Category: Pharmaceuticals
When Drugs Cost Too Much
Our ability to develop new drugs is fast outstripping our ability to pay for them; some are exorbitantly expensive and not very effective. Funds are limited, and as a society we need to have a serious discussion about how they are to be allocated.
A closer look at generic drugs
In the struggle to contain growing healthcare costs, generic drugs have the potential to save millions. What gives us confidence they are equivalent to brand-name drugs?
Anti-inflammatory drugs and heart attacks: How real are the risks?
A new study provides more evidence that anti-inflammatory drugs like naproxen and ibuprofen cause small but real increases in the risk of heart attacks.
The cruel sham that is right-to-try raises its ugly head at the federal level again
Ill-advised right-to-try bills are spreading like kudzu through state legislatures. Now federal legislators want to insert right-to-try language into the bill that funds FDA drug approval. Given the support of powerful Republicans like Vice President Mike Pence for right-to-try, is it too late to stop this juggernaut and protect patients?
Bills remove impediments to ill-advised state “right to try” laws, shield wrongdoers, and hide adverse events
Congressional bills will unleash state "right to try" laws, block terminally ill patients from redress for damages caused by negligent doctors and drug companies, and hide adverse drug events from the public.
Do anti-inflammatory drugs effectively treat spinal pain?
While anti-inflammatory drugs are commonly used to treat back pain, a new review suggests that they may not provide meaningful benefits to most people.
Donald Trump versus the FDA: Is the standard of evidence for drug approval actually too low rather than too high?
All of the candidates being considered by President Trump for FDA Commissioner believe that the FDA is too strict in its standards for approving new drugs. In a commentary in Nature last week, two bioethicists argued that, at least in terms of preclinical data, the standard of evidence is actually too low. Which is correct?
How accurately do physicians estimate risk and benefit?
A new study suggests that physicians tend to overestimate the benefits of treatments, tests, and screening tests, while also underestimating harms.
Donald Trump and Peter Thiel vs. the FDA: Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Donald Trump's three most likely picks for FDA Commissioner all favor loosening drug approval standards. Two are cronies of Peter Thiel, of which one believes that the FDA shouldn't require evidence of efficacy, only safety, and the other believes that a "Yelp for drugs" would do a better job than the FDA. The third candidate is a bona fide, honest-to-goodness pharma shill....
Drug therapy is still sending too many people to the emergency department
Prescription drugs continue to send thousands to the emergency room every year. Many of these adverse drug events are predictable and avoidable.