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Mighty Pharmaceutical Giants Under Attack
2008-03-02 17:01:00
Never in medical history the pharmaceutical giants, who reportedly enjoy clout next only to the international arms dealers, have witnessed such sustained assault on their credibility as in recent weeks. (By the way the mysterious silence of the U.N.’s World Health Organization on this issue is intriguing.)The latest attack was triggered yesterday by an analysis of published and unpublished trials of modern antidepressants, including Prozac and Seroxat, showing they offer no clinically significant improvement over placebos (dummy pills) in most patients. (But doctors said patients on the drugs should not stop taking them without consulting their GPs.)The Independent reports: “The pharmaceutical industry came under assault from senior figures in medical research yesterday over its practice of withholding information to protect profits, exposing patients to drugs which could be useless or harmful.“Experts criticised the stranglehold exerted by multinational companies over clinica...
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The past can show us the future
2008-02-29 17:06:00
Posted By Kinsinger, Dr. StuartPatients often ask me how health and health care will change as we charge into the future. The answer may not be initially obvious, but by looking back, we can get an idea where we may be headed.It was 30 years ago that I began practice in a small office here in Lindsay. Life seemed fairly simple. Even though I was well trained in manipulative techniques from my education, it was listening to patients tell me their stories that I really learned what my work was all about.Back then many people thought that chiropractors were quacks. Ironically these were not people that had been to one. I rarely hear "quack" today, because with the rise in educational standards, a growing research base giving strong evidence to manual care and more practitioners than ever before, an opinion like this is very much out of touch with reality.Clearly the key to the future in health care is the role that scientific research plays.Back 30 years ago there was an antagonism bet...
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The drug industry's long and ignoble history of secrecy
2008-02-28 17:41:00
By Jeremy Laurance, Health EditorWednesday, 27 February 2008Discovering, testing and bringing a new drug to market can take more than a decade and cost as much as £500m. Over the past 30 years, as the costs have mounted, so have the pressures to protect new chemical agents which could become potential blockbusters.Secrecy became the pharmaceutical industry's watchword as it sought to control publication of trials and even manipulate results. Cancer drugs introduced in the 1990s claimed to offer major benefits which later turned out to be more apparent than real. Evidence published in The Journal of the American Medical Association showed that 38 per cent of independent studies of the drugs reached unfavourable conclusions about them, compared with just 5 per cent of studies funded by the pharmaceutical industry.In 2004, UK researchers commissioned by Nice to develop guidelines for prescribing antidepressant drugs to children tried to obtain unpublished trials from the drug compani...
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Antidepressants no better than placebos: study
2008-02-27 16:58:00
Updated Tue. Feb. 26 2008 1:39 PM ETCTV.ca News StaffAntidepressant medications appear to help only severely depressed people, a new analysis has found. For most patients, the medications work no better than placebos, the study found.Researchers led by Irving Kirsch of the University of Hull in Britain reviewed 47 studies, both published and unpublished, on four antidepressants from a class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs: * Prozac, (also known as fluoxetine) * Paxil (also called Seroxat or paroxetine) * Effexor (also called venlafaxine or Novo-Venlafaxine) * Serzone (also called nefazodone; no longer available in Canada but is available in the U.K.) The researchers wanted to know whether a patient's response to the antidepressant depended on how badly depressed they were to start out with.They conducted a meta-analysis, putting together all data from trials submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the drugs - relying on U....
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Bill makes it lllegal for drug makers to buy prescription data for marketin
2008-02-26 17:06:00
NIKI SULLIVAN; niki.sullivan@thenewstribune.comLast updated: February 26th, 2008 06:31 AM (PST)When drug company representatives visit your doctor’s office, they’re bringing more than coffee mugs and free lunch: They have a detailed log of exactly what your doctor prescribes, how often and when.They use the information to create targeted marketing plans in an effort to sway doctors to prescribe their products.A bill that’s already passed the state Senate and faced a House panel Monday would make it illegal to buy detailed prescription practices for marketing. Despite heavy lobbying against the measure from pharmaceutical companies – among the most powerful forces in the capital – House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, said the bill has a good chance of passing this session.A dozen other states have considered similar measures to outlaw the practice, and laws have passed in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. In the latter two sates, the laws were challenged by pharmaceutical ...
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This Pill Not To Be Taken With Competition
2008-02-25 18:32:00
How Collusion Is Keeping Generic Drugs Off the ShelvesBy Jon LeibowitzMonday, February 25, 2008; A15Getting health-care costs under control is a daunting and multifaceted challenge. But one simple approach could save consumers billions of dollars annually: stopping pharmaceutical companies from colluding with competitors to keep lower-cost generic alternatives to prescription drugs off the market.The Federal Trade Commission, which is entrusted with policing such anticompetitive practices, is trying to do exactly that. The agency filed suit this month against Cephalon, which manufactures Provigil, a useful -- and lucrative -- product that helps those with sleep apnea and narcolepsy, and that is used by U.S. troops in Iraq to stay alert during long missions. In 2003, four of Cephalon's competitors tried to enter the Provigil market -- which generated $800 million in sales last year -- by offering a low-cost generic version.Cephalon was entitled to defend its patent in court. Instead...
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Complementary medicines: A guide
2008-02-24 17:30:00
Feb 24, 2008, 12:10Alternative therapies offer treatment for all complaints, from circulation and digestive problems to depression and stress.There is strong scientific evidence that some, such as acupuncture, work.However, some experts say the evidence for other forms, such as homoeopathy, is at best sketchy.There are a wide range of different complementary therapies. Here, we give details of some of the most widely practised.Acupuncture: An ancient Chinese art based on the theory that Qi energy flows along meridians in the body, and can be stimulated by inserting fine needles at specific points.Acupuncture is used to treat asthma, addiction, arthritis, depression, anxiety, blood pressure disorder and problems with the digestive system.There are a wide range of studies demonstrating that acupuncture has a positive effect, including evidence to suggest it works by deactivating pain centres in the brain.However, other research has suggested "sham" acupuncture - where someone only thi...
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Healthcare Cost Cutters: Alternative therapies
2008-02-23 16:33:00
MEDINA -- Holistic Medicine, that which treats the whole body and spirit, has been around for thousands of years.Homeopathy is a therapy based on the concept that disease can be treated with drugs, in small doses, thought capable of producing the same symptoms in healthy people as the disease itself.When 86-year-old Albert Baker walked into Ohio Holistic medicine his battle with prostate cancer looked grim. The cancer had spread to his bones and radiation treatment caused internal bleeding. He hoped a homeopathic remedy would be a boost to his traditional treatment.Leonard Torok, M.D. is an orthopaedic surgeon and homeopathic physician. He says homeopathic medicines have been around for 200 years. They're off patent and made from natural products. The pharmaceutical process makes a large amount of medication from a very small amount of material.Albert's exam required no testing, poking or prodding. Dr. Torok explains, "rather than treat his disease we tried to treat the cause of h...
More About: Healthcare , Alternative , Cost

McGrath files suit against 2 drug firms
2008-02-22 17:44:00
By CHARLES S. JOHNSONGazette State BureauHELENA - Attorney General Mike McGrath has sued two national pharmaceutical companies and accused them of manufacturing certain prescription drugs that were "in defective condition and unreasonably dangerous."McGrath filed the complaint in state district court in Helena on Wednesday against Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc. and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP over the prescription drugs Risperdal and Seroquel. The medicines were intended to treat adult schizophrenia and provide short-term treatment of acute mania associated with bipolar disorder.He charged that the two companies "'have engaged in false and misleading marketing, advertising and sales campaigns to promote these drugs for nonmedically indicated uses." McGrath said the companies "successfully deceived physicians, citizen-users and others in the medical community" about the safety of these drugs compared with other antipsychotic drugs to carve out a greater share of the market.Such promo...
More About: Drug , Files , Firms , Suit

The Pharmacy In The Forest
2008-02-21 17:12:00
Herbal RemediesAs you walk down the aisles of your local drugstore seeing the array of brightly colored bottles and boxes whose contents are designed to treat an almost endless variety of ailments, could you ever imagine them as flowers once growing on a forest floor or as bark cut from one of its trees? Is there even a remote relationship between the life of the woods and the bottles on the shelf?The nationally known author and environmental scientist G. Tyler Miller tells us that in America one of every four drugs sold either over-the-counter or by prescription has its origin in plant life. From the chemicals developed by nature have actually come 25 percent of all our medications. In some nations the percentage is as high as 50. There is a pharmacy in the forest.The history of the relationship between products from living plants and healing medications goes back to the very beginnings of medicine itself. There are museum records of prescriptions dating back to Egypt in 3700 B.C. ...
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Treating Male Yeast Infection Naturally
2008-02-18 17:39:00
By Gerry RestriveraFebruary 17, 2008It is not just women who suffer from yeast infections; the truth is any one can get them even men. Candida, the fungus responsible for the infection can also affect male genitals that can cause inconvenience and health risks. Treating male yeast infection is important before it becomes chronic.The fungus Candida is always present in the body and in normal condition does not cause any problem. If abnormality and imbalance in the body takes place, the fungus multiplies rapidly causing the yeast infection. Knowing what causes the infection is also important in treating male yeast infection. Common causes of yeast infections are sexual contact with an infected partner, antibiotics, alcohol, the food that you eat like wheat products and of course if you have weak immune system you are prone to infections.If you ignore the infection and left untreated, it could lead to other health issues like prostate problems. Aside from the health risks associated wi...
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Consumers may not be able to avoid cloned food
2008-02-18 17:36:00
Less than a dozen years after Dolly the sheep became the world's first cloned mammal, grocers and restaurateurs are digesting the fact that milk and meat from cloned animals could soon filter into their supply chains.The government took major steps toward easing cloned livestock and their offspring into the food supply in mid-January, when the Food and Drug Administration concluded they're safe to eat.The question is, will consumers swallow the new technology? And how will food businesses cope if their customers balk?Many food merchants are still framing their policies while they warily monitor public opinion. The historic commercial debut of cloning comes in an era when a significant segment of consumers have rejected other foods the FDA deemed safe, such as milk from hormone-treated cows and genetically modified corn.Cloning is an attempt to create a new animal using the DNA from an existing adult animal. The FDA, while noting that livestock cloning produces many malformed or il...
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Your Health: Daily dose of beetroot juice lowers blood pressure
2008-02-16 19:58:00
By Rallie McAllister, M.D.Published: Thursday, February 14, 2008 10:22 PM MSTIf you’re looking for natural remedy to help lower your blood pressure and improve your cardiovascular health, you might just find it in a rather unusual beverage.The results of a study published in the February issue of the American Heart Association’s medical journal, Hypertension, demonstrated that drinking two cups of beetroot juice daily significantly reduced blood pressure in healthy volunteers.Among the study participants, blood pressure fell within just one hour of drinking the beetroot juice, with the greatest drop occurring three to four hours following consumption.The blood pressure-lowering effects continued for up to 24 hours afterward.Physicians and nutrition experts have long recommended diets rich in fruits and vegetables to help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.Previously, the heart-healthy benefits of these and other plant foods were largely attributed...
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Overselling Overmedication
2008-02-15 20:51:00
On the bookshelf behind me at work, I have two new books on the way the pharmaceutical industry is turning us into a nation of hypochondriacal pill-popping zombies: “Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness” and “Our Daily Meds.” On the floor, windowsill and shelves of my office at home, I have quite a few more: “Generation Rx” … “The Last Normal Child” … “Toxic Psychiatry” … “Let Them Eat Prozac” … The latest volume, front and center now on my desk, is Charles Barber’s “Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation.”In the book, Barber argues that Americans are being vastly overmedicated for often relatively minor mental health concerns. This over-reliance on quick-fix medication is numbing our nation and dulling our awareness of real and pressing social issues and of non-psychopharmacological therapies and treatments.Barber is hardly alone these days in this line of reasoning. The notion that American children and adults are be...

Pills might not be the answer
2008-02-14 18:48:00
By: Justin Weisbrod, Staff WriterPosted: 2/14/08In 2005, 16 percent of Americans didn't have health care. As dangerous as this may seem, it's not always a personal choice - health insurance is expensive. Why?A report from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found that "more than 15 million Americans are abusing prescription drugs." People have been working the system for years, making health care what it is today.Most health plans offer generous discounts on medications, but others may have co-pay options and deductibles that require you to shell out a few Benjamin's. This is true for medication as well as X-rays, surgery and post treatment. This false sense of absolute protection causes many of the careless unsustainable lifestyles that people live.The holistic health industry, better known as Mind Body Health, encompasses a way of living that we've been taught for ages: Eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables; practice m...
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Is Physician Neglect Costing Smoking Patients Life?
2008-02-13 23:59:00
by John R. PolitoPhysician s will exhaust their knowledge base, energy and skills to stop bleeding and save the patient's life. But when the smoking patient arrives, a patient whose circulatory and respiratory systems are being gradually devastated by chemical addiction to smoking nicotine, the patient's self-destruction and slow suicide are either ignored, or they are reminded of the obvious, "you need to quit smoking."On February 7, the World Health Organization released a 342-page report entitled "WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008." It opens with a full page reminder that, "in the 20th century, the tobacco epidemic killed 100 million people worldwide." It then predicts that, "during the 21st century, it could kill one billion."If true, how much culpability should be attributed to medical haste, apathy regarding smoking related disease processes, or ignorance of such elementary nicotine dependency recovery concepts as the "Law of Addiction," a principle backed by the...
More About: Life , Smoking , Neglect , Patients

Valpo woman sues drugmaker
2008-02-13 18:28:00
VALPARAISO | Though she had no family history of the disease, Catherine Mahoney, 59, had to have a mastectomy after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001, according to records she filed in Hammond federal court.Now the Valparaiso woman has joined the legions of women suing New Jersey-based drugmaker Wyeth Inc. -- which makes the hormone replacement therapy drug Prempro -- alleging the drug caused their cancers.More than 7,900 people have filed a total of 5,300 lawsuits against the pharmaceutical company since 2002, although Mahoney's suit appears to be the first such case in Northwest Indiana, according to court records and filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Wyeth spokesman Doug Petkus said Tuesday the company has done well in the six cases that have gone to trial so far, winning four of them outright and having a fifth set aside for a new trial.In the single case decided in favor of users of the drug, a Nevada jury awarded three women $134 million, inc...
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Medicine industry hit by pricing fixing scandal
2008-02-12 20:16:00
February 11, 2008, 18:30The Competition Commission has lifted the lid on yet another sensational case of collusion -- this time in the pharmaceutical industry. The country has been rocked by a series of price fixing scandals in the bread and milk industries.One of the country's biggest pharmaceutical companies, Adcock Ingram, stands accused of colluding with its competitors and rigging government tenders to supply medicines to public hospitals.The case comes at a time when the public is being hit by rising petrol, food, electricity and health care costs.The supply of medicine to public hospitals is lucrative business worth billions of rands annually. Adcock Ingram, the leading supplier of hospital products in the country, teamed up with its competitors - Dismed Criticare, Thusanong Health Care and Fresenius Kabi South Africa - to rig government tenders worth hundreds of millions of rands.Fresenius has since confessed to its role and agreed to testify against the cartel.The case aga...
More About: Medicine , Industry , Scandal

Doctors pitching meds to doctors can influence prescribing habits
2008-02-11 00:05:00
By VALERIE BAUMANAssociated Press Writer12:52 PM EST, February 10, 2008ALBANY, N.Y.Dr. Daniel Carlat sank into a choice seat at Lincoln Center, surrounded by other psychiatrists, all staying at the same four-star hotel in Manhattan and attending the same show for free. His deal with a pharmaceutical company to provide testimonials to other doctors had paid off well."It just kind of gave me a feeling of euphoria," said Carlat, a practicing psychiatrist and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Tufts University in Boston. "Sort of like you've made it into the upper crust of society."The practice of using doctors to pitch products to other doctors is legal, though several states _ including New York _ are trying to curb it. They are opposed by the pharmaceutical industry, which argues the practice is a kind of professional consultation.Carlat was on the "speakers' bureau" for the pharmaceutical companies, speaking to large groups of doctors, or holding intimate, expenses-paid...
More About: Doctors , Habits , Influence , Meds

The Future of Fraud
2008-02-08 16:58:00
Special from Hawaii Free PressBy Andrew Walden, 2/7/2008 12:54:38 PMThe Future of Food, now showing in a handful of independent theaters and activist "house-parties," is the cinematic centerpiece of efforts to pass bills banning some or all genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Hawaii.According to Alter net, "Future" Producer Deborah Koons Garcia says, "I'm hoping this film can be a combination of Silent Spring and The Battle of Algiers. Once you see it you'll feel compelled to act, even if that means just changing the kind of food you eat." Garcia says she often sees people cry during the film, or they "get so freaked out about food that they stay awake at night and end up going through all their cupboards checking ingredients and chucking food." -- See http://www.alternet.org/environment/19628 "Future" is being shown privately by anti-GMO activists in Hawaii and to selected state legislators. "Future" was also shown at least a dozen times in Mendocino County, California, as pa...
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The Antidepressant Scandal – Where Is The Outrage?
2008-02-08 00:38:00
By Bill BurnieceFebruary 07, 2008How Pharmaceutical Companies Are Suppressing Data About The Effectiveness And Safety Of Antidepressant Drugs While The FDA Looks The Other WayWe are being lied to. Our health and safety are being compromised by dangerous antidepressant drugs and the wealthy corporate giants that peddle them.Just a few weeks ago, an alarming report was released by the acclaimed New England Journal Of Medicine proving once again that the pharmaceutical industry has entirely too much influence in Washington, D.C. and specifically with the Food and Drug Administration.For the most part the antidepressant scandal has flown under the radar of most Americans. Perhaps most people missed the story with so much media attention focused on the heated presidential race.In short, the report shows the effectiveness of antidepressant drugs has been severely overhyped. It turns out the pharmaceutical companies that produce antidepressant drugs are publishing the results of only posit...
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Legal threat to PCT drug switching 'bribes'
2008-02-06 16:04:00
The UK pharmaceutical industry is to take its legal challenge over GP prescribing incentives straight to the European Court, in a move which a Pulse investigation reveals could strike out two-thirds of PCT drug switching schemes.A survey of 92 PCTs reveals the precarious position many trusts could be left in, with 67% offering GPs incentives to switch patients’ medication, and 12% paying GPs inducements to circumvent the QOF.Dr Peter Fellows, a member of the GPC prescribing subcommittee and of the advisory council of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said schemes that paid GPs to ignore QOF targets were ‘corrupt’ and compared them with recent political scandals.‘I think this is as bad as [Peter] Hain. If he has lost his job because of not declaring £100,000 in his leadership campaign, why on earth should patients not know that their doctor is being bribed to prescribe a drug that is less good?’ he said.The ABPI was granted a judicial review into the ...
More About: Legal , Drug , Switching , Threat

Nevada firm sues cholesterol drug makers
2008-02-05 17:46:00
February 04, 2008: 11:46 AM ESTFeb. 4, 2008 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) --RENO, Nev. (AP) - A Nevada law firm has sued the makers of popular cholesterol drugs Vytorin and Zetia, claiming Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) and Schering-Plough Corp. (NYSE:SGP PRB) (NYSE:SGP) misled thousands of Nevada heart patients into believing the drugs were more effective than generic ones.The suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Reno by the firm of White, Meany and Wetherall, makes Nevada the latest state with such a consumer fraud complaint. Similar lawsuits have been filed in federal courts across the country, including in California, Florida, New York and Ohio.The lawsuit also alleges Merck and Schering-Plough deliberately delayed for nearly two years a controversial internal study that raised questions about whether Vytorin and Zetia are more effective than generic drugs. The study was released last month under pressure from Congress.The suit, which seeks class-action status, could ...
More About: Makers , Drug , Cholesterol

Conflict of interest: Disclosure is not enough to offset betrayal of trust
2008-02-04 21:52:00
Douglas W. Jackson, MD, poses 4 questions to Howard Brody, MD, PhD, on industry relationships.ORTHOPEDICS TODAY 2008; 28:6February 2008 I am pleased to share with our readers responses from Howard Brody, MD, PhD, to my 4 questions on “conflicts of interest” in dealing with industry. He is the author of Hooked: Ethics, the Medical Profession, and the Pharmaceutical Industry which addresses the relationship between medicine and pharmaceutical companies. We have been issued guidelines for ethical behavior in the past and recently by our medical organizations which imply that there is a good way and an unacceptable way to receive gifts and/or funds from device and drug manufacturers. Dr. Brody helps us interpret the current changes we are experiencing in orthopedic surgery in dealing with surgical device makers. Douglas W. Jackson, MD Chief Medical Editor 4 Questions with Dr. JacksonDouglas W. Jackson, MD: What are some clear-cut determinants of conflicts of interest and...
More About: Conflict , Trust , Interest , Betrayal , Offset

Why many—most?—doctors don’t like generics
2008-02-04 05:03:00
By Sherryl Anne G. Quito, Senior ReporterIs medicine manufacturing and distribution controlled by a multinational cartel? And why do many doctors—maybe most doctors—love it?Most pro-poor NGOs, like Kilos Bayan para sa Kalusugan (KSB), say “yes” to the first question and can easily explain the second.The passage of the Generics Law 20 years ago has not really made the most important generic medicines widely available and affordable to the poor, say KSB and its brethren NGOs.They think this is largely because the law has essentially merely led to the emergence of a two-tiered market, which is still controlled by the big drug companies. These companies merely produce for and market to both tiers and thereby profit from both generic and branded drugs.Generic drugs have limited penetration of the market’s distribution and retail systems. Both are dominated by the established pharmaceutical companies.For example, multinational companies import bulk drugs, 80 percent of which go ...
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Manage Cholesterol and Heart Health Naturally!
2008-02-02 19:01:00
The government recently announced positive plans to diagnose more health problems during early stages of development. They will be working with GP’s, who are using sophisticated testing methods, health screening facilities and more thorough investigations during consultations. The objective is to prevent the worrying increase of life threatening diseases presently occurring, and to reduce the future instance.Health professionals across all areas are working closely with the media to improve information and public advice guidelines, whether it is recommendation for better nutrition and exercise or monitoring cholesterol levels. Highlighting these growing health concerns publicly has proved successful in many ways. These efforts have motivated many people to take more responsibility, improving their personal health needs and/or supporting the health of their family.Mintel reports show a huge growth this year in health products, they say more people than ever will be looking into way...
More About: Heart , Cholesterol , Manage , Naturally

Turn your head and … trust?
2008-02-01 00:10:00
By MetroWest Staff01/31/2008By Ron AmesTake AimWhat does your doctor do to earn your trust? What do you have a right to expect? If you are prescribed drugs, is each prescribed because they are the best, most cost-effective treatment for you? Did you ask about a drug you saw on TV? Do you have a responsibility for our out-of-control health care costs?It is time we ask and answer some tough questions. These questions demand truthful answers from health-care providers, and ourselves, if we are to solve this mess we are all in.“The drug industry doesn’t spend $20 billion or $30 billion a year on advertising prescription drugs unless they believe it has an impact on doctors prescribing,” said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group. “You would probably like to know whether your doctor is getting no money, some money, a lot of money, or a huge amount of money, because it’s going to influence what that doctor decides for you.” There are other ways...
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Two local doctors sue drug representative
2008-01-31 17:12:00
By DEAN OLSENSTAFF WRITERThursday, January 31, 2008Two Springfield doctors and their wives have sued a local representative of a pharmaceutical company for allegedly sending anonymous letters that claimed the couples are heavy drinkers and freeloaders.“These two doctors and their wives feel this conduct can’t be tolerated,” Springfield lawyer Charles Watson said after filing his clients’ defamation lawsuit Friday against Beth Kallal, a pharmaceutical representative for New Jersey-based Merck & Co. Inc. “It’s the type of intimidation that cannot be allowed.”The lawsuit, filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court by internist Dr. Carl Lawyer, family-medicine specialist Dr. Paul Smelter and their wives, seeks more than $50,000 in damages from Merck and Kallal, a Springfield resident.Kallal, who previously denied any connection with the letters, couldn’t be reached for comment this week.The State Journal-Register e-mailed Merck a copy of the lawsuit, but Merck spokeswoman Am...
More About: Doctors , Local , Drug , Representative

Drug company sales visits influenced doctors, study finds...no news good ne
2007-04-25 17:52:00
Drug company sales visits influenced doctors, study finds...Oh well, we did know that didn’t we?“To me, the remarkable thing is how effective a very brief visit by a drug representative –– most often less than five minutes –– can be in influencing physicians' choices to use a drug for an unapproved indication,” Bero said.”Not to mention about money and generous gifts passed on the wonderful doctors, those herous there to SAVE OUR LIVES from the disease…You can read the entire press release here: http://pub.ucsf.edu/newsservices/releases /200704194/I stopped reading half-way though…old story indeed.Well again, we have a choice. Alternative medicine (prevention) vs. traditional medicine (poisonous making money machine).Your call…Alternative Health Tips because pills and drugs are not the only answer. Focusing on prevention.
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Reflections on Drug industry influence and FDA corruption
2007-04-21 18:57:00
Today will be a short post…I am pretty disgusted about what I am about to say so I’ll go straight to the point.Looks like Americans are tired of drug industry influence, FDA bad practices, so they say at least...According to a recent survey from Consumers Reports more than four out of five US Citizens think drug companies have too much influence over the Food and Drug Administration, and 84 percent believe that ADs for prescription drugs with safety concerns should be outlawed.But then again what do we do about it?I’ve heard some saying:Support the Health Freedom Protection Act introduced by Rep. Ron Paul. Learn more at http://www.stopFDAcensorship.org or go to www.StopDrugAds.org but then again is this going to work?Why do we buy they products if we they kill us? Because we need them!!! That’s what everybody says. But is that really true?What is true is that we want a fix and WE WANT IT NOW but, let’s be realistic: we do something wrong and dangerous for our health (i.e....
More About: Industry , Reflections , Corruption , Influence