Research and Reviews in the Fastlane 035
This study suggests that antiemetics are not nearly as potent as widely believed. These drugs have been shown to be effective in preventing nausea (i.e. pretreatment for chemo) but it’s appears that the mechanism for halting nausea is different than that for preventing it.
Recommended by: Anand Swaminathan
Read More: Nausea? We’ve Got Placebo for That
The Best of the Rest
Emergency Medicine, Pulmonary
1. Kew KM, Kirtchuk L, Michell C. Intravenous magnesium sulfate for treating adults with acute asthma in the emergency department. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 May 28;5 PubMed ID: 24865...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - June 18, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Anand Swaminathan Tags: Anaesthetics Cardiology Emergency Medicine Evidence Based Medicine Featured General Surgery Intensive Care Palliative care Pediatrics Respiratory Resuscitation Trauma critical care literature R&R in the FASTLANE recommendatio Source Type: blogs
Research and Reviews in the Fastlane 035
This study suggests that antiemetics are not nearly as potent as widely believed. These drugs have been shown to be effective in preventing nausea (i.e. pretreatment for chemo) but it’s appears that the mechanism for halting nausea is different than that for preventing it.
Recommended by:Â Anand Swaminathan
Read More:Â Nausea? We’ve Got Placebo for That
The Best of the Rest
Emergency Medicine, Pulmonary
1. Kew KM, Kirtchuk L, Michell C. Intravenous magnesium sulfate for treating adults with acute asthma in the emergency department. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 May 28;5 PubMed ID: 24865567
This Cochr...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - June 18, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Anand Swaminathan Tags: Anaesthetics Cardiology Emergency Medicine Evidence Based Medicine General Surgery Intensive Care Palliative care Pediatrics Respiratory Resuscitation Trauma critical care literature R&R in the FASTLANE recommendations resear Source Type: blogs
The Effectiveness of Advertising
A cute little 6 year old boy was brought from home. He had autism and didn’t communicate much.
His mother stated that he would occasionally just stop eating and drinking. Then he would get dehydrated. Then he’d get constipated. Then it would be a big problem to attempt to get him un-constipated. He had to be hospitalized for dehydration a couple of times and he had to be manually disimpacted once. The mom estimated that he had gotten significantly dehydrated 4-5 times in the past few years. So the patient’s pediatrician sent him to the emergency department to get some IV fluids in order to attempt to avoi...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - June 11, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Patient Encounters Press Ganey Source Type: blogs
Statin Therapy Does Not Improve Cardiovascular Risk for Patients With HIV and Low HDL
The main lipid abnormality of people living with HIV is low high density lipoprotein (HDL).  There are 5 subfractions of HDL: 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, and 3c, from largest (and most effective in cholesterol removal) to smallest (and least effective).
Neither pravastatin nor rosuvastatin changes the distribution of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) subfractions in patients who are HIV-seropositive with (Source: Nelson Vergel's HIV Blog)
Source: Nelson Vergel's HIV Blog - June 5, 2014 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Nelson Vergel Source Type: blogs
How Manipulated Clinical Evidence Could Distort Guidelines - the Case of Statins for Primary Prevention
This study excluded many patient for whom the statins were not contraindicated or warned against: uncontrolled hypertension; type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus on insulin or with a HgBA1C at least 10%; and body weight more than 50% "desirable limit for height." (Based on the official contraindications and warnings for commonly used statins, e.g., see contraindications for Lipitor here, active liver disease, pregnancy for likely to become pregnant, nursing mothers, hypersensitivity to the medicine; and warnings: use of cyclosprine or strong CYP3A4 inhibitors, uncontrolled hypothyroidism, renal impairment.) Thus ...
Source: Health Care Renewal - December 3, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: American College of Cardiology American Heart Association clinical trials conflicts of interest evidence-based medicine guidelines manipulating clinical research review articles Source Type: blogs
Statins in the Spotlight
By Quinn Phillips
Two weeks ago, at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association, that group — in partnership with the American College of Cardiology — released sweeping new guidelines on drug treatments for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Of the new recommendations contained within the guidelines, the one that is getting the most attention is a dramatic expansion in the number of people for whom statin drugs are recommended. Statins — the group of cholesterol-lowering drugs that includes atorvastatin (brand name Lipitor), simvastatin (Zocor), and rosuvastatin (Crestor) — were prev...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - November 27, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Quinn Phillips Source Type: blogs
Digging deeper into the new cholesterol guidelines
The American Heart Association, in collaboration with the American College of Cardiology, recently released recommendations that should change the way we prescribe medications called statins, including drugs like Lipitor and Crestor and their generics, atorvastatin and rosuvastatin.
The headlines say stuff like, “More Americans may be Eligible to Receive Cholesterol Lowering Drugs!”
I am a bit skeptical of news about statin therapy because Lipitor, before it went generic, was responsible for over 6 billion dollars in revenue for Pfizer and since it went generic, AstraZeneca is raking in more revenue than they...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - November 26, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Meds Heart Medications Source Type: blogs
If Drug Prices Were Lower, Maine Would Not Need A Law: Wellman Explains
Earlier this year, Maine passed a law that allows its citizens to purchase prescription medications from a Canadian broker that deals with licensed retail pharmacies in Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The effort, which had backing from both Democrats and Republicans in the state legislature, reinstated a law that a former attorney general had declared illegal. The new law, however, is being challenged in court by trade groups for drugmakers and pharmacists, which worry the initiative may be duplicated in other states (back story with lawsuit link). So far, though, the program seems to be working, at least accord...
Source: Pharmalot - November 25, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Greatly improved new statin guidelines – with one exception
The Twitterverse blew up yesterday when they released the new lipid guidelines. I read many articles and finally think I am understanding the big progress these guidelines achieve.
My favorite review is on Medscape (free registration required) – New Cholesterol Guidelines Abandon LDL Targets. I titled this post the statin guidelines, because these guidelines no longer focus on LDL levels, but rather the use of statins. We are no longer asked to treat to goal, rather to put appropriate patients on a statin.
The four major primary- and secondary-prevention patient groups who should be treated with statins were identi...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - November 13, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
Drug which blocks intestinal absorption of cholesterol
:
a) Atorvastatin
b) Gemfibrozil
c) Ezetimibe
d) Rosuvastatin
Correct answer:Â c) Ezetimibe
Ezetimibe acts by selectively blocking the uptake of cholesterol and other sterols by intestinal epithelial cells. The action is on Niemann-Pick C1-like 1 (NPC1L1) cholesterol uptake receptors.
Interestingly, it has been recently shown that NPC1L1 expression is necessary for HCV (hepatitis C virus) infection. Ezetimibe can block the entry of HCV into the cell, in experimental situations. Clinical effect on this aspect has to be further studied [Sainz B Jr et al. Identification of the Niemann-Pick C1-like 1 cholesterol absorption...
Source: Cardiophile MD - October 31, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis MD, DM, FACC, FRCP Edin, FRCP London Tags: Cardiology MCQ DM / DNB Cardiology Entrance Niemann-Pick C1-like 1 receptor NPC1L1 Source Type: blogs
How brilliant is Brilinta?
AstraZeneca US drug trial queriedAstraZeneca's chief executive Pascal Soriot says he is very confident in the findings of the clinical trial of heart drug Brilinta. Photograph: Lynne Cameron/PAAstraZeneca is being investigated by US authorities over a clinical trial that was used to win marketing approval for its heart drug Brilinta, casting fresh doubts over the medicine.Brilinta sales have been a disappointment since its launch two years ago, although AstraZeneca has recently stepped up marketing efforts and hopes that further clinical tests will underscore its value in preventing heart attacks.The British drug...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 31, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
A Crestor Blog Ad About a Crestor TV Ad About a Crestor TV Ad. Humor Fails to Educate.
AstraZeneca just posted a Crestor ad about a Crestor ad about a Crestor ad on AZ Health Connections, which is "A blog for AstraZeneca's US business." The blog post -- see screen capture below -- was written by Rod Wooten, Commercial Brand Leader, CRESTOR. It's an authentic direct-to-consumer (DTC) ad and includes all the FDA-required information, including the brief statement about major side effects.The post is titled "AstraZeneca Takes a New Advertising Approach to Engage & Educate Consumers" (find it here). I have a few words to say about the "new" approach below, but right now let's just savor the "unique" approach...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - October 1, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: corporate blogs AstraZeneca Cholesterol Crestor DTC Source Type: blogs
Can Statins Prevent Dementia?
A study of nearly 58,000 patients found that high potency statins had the strongest protective effects against dementia.
+Alzheimer's Reading Room
High doses of statins prevent dementia in older people, according to research presented at the European Society of Cardiogists by Dr Tin-Tse Lin from Taiwan.
The study of nearly 58,000 patients found that high potency statins had the strongest protective effects against dementia.
“Statins are widely used in the older population to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. But recent reports of statin-associated cognitive impairment have led the US Food and Drug Admi...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - September 2, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs
AstraZeneca Posts an Arimidex DTC Ad on Its Corporate Blog - Will It Go Viral?
AstraZeneca is breaking new ground in social media drug promotion... again. It has posted a branded promotion for its breast cancer drug Arimidex on AZ Health Connections, which is "A blog for AstraZeneca's US business."The post -- titled "AstraZeneca’s ARIMIDEX® (anastrozole) tablets Direct program provides valuable resources to program enrollees"-- promotes ARIMIDEX Direct, which is AstraZeneca’s "first-ever direct-to-patient program. It enables eligible patients to easily enroll and receive brand-name ARIMIDEX delivered directly to their home for $40 per month, including shipping."There is no doubt that in the...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - August 17, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Arimidex AstraZeneca AZ Health Connections breast cancer DTC Advertising Pharma Blogosphere Source Type: blogs
Cambridge Consultants Helping to Teach Old Drugs New Tricks
As previously blockbuster drugs are scheduled to go off-patent over the next 5 years (e.g. Cymbalta, Crestor), devising innovative uses for such drugs is a priority in the pharmaceutical industry. Recently, the consulting group Cambridge Consultants has collaborated with Clinigen Group, a specialty global pharmaceutical products and services business headquartered in the UK, to create a new way of identifying fresh market applications for drugs nearing the end of their product life cycle.
As part of the six-month project, Cambridge Consultants built an acquisition database of 4,000 drugs, and screened and ranked them â...
Source: Medgadget - July 25, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Ravi Parikh Tags: in the news... Press Releases Source Type: blogs
