FDA Approves New Omega-3 Supplement
The FDA has approved a new omega-3 supplement for the treatment of adults with severe hypertriglyceridemia, defined as triglyceride levels 500 mg/dL or higher. The drug, which will be marketed under the brand name of Epanova, is manufactured by AstraZeneca, which acquired the drug when it purchased Omthera Pharmaceuticals in 2013. … Click here to read the full post on Forbes. (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - May 6, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes Amarin Epanova Fish oil Lovaza omega-3 triglycerides Vascepa Source Type: blogs
Diabetes Australia bungles dietary advice
A Wheat Belly Blog reader passed this exchange between his father and a dietitian representing the Australian Diabetic Association onto me. While nearly all of you are no strangers to the ignorance exhibited by defenders of the dietary status quo, it occasionally helps to hear their arguments articulated. You are readily reminded just how many “holes” there are in their arguments to consume more “healthy whole grains.”
My father was a very serious diabetic, but I slowly got him off the wheat last December. Now his diabetes is the best it’s been in 20 years!
He was so disappointed with Diabet...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - March 17, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Diabetes Source Type: blogs
AstraZeneca has now changed its focus, moving from "milestone seeking
behaviour" to "truth seeking behaviour"
http://www.pharmaphorum.com/news/astrazeneca-now-led-by-science-not-commercial-milestones-says-rd-head? (Source: PharmaGossip)
Source: PharmaGossip - March 15, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Pharmaceutical Companies Drastically Cut Speaker Payments for Doctors
A number of large pharmaceutical companies have greatly reduced payments to healthcare professionals for promotional speeches. ProPublica reports that GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer have dropped their speaking payments by over 60% from 2011 to 2012. Eli Lilly reduced their spending by 55%, from $47.9 million in 2011 to $21.6 million in 2012. During the same period, Novartis reduced their spending from $24.8 million to $14.8 million.
ProPublica states that the sharp drop in payments coincides with the large settlement figures pharmaceutical companies have forked over to the government for their marketing practices, including ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - March 7, 2014 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Warning about Ketamine in the American Journal of Psychiatry
The dissociative anesthetic and ravey club drug ketamine has been hailed as a possible “miracle” cure for depression. In contrast to the delayed action of standard antidepressants such as SSRIs, the uplifting effects of Special K are noticeable within an hour. “Experimental Medication Kicks Depression in Hours Instead of Weeks,” says the National Institute of Mental Health. NIMH has been bullish on ketamine for years now. Prominent researchers Duman and Aghajanian called it the “the most important discovery in half a century” in a recent Science review.But in 2010, I pondered whether this use of ...
Source: The Neurocritic - March 5, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
Oh dear.
Pharma’s reputation ‘getting worse’Published on 17/02/14 at 08:14amGSK was among 33 companies listed in the surveyThe pharma industry’s reputation is getting worse - at least, in the eyes of 800 patient groups - according to a new international survey by PatientView.Of those which responded to questioning in November and December last year, 35.4% said that multinational pharma companies had either an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ reputation in 2013.While this is about the same result as in 2012, it is well below 2011 when 41% of respondents gave that answer.The survey defined corporate reputation as “the extent t...
Source: PharmaGossip - February 17, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Moving Beyond Numbers: How Pharma Can Add Value to Outcome-Based Medicine
Today's guest post comes from Catherine Price. She participated as a panelist at ePharma Summit 2014, is a freelance consultant, journalist and diabetes advocate who’s been living with Type 1 diabetes since 2001. You can find out more about her and her work at diabetesetcetera.com. Follow her on Twitter at @catherine_price.It was an honor to have the chance to give a patient’s perspective at yesterday’s ePharma panel, “Pharma’s New Value Proposition” with fellow panelists Brian Sweet from AstraZeneca, Dave Moore from Cempra, and Jeffrey Farber from Mount Sinai (and moderated by Healthgrades.com’s Brad Grane...
Source: ePharma Summit - February 14, 2014 Category: Medical Marketing and PR Tags: ePharma ePharma Summit Patient physician dialogue Pharma and patients Pharma interaction with patients Source Type: blogs
#ePharma 2014: Highlights from Main Conference Day 1
Kicking off ePharma with a NY Giants helmet and a few perfect spirals, Chairman Paul Ivans led our opening remarks. Ivans began by reminding us that 10 years ago sites like Youtube, Pinterest, Twitter, Remedy, were nonexistent. So we know that the digital revolution changed the industry, but how will the healthcare revolution change the industry? Ivans also addressed the current state of the Healthcare in America, “It’s broken” he said. Ivans also touched on the idea of aligning healthcare systems around common goals. Technology is expanding the way we manage our healthcare. Devices like wearables and information sys...
Source: ePharma Summit - February 11, 2014 Category: Medical Marketing and PR Tags: 2014 ePharma Summit AstraZeneca athenahealth Bristol-Myers Squibb Digital Marketing for Pharma evidera futurethink geisinger medical management company Manhattan Research Merck Company Source Type: blogs
FDA Investigating Heart Failure Risk Linked To Onglyza
The FDA said today that it was conducting an investigation of a possible increased risk for heart failure associated with the diabetes drug saxagliptin. Saxagliptin is marketed by AstraZeneca as Onglyza and Kombiglyze XR. (AstraZeneca recently completed the purchase of all rights to the drug from its manufacturer, BristolMyers-Squibb.) The investigation stems from findings from the cardiovascular outcomes trial SAVOR-TIMI 53 trial in which more than 16,000 type 2 diabetics were randomized to the DPP-4 inhibitor saxagliptin or placebo. … Click here to read the full post on Forbes. (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - February 11, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Heart Failure People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes diabetes DPP-4 inhibitors FDA Saxagliptin Source Type: blogs
FDA gets on Onglyza's case
The Food and Drug Administration has requested clinical trial data from AstraZeneca on saxagliptin, which is marketed on its own as Onglyza or in combination with an oral hyperglycemic drug as Kombilgyze XR, for type-2 diabetes.The FDA request resulted from a large study called the SAVOR trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine last September. The study reported an increased rate of hospitalization for heart failure with use of saxagliptin, compared with a placebo group. The figures were 3.5% for the saxagliptin group compared with 2.8% in the placebo group, in a total of 16,492 patients.Read more: http://www...
Source: PharmaGossip - February 11, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Big Pharma presses US to quash cheap drug production in India
Reuters / Srdjan ZivulovicPowerful global pharmaceutical firms are leaning on the United States government to discourage India from allowing the production and sale of affordable generic drugs still on-patent, according to inside sources close to the matter.According to two senior officials, an Indian government committee is reviewing patented drugs from foreign companies for opportunities to spin certain medications into low-cost, generic versions. The drugs up for analysis are used to treat cancer, diabetes, hepatitis, and HIV, the sources told Reuters. They would not expand on the review process or on the timeline for a...
Source: PharmaGossip - February 7, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
AstraZeneca suffers more job cuts amid competition from cheaper rivals
AstraZeneca is cutting another 550 roles around the world on top of more than 5,000 previous cuts as it looks to ramp up annual savings to £675million.It said the extra jobs cull, which it has already revealed to staff, would affect UK workers in IT teams at two sites in the Northwest.The company is trying to save cash as patents on many of its best-selling older drugs expire, opening the way for rivals to sell cheaper versions.The trend drove a six per cent drop in sales last year to £15.8bill ion and more than halved operating profi ts to £2.3billion.The group also expects a fall in the low to...
Source: PharmaGossip - February 7, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Join us at ePharma with the $995 One Day Rate
ePharma starts this coming Monday. Are you on our list of registered attendees? We would really like to see you join us and more than 500 of your digital marketing peers stemming from pharma, biotechs, medical device companies and agencies at the leading industry event on February 10-12th. However, we understand that taking three days out of the office may just not be in the cards for you. With that in mind, we have just announced our $995 One-Day Pass* that includes access to all the keynotes, sessions, and Exhibit Hall on Tuesday, February 11th.This One-Day Pass can give you the flexibility you need to still be part of t...
Source: ePharma Summit - February 6, 2014 Category: Medical Marketing and PR Tags: ePharma ePharma Summit Source Type: blogs
Which companies can you meet at ePharma 2014?
One of the benefits of attending ePharma, taking place in less than two weeks, is that you have the opportunity to learn directly from pharma and biotech executives as they share some of their insight into what works. With more than 37 pharmaceutical speakers hailing from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Merck, and Ironwood to just name a few, plus dozens of speakers from leading agencies and solution providers, ePharma moves past the buzzwords and gets to the heart of what really works when creating and executing marketing campaigns so you can recreate success. Better yet, when you register now, you and your company will joi...
Source: ePharma Summit - January 31, 2014 Category: Medical Marketing and PR Tags: ePharma Summit Who is attending ePharma Source Type: blogs
Little-Noticed Diabetes Care Developments of 2013
As we approach the new year (2014!), although I haven't blogged as much as I did a number of years ago, there were a few things which, in my opinion, deserve acknowledgement as they relate to diabetes care. One of the biggest (perhaps), yet less acknowledged, developments was mergers and acquisitions in the diabetes care space. Although I follow this stuff, sometimes even I lose track of who acquired who and what their new names are (when they change the name of the company).Bristol Myers Squibb: In Again, Out Again (... Of Diabetes Care, That Is). Novo's Danish Delusions.My readers may recall that last y...
Source: Scott's Web Log - January 1, 2014 Category: Diabetes Tags: 2013 2014 Annual Review AstraZeneca Bristol Myers Squibb CanAm FDA JDRF Lilly Medtronic NIDDK NIH Nipro Novo Nordisk Teva Wal-Mart Source Type: blogs
