Tag: osteoporosis

Osteoporosis Drugs: Good Medicine or Big Pharma Scam?

A recent story on NPR accused the drug manufacturer Merck of inventing a disease, osteopenia, in order to sell its drug Fosamax. It showed how the definition of what constitutes a disease evolves, and the role that drug companies can play in that evolution. Osteoporosis is a reduction in bone mineral density that leads to fractures. The most serious are hip fractures,...

/ January 5, 2010

Ultrasound Screening: Misleading the Public

There is a new industry offering preventive health screening services direct to the public. A few years ago it was common to see ads for whole body CT scan screening at free-standing CT centers. That fad sort of faded away after numerous organizations pointed out that there was considerable radiation involved and the dangers outweighed any potential benefits. Now what I most commonly...

/ March 4, 2008