Tag: Big Pharma
Government watchdog warns about paid physician speeches touting drugs and medical devices
Paid speeches at lavish events touting drugs and medical devices risk charges of anti-kickback law violations, warns a recent government Special Fraud Alert. Will companies and doctors take heed this time?
Drug shortages are worsening, and there are no simple solutions
Drug shortages, which worsen medical care and patient outcomes, are becoming more and more common. A new Task Force report from the FDA offers a potential way forward.
R&D and the High Cost of Drugs
Until a year ago very few people had ever heard of Martin Shkreli. In 2015 the then-32-year-old CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals LLC became the poster boy for Big Pharma eXXXcesses when Turing acquired rights to Daraprim, an antiparasitic drug used widely to treat toxoplasmosis. The acquisition itself wasn’t particularly controversial. Raising the price of Daraprim from $13.50 per pill to $750 per...
Answering Our Critics, Part 1 of 2
Some people don’t like what we have to say on Science-Based Medicine. Some attack specific points while others attack our whole approach. Every mention of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) elicits protests in the Comments section from “true believer” users and practitioners of CAM. Every mention of a treatment that has been disproven or has not been properly tested elicits testimonials from...
Bad Pharma: A Manifesto to Fix the Pharmaceutical Industry
“There is no medicine without medicines” write Ben Goldacre in his new book Bad Pharma. To Goldacre, an author, journalist and physician, this cause is personal. The title, a reference to both his first book, Bad Science, as well as the pharmaceutical industry’s nickname Big Pharma, is a bit of a misnomer. While the focus is pharmaceutical companies and their actions, there are...
Lessons from the History of Insulin
On my recent trip to Nashville for CSICon, I took advantage of the long hours on the plane to read Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle, by Thea Cooper and Arthur Ainsberg. One of our commenters recommended it. I’m not sure who (was it Chris?), but I want to thank you. It’s the history...