A new therapy for osteoporosis: Romosozumab
Osteoporosis is a condition in which bones become porous (less dense) and weaker. It affects 10 million people in the United States: approximately eight million women and two million men. As bone weakens, people are more likely to experience fractures, especially in the spine, hip, and forearm. This causes pain, diminishes a person’s ability to function, and reduces quality of life. Anything that can lower the risk of osteoporosis and fractures has major positive public health implications. That’s why a new drug called romosozumab is getting a lot of attention.
Which medications can help treat osteoporosis?
There are c...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - July 17, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: David M. Slovik, MD Tags: Bones and joints Menopause Osteoporosis Women's Health Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 55-year-old woman with an eating disorder
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 55-year-old woman is evaluated for a new-patient visit. Medical history is significant for an eating disorder. Although she has maintained a normal weight for the past 20 years, she notes that prior to that time her weight would fluctuate in a range correlating with BMIs of 17 to 19. She has otherwise been healthy and currently feels well. She is postmenopausal and a never-smoker. Family history is significant for postmenopausal osteoporosis in her mother. Her medications are over-the-counter calcium and vitam...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - July 23, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > Tags: Conditions Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 54-year-old woman asking advice about bone health
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 54-year-old woman comes to the office for advice regarding maintaining bone health. She has no history of fracture. The patient recently had a lumpectomy and radiation therapy to treat breast cancer, is currently taking tamoxifen, and will begin taking an aromatase inhibitor in 2 months. She underwent menopause at age 52 years and has persistent hot flushes. Her risk factors for osteoporosis include a slim body habitus and a mother who had a hip fracture at age 67 years.
Physical examination findings, includin...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 21, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: mksap Tags: Conditions Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
Eli Lilly promises major cost cuts
U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly, which is trying to rebound from painful patent expirations on its medicines, said it would have to cut costs to achieve its financial goals through 2014, but would buy back $5 billion of its stock over time.
Lilly said that slowing growth in emerging markets and the devaluation of Japan's yen were hurting its results. These "headwinds" will make it challenging for the company to meet its minimum revenue goal of $20 billion in 2014, Chief Financial Officer Derica Rice said in a release.
Rice said Lilly was looking for appropriate ways to reach the revenue goal and would reduce costs to meet its obj...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 3, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Preventive Medicine or Too Much of a Good Thing
When do we draw the line for preventive medicine? The latest ASCO guidelines for high risk, post menopausal women to prevent breast cancer recommend proactively taking Evista, Aromasin, or Tamoxifen to reduce risk. I had already heard about Tamoxifen but not Evista or Aromasin.When I first read this the first thing that jumped into my tiny chemo-fogged/fibro-fogged brain is this a big ploy by the pharmaceutical companies to generate millions of new patients? That would be a huge conspiracy theory that I immediately pushed away.The next thing that leaped into my tiny chemo-fogged/fibro-fogged brain is that its getting to be...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - August 9, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: breast cancer cancer prevention healthy living over treatment Source Type: blogs
Lilly Freezes Pay Raises For Employees In Response To Generics
REPEATING FROM LAST NIGHT: Two months after disclosing plans to lay off more than 1,600 sales reps (back story), Eli Lilly is now planning to suspend base pay raises for most employees - including executives - next year and reduce employee bonuses that are paid in 2015 in a cost-cutting move that is designed to save some $400 million through 2016.
The move comes as the drugmaker faces significant competition from low-cost generics. The patent on the Cymbalta antidepressant, which generated $4 billion in global sales last year, expires in December and then next year, the patent on the Evista osteoperosis treatment, which ...
Source: Pharmalot - July 18, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Eli Lilly to Freeze Employee Base Pay Ahead of Generic Onslaught
NEW YORK — U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co, which expects to lose about 20 percent of its global revenue next year due to the expiration of key drug patents, is suspending base pay increases for most employees in 2014 to cut costs.
At the end of this year Lilly's current biggest product, the antidepressant Cymbalta, will lose patent protection while copycat forms of its $1 billion-a-year Evista osteoporosis drug are due to arrive in early 2014.
The company has also decided to reduce employee bonuses paid out in 2015 for their performance in 2014.
The news came just months after the drugmaker decided to layoff ab...
Source: PharmaGossip - July 18, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Why not try to prevent breast cancer?
Can we do that? The answer is yes! I’ve talked about risk factors for breast cancer that can be lowered. We know that staying slim, exercising, not taking post-menopausal hormones containing progesterone can reduce a woman’s risk of breast cancer. But we can’t change a woman’s genes. If a woman has the wrong genes, then all these things can help, but not enough. There are drugs that can reduce breast cancer risk. These are called SERMs – an abbreviation that says that these drugs attach to sites on cells where estrogen attaches. It is thought that estrogen fuels breast cancer growth. The first of these SERMs was...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - May 13, 2013 Category: Oncologists Source Type: blogs
Breast cancer risk reduction
There is a new trend in women who are deemed to be at high risk for breast cancer to have a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy. A mastectomy is not minor surgery and comes with its own set of risks. Women who then want reconstruction can be faced with months of additional surgery as well as the issue of implant replacement later in life. Other side effects can linger such as lymphedema for a lifetime.A new government task force (who is spending our money on these things) announced that high risk women should consider taking either tamoxifen or raloxifene to reduce their risk. While the drugs carry their own risks, the...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - April 22, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: cancer risk breast cancer treatment Source Type: blogs
Eli Lilly & Co. Laying Off 1,000 Sales Representatives in U.S. in Major
Restructuring -Source
Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) plans to lay off about 1,000 sales representatives in the U.S., in a major restructuring that aims to cut the drug maker's costs in preparation for generic competition to two of its biggest-selling products, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The lay-offs will affect about 30% of Lilly's sales force across the U.S., and include a combination of full-time Lilly employees and contract workers, the person said.
The sales representatives pitch Lilly drugs treating a range of heart, neurological and other medical conditions. Sales of these drugs, bolstered by the sales calls of the represent...
Source: PharmaGossip - April 12, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Lilly Threatens To Leave Canada Over Patent Rulings
After a series of losses in Canadian courts over patents for several key drugs, Eli Lilly ceo John Lechleiter is now threatening to move operations out of the country. Why? The defeats over the patents for the Strattera ADHD drug, the Zyprexa antipsychotic and the Evista osteoporosis treatment have cost Lilly more than $1 billion in revenue and prompted some 280 jobs cuts since 2006, leaving the drugmaker with about 500 employees in Canada.
“If that sort of pattern persists, it’s not a question of would we stay in Canada, it’s a question of would we have any business in Canada,” Lechleiter told a meeting of the edi...
Source: Pharmalot - February 14, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Ed Silverman Tags: Uncategorized Boehringer Ingelheim Eli Lilly Evista JJ jobs John Lechleiter Johnson & Johnson Merck NAFTA Pfizer Sanofi Strattera Zyprexa Source Type: blogs
Familial breast cancer (update): guideline consultation
This updated guideline is in draft form for consultation. It includes
a number of potential new recommendations on issues including; when to
offer genetic testing; what surveillance strategies should and should
not be offered; and the use of tamoxifen or raloxifene as treatments to
prevent breast cancer. Registered stakeholders are invited to comment on
the provisional recommendations until the 25th February 2013.
Press release
Consultation documents and further information (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - January 15, 2013 Category: UK Health Authors: The King's Fund Information & Library Service Source Type: blogs
