The Muddled World of Medicine

February 11, 2008

The Muddled World of Medicine - NewsGrabs 10 February 2008

Supplements 'reduce malaria toll'

Folate deficiency associated with tripling of dementia risk

ROAD MAP TO AFFORDABLE HEALTH CAREMessage by the Dr Rath Foundation

Marketing OverdoseThe pharmaceutical industry spends US$60 billion on drugs marketing each year, twice as much as it spends on research and development

Prescription Drugs that Can Kill You - Is there a safer way?Too many pharmaceuticals just aren't safe. The shocking truth is that drug complications are the third leading cause of death in America!

Medicaid and Psychiatric Drug PrescriptionsPsychiatrist Dr. Mark Olfson of Columbia University, had expressed astonishment at the findings of two studies that he had conducted (2006, 2007): one, showed a 40-fold increase in children diagnosed as "bipolar disorder." His study found that "psychiatrists made almost 90% of the diagnoses, and two-thirds of the young patients were boys."

UK: Care homes sedating Alzheimer patients could lead to early deathDangerous drugs are being prescribed to sedate thousands of Alzheimer's sufferers in care homes, campaigners claimed yesterday

Epilepsy Drugs double suicide riskThe risk of suicide or other suicidal behavior doubles for patients taking any one of 11 drugs prescribed to millions of people for epilepsy, pain, psychiatric illnesses and other disorders, the Food and Drug Administration said in an alert to physicians Thursday.

Glaxo Hid Suicide Data In Paxil StudiesThat's the angle the New Scientist takes on recently released court documents from a lawsuit against Paxil's maker, GSK.

Merck Will Pay $650M To Settle Medicaid Fraud ChargesThe drugmaker failed to pay the appropriate rebates to Medicaid and other goverment health care program, and also paid kickbacks to doctors and hospitals to induce them to prescribe various meds. The allegations were brought in two separate lawsuits filed by whistleblowers under the False Claims Act. Merck has also agreed to a Corporate Integrity Agreement, which means good behavior is now required for the next five years.

Novartis Fungal Med Tied To DeathsThree people have died and several others suffered serious reactions after taking Lamisil, which is used to treat ringworm and nail fungal problems, according to Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration

Side Effects Made Simple: Shopper's Guide to 22 Worthless DrugsFrom Abilify and Adderall to Xanax, Zoloft and Zyprexa, this page lists 22 drugs for which side effects as reported to the FDA's MedWatch program have been listed in alphabetical order. Most of these drugs have more than a thousand distinct side effects, and some of them as many as 2000.

Consumers Union: Tell the FDA what you think about drug adsGoal: 50,000 signatures in two weeks!Fed up with TV ads that sell you the “good news” about prescription drugs but gloss over the shortcomings? Do these drugs actually work? And how common are those side effects? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will soon decide whether these TV ads should include a toll-free number and web address where you can report side effects or other problems. The drug companies don't like this idea. They don’t want their ads used to help identify potential problems with their products. But if we have to watch these endless ads, we should at least be able to easily report to the FDA how these medicines really work! Add your name to the FDA petition!

Lilly - Settlement Talks With U.S - But what about the death toll?Eli Lilly and federal prosecutors are discussing a settlement of a civil and criminal investigation into the company's marketing of the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa that could result in Lilly's paying more than $1 billion to federal and state governments. If a deal is reached, the fine would be the largest ever paid by a drug company for breaking the federal laws that govern how drug makers can promote their medicines.

The Muddled World Of MedicineFor the last 30 years in our culture, we've been doing medical research on a scale never seen in human history and doctors have been making sweeping pronouncements about how individuals should live and how society should order human behavior. We've got food bans, smoking bans and depression screenings in schools, and yet none of that seems to be having the effect on human health that the proponents of various theories claimed they had evidence of. That's just weird.

So what happened? How did medicine become so muddled? I don't even have a theory. Do you?

Discovery backs theory oil not 'fossil fuel'A study published in Science Magazine today presents new evidence supporting the abiotic theory for the origin of oil, which asserts oil is a natural product the Earth generates constantly rather than a "fossil fuel" derived from decaying ancient forests and dead dinosaurs.

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