Big
Pharma self-medicates in a bid to lift ailing returns - July 27, 2008
Big pharmaceutical companies are looking for new sources of profit. Many
blockbuster medicines are coming off patent and prices for prescription drugs
are falling as governments and health insurers demand bigger discounts. In the
US
, the public has turned against the drug firms, which for years
could push through huge price increases thanks to their marketing clout and
influence on Capitol Hill.
Should
Doctors be Selling Drugs for the Pharmaceutical Industry? ?June 20,
2008
Are senior doctors who help drug companies sell their drugs independent experts
or just drug representatives in disguise, asks Ray Moynihan from the University
of Newcastle in Australia, in the British Medical Journal.
Drug
Spending Moves Up for Diabetes, Down for Cholesterol - May 15, 2008
In health spending, how many people are being treated for a disease can be a lot
less important than how much it costs to treat each person. That's what we took
from this report out today from Medco, the pharmacy benefits manager.
Use of diabetes drugs increased only 2.3% last year, but spending rose 12%. The
big driver was the introduction of new, expensive medicines that replace or are
added to older, cheaper ones.
More
Americans are Taking Prescription Medications - May 14, 2008
Experts say the data reflect not just worsening public health but better
medicines for chronic conditions and more aggressive treatment by doctors. For
example, more people are now taking blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering
medicines because they need them, said Dr. Daniel W. Jones, president of the
American Heart Association.
In addition, there is the pharmaceutical industry's relentless advertising. With
those factors unlikely to change, doctors say the proportion of Americans on
chronic medications can only grow.
Alzheimer's rates
expected to climb among minority elderly - April 28, 2008
As research findings coalesce around a collection of risk factors for
Alzheimer's disease, it is becoming obvious that poor and minority populations
-- the ones most likely to harbor risk factors such as hypertension and
diabetes --also are more likely than whites to encounter this brain disorder.
Why isn't the richest
country in the world the healthiest? - July 3, 2007
Americans die younger and spend more years disabled than our counterparts in
Canada
and
Europe. Our infant mortality rate is higher,
too. And yet, even though the most common objections to nationalized health
care from its opponents in the
U.S.
are that it's too expensive, too restrictive and too
inefficient, we spend way more money on health care than they do. Why, if our
health care is the best in the world and we spend more money on it than anyone
else and the free market is a marvel of efficiency, aren't our results the best
in the world?
How
to dispose of Rx drugs safely - July 5, 2007
With the rise in prescription drug abuse, three federal agencies issued
guidelines earlier this year for disposing of medications without harming the
environment.
Study finds higher drug costs discourage use -
July 4, 2007
Pushing more of the cost of prescription drugs onto consumers causes patients to
cut back, sometimes with adverse health consequences, according to a review of
two decades worth of studies published on Tuesday.
Vitamin D: Will it fight disease where others have failed?
- June 11, 2007
Calls by scientists to increase vitamin D intake have been getting louder over
the last few years, making it the latest in a line of vitamins touted as a
cancer preventive.