An Early Prognosis: What Will Become of Healthcare IT in the Age of Trump?
By PETER WILEY
In the United States, it’s the Day After. The future of American policy – from immigration to foreign trade to national defense – is full of kinetic uncertainty. One thing is certain: that Donald J. Trump – who has brought something very different from palpable policy proposals to the American electorate – is President Elect of the United States.
There is no shortage of morning-after polemic: some are crying, some are celebrating, and others still are sleeping off the night. Whatever one’s political belief, our industry is perhaps at the center of the new sea of trumpian uncertainty. Indeed, the ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - November 9, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Novel Cholesterol Therapy Flops And Company Ends Development
–13 years after ApoA-1 Milano sparked excitement the novel HDL therapy appears to be dead. After 13 years and despite the efforts of 3 separate companies, the novel cholesterol therapy known as ApoA-1 Milano appears to be dead. On Monday afternoon the Medicines Company announced that it had discontinued development of the drug and would...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 8, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes apo-A-1 Esperion HDL Medicines Company Pfizer Source Type: blogs
Pfizer Ends Development Of Its PCSK9 Inhibitor
–Immune issues and diminishing efficacy doomed the new drug. Pfizer announced on Tuesday that it was discontinuing development of bococizumab, its cholesterol-lowering PCSK9 inhibitor under development. “The totality of clinical information now available for bococizumab, taken together with the evolving treatment and market landscape for lipid-lowering agents, indicates that bococizumab is not likely to provide...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 1, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes bococizumab cholesterol CVOT PCSK9 Pfizer Source Type: blogs
Why Aren ’ t Google And Apple Saving Healthcare?
Tech companies could change healthcare with their knowledge about disruption and could lead the way to medical innovation. Why isn’t that happening already?
It is a fact that healthcare is unsustainable. American health spending will reach nearly $5 trillion, or 20 percent of gross domestic product by 2021. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there is a worldwide shortage of around 4.3 million physicians, nurses, and allied health workers. So how could we change it?
The most likely solution is technology. The introduction of artificial intelligence, robotics, social media, various sensors and wearables i...
Source: The Medical Futurist - October 6, 2016 Category: Information Technology Authors: nora Tags: Future of Medicine gc4 Source Type: blogs
Encouraging Integrative, Non-opioid Approaches To Pain: A Policy Agenda
The United States is struggling to deal with an opioid epidemic that is damaging lives, resulting in overdoses, and yet not reducing chronic pain. National initiatives are underway to dramatically reduce access to prescription opioids, but these efforts lack a systematic approach to provide alternative treatments for these patients. Policy changes are urgently needed to provide better care for patients with chronic pain, and in this post, we outline three feasible policy initiatives.
Innovative reimbursement initiatives by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) could frame and stimulate use of evidence-based ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - October 4, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: Jason Doctor, Penny Cowan, Daniella Meeker, Patricia Bruckenthal and Joan Broderick Tags: Drugs and Medical Technology Health Professionals Public Health Quality chronic pain Opioid Addiction opioids Source Type: blogs
The Day Pharma Tchotchkes Died
Back in February, 2009, shortly after the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) imposed a voluntary ban on gifts to physicians (aka"tchotchkes"), I predicted that tchotchkes would become nostalgia items in the future, reminding pharmaceutical sales reps and physicians of the"good old days" (read"Viagra Boxers: An Example of Proto-Nostalgia tchotchke").I was reminded of this prediction by a recent article (here) in MM&M, which claimed:"These relics of the past have a certain value for those on the hunt. One eBay seller hopes to fetch $20 for a blue pill-shaped Vi...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - October 4, 2016 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: Ban Gifts to Physicians PhRMA Physician Sunshine Act tchotchkes Source Type: blogs
Kybella Double Chin TV Ad: Are the BEFORE & AFTER Photos REALLY Unretouched as Claimed?
Perhpas you've seen the recent TV ad ("Ancestors") for Allergan's Kybella, a new drug approved for the treatment of double chins (read"Pfizer May Own Your Penis, But Allergan, Maker of Botox& Kybella, Owns Your Face"). The ad claims that double chins may be inherited. You can view it on iSpot.tvhere.To prove the efficacy of Kybella, several screens are devoted to showing BEFORE and AFTER photos as in the following example:You clearly can see from these"unretouched photos" of an"Actual KYBELLA patient" that the double chin is gone.But are these photos really"unretouch...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - September 30, 2016 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: Allergan DTC Advertising Kybella TV Source Type: blogs
Article Defending Nicotine Replacement Therapy Fails to Disclose Author's Conflict of Interest with Big Pharma
In another example that demonstrates the hidden influence of Big Pharma on tobacco treatment policy and the extent to which many defenders of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) are going to hide their conflicts of interest, anarticle (letter to the editor/reply) defending NRT from criticism that was published online ahead of print in theJournal of Clinical Epidemiology fails to disclose the serious conflicts of interest of its lead author.The article is a response to apaper published recently in theJournal which concludes that once one accounts for publication bias, there is no significant effect of NRT on smoking cessatio...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 29, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs
Pfizer Launches New " Moodivator " App to Help Support, Encourage and Motivate People with Depression
has launched a new app, Moodivator, to help motivate and encourage the millions of adults who experience depression. Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders in the United States, as an estimated one in 15 adults (6.7%) experience at least one major depressive episode in any given year.Living with depression can feel isolating, overwhelming and impact all aspects of a person's life. An increasing number of patients, especially those who suffer from chronic conditions like depression, are turning to their smartphones to supplement treatment they receive. The new app aims to provide ongoing motivation in ...
Source: Positive Technology Journal - September 19, 2016 Category: Information Technology Tags: Positive App Source Type: blogs
Deciding Vote in FDA Advisory Committee Recommendation to Remove Black Box Warning for Chantix is Cast by Pharmaceutical Company President; FDA Review Process is Badly Tainted
Last Wednesday, a pair of FDA advisory committees - meeting jointly -voted 10-9 to recommend that the FDA remove the black box warning for Chantix (varenicline). Currently, the black box warns about the potential for severe psychiatric side effects of Chantix, including depression and suicidal ideation. The recommendation is not binding, and the FDA is free to follow or ignore the advisory panel ' s vote.According to anarticle atMedPage Today: " a few of those who voted to remove the warning said the study supplied the evidence needed to make them comfortable using Varenicline to address a major public health problem. ' Th...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 19, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs
Pharmaceutical Company Leaders Pretend to Advocate for the Public Interest - But Maybe it's All " For the Love of Money "
In this political season, the US public is confronted with a blizzard of protestations from candidates who claim to want to serve their interests. We ought to be used to this, because leaders of big health care organizations have been protesting for years about how they are always in it for the public and the patients ' health. Yet as we have repeatedly discuss, such leaders oftenmanage in ways that subvert their own mission.Recently, there were two striking examples of pharmaceutical leadership saying they were all about the public interest, despite evidence to the contrary.It ' s All About the Children Says I...
Source: Health Care Renewal - September 14, 2016 Category: Health Management Tags: deception Insys Therapeutics mission-hostile management Pfizer public relations Source Type: blogs
Pfizer Study of Psychiatric Risks of Chantix Marred by Financial Conflicts of Interest and Under-Reporting of Adverse Events
According to abriefing document for today ' s joint meeting of the FDA ' s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee and Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee to discuss the black box warning for Chantix (varenicline), Pfizer ' s study of the potential serious psychiatric side effects of Chantix, which reported no significant increased risk of adverse events, was marred by financial conflicts of interests of many of the study investigators and by under-reporting of adverse events, including potential episodes of suicidal ideation and depression that could have been drug-related.According to the document, in...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 14, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs
Memo To The President: The Pharmaceutical Monopoly Adjustment Act Of 2017
Since 1980, Congress has enacted many laws granting pharmaceutical manufacturers monopolies that no other industry enjoys. These extra monopolies were created with the expectation that monopoly profits would spur greater investment in research to find important new drugs. In fact, they have caused US consumers to pay higher prices for medicines for longer periods of time while making the pharmaceutical industry far more profitable than any other industry. I believe the next president and Congress should take several key steps, which I outline below, to roll back these costly, unnecessary monopolies.
The Current Landscape
C...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - September 13, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: Alfred Engelberg Tags: Costs and Spending Drugs and Medical Technology Health Policy Lab Bayh-Dole Act Big Pharma Gilead Hatch-Waxman Act johnson & johnson pfizer Source Type: blogs
Anti-Vaping Researcher Gives Negligent Advice to the Public
An anti-vaping researcher, citing findings solely from anin-vitro cell culture study without clear clinical significance, has claimed that vaping can cause fatal respiratory infections. Based on his extrapolation from anin-vitro study to human disease, this researcher has advised all vapers to be vaccinated for serious bacterial lung infections. However, at the same time, he failed to advisesmokers to be vaccinated against these same serious infections.According to anarticle in theTimes of London, a professor of pediatric respiratory and environmental medicine at Queen Mary University of London " has found that the chemica...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 12, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs
More Shoddy Research on E-Cigarettes by Big Pharma-Funded Scientists
This study confirms previous findings from observational studies regarding the negative association between e-cigarette use and smoking cessation, but in a large cohort of smokers enrolled in an evidence-based treatment program. The implications of these findings are that concurrent use of e-cigarettes during a quit attempt utilizing cost-free evidence-based treatment (nicotine replacement therapy plus behavioural counselling) does not confer any added benefit and may hamper successful quitting. "The Rest of the StoryThe major flaw in this study is that it is very likely that the smokers...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 8, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs
