backlash (or WSJ later than THCB by 5 years!)
Yesterday the THCB hit meter went off the charts. not sadly because of some new genius posting on THCB, but because the WSJ has this article about Lipitor causing memory loss and Google searches are bring up an article from…
PHARMA: Finally, a drug site that everyone can approve of!
Yup, they really are cashing in on the Placebo Effect.
PHARMA: Reprieve for Amgen looking doubtful
In a story titled somewhat cryptically Medicare chief stands by anemia move (do they mean he’s trying to become anemic?) Reuters reports that CMS is not backing down from its decision to radically cut payments for anti-anemia drugs for chemotherapy…
PHARMA: Stunt doubles in pharma DTC?
I’m sure (well I’m not sure but I’ll cheerfully and casually postulate) to keep you all amused on a Friday) that there are many possible overlooked problems with Lipitor and the statins. I’ve heard of severe muscle pain, even amnesia….
POLICY/PHARMA: DEA’s insane persecution of pain patients continues
Just in case you needed to be reminded that the DEA is a refuge of evil scumbags and needs to be abolished, here’s another exhibit (from the good people at DRCNet): Federal agents arrested Dr. Stephen Schneider, operator of the…
PHARMA/TECH: Drug interaction checkers and more
I’m up over at the Health 2.0 Blog talking about my favorite drug interaction checker. Meanwhile if you (yes, that means you) want to write on the Health 2.0 Blog, please email me and let me know.
PHARMA: Talking of gotcha’s…
Schering Plough is coming under multo criticism the last two days for sitting on data for up to a year that shows that the anti-cholesterol drug Zetia, when combined with Merk’s Zocor in the combo drug Vytorin, not only didn’t…
BLOGS: Diabetes Year in Review
Our friend and colleague Amy Tenderich has a just excellent Diabetes Year in Review up at DiabetesMine. It covers Health 2.0 (of course) but also drugs devices, design, and the growth of people with diabetes as a social force. Amy…
The Pipeline: Vaccines v.s. Antibiotics by Dov Michaeli
In 1796 Dr. Edward Jenner performed an experiment that today would have got him expelled from his Medical Society, and maybe even landed them in jail. He vaccinated a boy against smallpox by pricking his arms with pus taken from…
