It has been a good while since I reported on drugs like epoetin, used to stimulate the body to make more red blood cells to counteract the anemia associated with end-stage kidney disease and cancer. My early post: http://brodyhooked.blogspot.com/search?q=dialysis– commented mostly on the payment system that tempted dialysis and cancer docs to prescribe more of these drugs than was necessary or safe. But new information now suggests that the truth about the harms and lack of benefit MORE...

Dr. Michael S. Wilkes of UC-Davis (and NPR), who has been eloquent in addressing issues around the ethics and professionalism of drug marketing, widened his gaze in an editorial a while back:http://www.springerlink.com/content/0798016272844307/ He commented on another article in the journal on the marketing of genetic screening tests. It is generally agreed that while genetic testing can be very valuable for individuals or families known to be at high risk for an inherited disease, genetic MORE...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a reminder to the public of the danger posed to young children by patches containing the painkiller fentanyl. Young children, largely because of their curiosity, are at high risk of exposure to fentanyl if patches are within their reach. The patches contain a high concentration of a powerful narcotic, and even used patches can retain as much as fifty percent of the drug’s original potency. Improper use of the patch could result in a MORE...

It’s often said today that Congress is totally dysfunctional and cannot agree on anything due to the huge partisan culture war. Well, the good news is that there’s bipartisan cooperation on at least one issue. The bad news is that it’s all in favor of handing the foxes at the pharmaceutical and medical device industries the key to the FDA henhouse.  The estimable Merrill Goozner: http://gooznews.com/?p=3914–has blogged about the latest renewal round of the MORE...

Letters of Warning for me (K**** H*****), (Three Pee Ex), and my former district pharmacy supervisor. These letters are not disciplinary, and do not impact pharmacy licenses in any way. Effectively, a slap on the wrist. I am relieved that this is the extent of the Board’s punishment for me – and now that it is over, I am exhausted. Tweet This Post MORE...

Okay, I admit that I’m confused. Last November I posted this about a $1.3B legal settlement paid by Abbott Laboratories over off-label marketing of its drug, valproic acid (Depakote):http://brodyhooked.blogspot.com/2011/11/back-to-standard-form-letter-abbott.html Now I learn from our friends at the Health Care Renewal blog that Bloomberg News just announced a $1.6B settlement from Abbott over the same drug for the same MORE...

I just finished listening to the latest issue of Primary Care Medical Abstracts from my friends Rick Bukata and Jerry Hoffman, which means that I have some more recent articles from the medical literature to comment on. This time the theme is: stuff practitioners believe to be true based on the way that Pharma marketing has flooded the medical airwaves, that may actually not be true at all. Chapter 1: Even if the Prozac class of antidepressants are not necessarily more effective than the MORE...

The K***** H***** and Three Pee Ex Preliminary Hearing is happening right now. Tweet This Post MORE...

A while back I posted on the controversy about the drugs Avastin and Lucentis:http://brodyhooked.blogspot.com/2007/10/retinal-specialists-get-integrity-award.html Quick recap: Eye specialists found out almost by accident that a drug intended for cancer, Avastin, was really good for a particular eye condition, wet macular degeneration, and was also quite inexpensive. The maker, Genentech, then marketed a newer cousin of Avastin, called Lucentis, which of course they priced up the wazoo, and MORE...

I recently had the privilege of attending the very important conference in Boston called Avoiding Avoidable Care (about how to both improve quality and reduce costs by avoiding the use of nenbeneficial tests and treatments), and there met Dr. Barbara H. Roberts, a cardiologist who heads the Women’s Cardiac Center at Miriam Hospital in Providence, RI. I therefore learned about her new book, The Truth About Statins: Risks and Alternatives to Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs (New York: Pocket MORE...

The talk about establishing a third class of medications — not requiring a prescription but being sold only after pharmacist consultation — is (I feel) a worthwhile attempt to bring down some of the costs of health care in the United States.  Canada and many European countries already do this.  We already have a multitude of prescriptions written by non-M.D. prescribers, and to be honest, I think I am at least as qualified as some of them to offer someone an ounce of MORE...

There is a reason why I chose a feminine puppet.  The majority of new pharmacists are women.  Women have a horse in this race, but I don’t get the feeling that many of the pharmacist who comment here are women.  I have been a feminist since the Equal Rights Amendment days of the early 1970s.  This amendment was first introduced by Alice Paul in 1921.  It did not pass Congress until 1972.  IT HAS NEVER BEEN RATIFIED BY THE NECESSARY 38 states.  Equal Rights is NOT the law of the MORE...

Received an e-mail from K*****. It read: “The hearing is at 4pm on Monday the 14th. I do not believe it is open to the public”‘ MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012.  North Carolina Board of Pharmacy offices. 6015 Farrington Road, Suite 201, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A preliminary hearing will be conducted.  K***** H**** will be charged with violating the Pharmacy Practice Act.  He was the pharmacy manager at the Three Pee Ex store.  He was working with a marginal technician.  His MORE...

A child in Henrico County, Virginia suffered a serious overdose after a mixup of two drugs with similar names caused him to receive a powerful painkiller instead of his intended medication. The child reportedly recovered fully, but required hospitalization and gave his family and doctors quite a scare. Although there is no indication that the child’s family is pursuing legal action against the pharmacy, the pharmacist who filled the prescription received a reprimand from Virginia’s Board MORE...

Submitted by a shitpot full of people, the FDA has gotten this wonderful idea to allow people (read: idiots) to buy Rx prescriptions OTC using a kiosk rather than a Doctor to issue the Rx. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/29/fda-may-let-patients-buy-drugs-without-prescriptio/?page=all The jist of the article (for those too lazy to read it), is that you would go to a kiosk, and via a handy flow chart be able to obtain an Rx for antibiotics (!!) hypertension medication, cholestrol MORE...