Top stories in health and medicine, June 17, 2014
From MedPage Today:
Victoza Lowers Glucose in Genetic Form of Diabetes. Liraglutide (Victoza) works roughly as well as standard sulfonylurea treatment for an inherited type of diabetes but with less hypoglycemia.
Canola Oil Cuts Heart Risk in Diabetes. Adding canola oil to the diet improved glycemic control and reduced cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetes in one study, while an overall healthier diet reduced risk of developing diabetes in another.
Puberty Hormone Tied to Premature Ovarian Failure. Kisspeptin hormones may play a key role in premature ovarian failure and in the control of oocyte biology.
Lower-Cost Gener...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 17, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: MedPage Today Tags: News Cancer Diabetes Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
Clinical Care Options to Present Key Findings on Oncology/Hematology Practice Gaps and the Influence of Online Tools in Breast Cancer Assessments.
This week, Clinical Care Options (CCO) gave presentations to discuss key findings from two important education assessments. The first study provides evidence of significant lapses in oncology and hematology treatment practice; the second highlights the importance of online tools in breast cancer assessments.
CCO a leading company in the development of medical education programs and innovative education technology, reaching clinicians in 200 countries around the world.
The company focuses on specialty areas, including oncology, HIV, hematology, and hepatitis.
Practice Gaps and Barriers to Optimal Care Among H...
Source: Policy and Medicine - December 12, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
How much is a month of life worth?
This may be a strange question because prices for anything are determined by markets, and there is no market for a month of life – unless it is your life. Then the question is how much would you pay for that month or, how much would you ask your insurance company or Medicare to pay? I bring this up because of my concern (as well as many other people) about the cost of new cancer drugs. When I first began practicing oncology, it was an exciting time. Many new cancer chemotherapy drugs were being developed, and many of them had major benefits for patients. Also, they were not very expensive. We would be shocked if a cours...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - October 2, 2013 Category: Oncologists Source Type: blogs
Leukemia Drug May Stop Dementia Related Plaque Buildup
An existing drug already used to treat leukemia has shown promise as a treatment for neurological diseases such as Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Researchers from Georgetown University successfully used small doses of the drug nilotinibin in experiments using mice. This drug, which is used to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), appears to eliminate abnormal protein build-up in the... (Source: Carol Bradley Bursack's SharePosts)
Source: Carol Bradley Bursack's SharePosts - May 15, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
Oncologists get serious about drug prices
Discussion quickly turns to “rationing,” and “death panels,” which no one wants to be associated with, and as a result the federal government has done almost everything possible to make sure cost effectiveness and overall costs are ignored in policy making.
Those closer to the action know better. In particular:
Many costly treatments aren’t worth the money
New treatments with tiny or no benefits often cost a multiple of existing therapies
Despite their reputation for penny-pinching, health plans are often not aggressive in negotiating price
Patients are already suffering mightily from high co...
Source: Health Business Blog - April 26, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: David E. Williams of the Health business blog Tags: Pharma Physicians Policy and politics Source Type: blogs
Doctors getting on the cost bandwagon
I have long been whined commented on the high price of medications. I find the high price of new medications combined with the laughable rationale given by the drug manufacturers ridiculous.Not to put a dollar value on a human life, but a drug that costs upwards of $10,000 per month and may extend life only a few months, is crazy. You can say that few actually pay the full price but we all pay the prices in the form of higher insurance premiums.A group of more than 100 doctors, mostly oncologists, from fifteen countries, have banded together to blast the high cost of cancer care."The doctors and researchers, who specialize...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - April 26, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: insurance costs cancer treatment rebelling medical costs Source Type: blogs
Doctors Denounce Cancer Drug Prices of $100,000 a Year
With the cost of some lifesaving cancer drugs exceeding $100,000 a year, more than 100 influential cancer specialists from around the world have taken the unusual step of banding together in hopes of persuading some leading pharmaceutical companies to bring prices down.
Prices for cancer drugs have been part of the debate over health care costs for several years — and recently led to a public protest from doctors at a major cancer center in New York. But the decision by so many specialists, from more than 15 countries on five continents, to join the effort is a sign that doctors, who are on the front lines of caring for...
Source: PharmaGossip - April 26, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Docs call drugmakers 'profiteers' for costs of cancer meds - FiercePharma
via fiercepharma.com The doctors called out as an example, Novartis' ($NVS) Gleevec, a treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia. They pointed out that it came on the market at a cost of $30,000 a year in 2001 and now runs three times that even though it now has competition. Read more: Docs call drugmakers 'profiteers' for costs of cancer meds - FiercePharma http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/docs-call-drugmakers-profiteers-costs-cance... Subscribe at FiercePharma Posted via email from Jack's posterous (Source: PharmaGossip)
Source: PharmaGossip - April 26, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
2012: Banner Year for New Drugs
Fueled by new cancer therapeutics, last year the annual new molecular and biological entity approval count from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) saw its highest year since 1997. One-third of the novel products approved by the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) are used to treat cancers of the blood, breast, colon, prostate, skin and thyroid.
As part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) promotes and protects the health of Americans by assuring that all prescription and over-the-counter drugs are safe and effective. The CDE...
Source: Highlight HEALTH - February 13, 2013 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Walter Jessen, Ph.D. Source Type: blogs
FDA: Enrichment Strategies to Improve Efficiency of Drug Development
Conclusion
Temple noted that there are some issues with predictive enrichment. One is that you always believe the characteristic you use to enrich predicts the good responders; it may not do this as well as you hope. So it’s very important to characterize the test that leads you to select those patients; then see whether it’s true that patients with the characteristic always (or most of the time) respond, and that patients without the characteristic don’t respond very much.
An issue to consider in any enrichment design is how much you need to study the people who don’t have the enrichment characteristic...
Source: Policy and Medicine - February 12, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
USMLE Questions – Characteristic Disease Findings
The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) is designed to emphasize knowledge of clinical scenarios and clinical pearls, even on Step I. Listed below are some commonly encountered disease findings and characteristics.
Feature
Disease
45, X chromosome
Turner’s syndrome
5-HIAA increased in urine
Carcinoid syndrome
Aganglionic rectum
Hirschsrpung’s disease
Apple-core sign on barium enema
Colon cancer
Arched back (opisthotonos)
Tetanus
Argyll-Robertson pupil
Syphilis
Ash leaf on forehead
Tuberous sclerosis
Auer rods
Acute myelogenous leukemia
Austin Flint murmur
Aortic regurgitation...
Source: Inside Surgery - January 18, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Editor Tags: Surgpedia USMLE diseases findings VMA water hammer pulse Source Type: blogs
