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submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
Direct to consumer ads are misleading and often outright lies. The only countries in the world allowing these ads are the US and New Zealand. The FDA is not doing a reasonable job in regulating what DTC ads can say. The goal of Big Pharma is to make money for their stockholders. Ads for "the purple pill" are exposed as outright deceptive. We need new...
submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
A lack of openness about designs and results of clinical trials, coupled with inadequate oversight of off-label use of drugs and adaverse events, puts consumers of health products at risk. There is also the aspect that government sponsored clinical trials are paid for by the public, yet they must purchase the information when results are published in medical...
submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
Hospitals have a financial incentive to not reduce complications because they are paid per each treatment and each lab or other test according to an article published in the April issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. While this may not be what hospitals are overtly thinking, the problem is how motivated are they to reduce complications?
Between...
submitted by: admin on 06/18/2016
Medical professional groups and cancer advocacy groups need to refocus on educating rather than persuading about cancer testing. The harms of screening have been largely dismissed. It is easy to sell screening, just magnify the benefit, minimize the cost, and hide the data about their value.
These tests are big business and there are conflicts...
submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
Pay-for-performance schemes financially reward MDs for hitting special numerical targets such as hospital stay, readmissions, use of certain drugs, and cost controls. An article in the August issue of the British Medical Journal take the position that pay-for-performance will do more harm than good by changing the mindset of the physician. The Accountable Care...
submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
Merck wants to make Mevacor an over the counter drug. This would no doubt sell more drug, but also be giving a dangerous drug to people who do not need it. Its side effects are dangerous.
submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
Smoking accounts for more than 400,000 deaths every year in the US. The causes are identified and the mechanism of action discussed. Stronger controls to prevent these unnecessary deaths are needed.
submitted by: admin on 10/16/2013
In the US the cost for statins for people under age 65 and who have insurance is about 400% higher than in the UK according to an article in the journal Pharmacotherapy. There are also about 1/3 more prescriptions sold in the US. The power of Big Pharma is mind-boggling. There is a desperate need to rein their power and create a system based on service rather...
submitted by: admin on 10/16/2013
Statin usage is way overused in medical practice. These drugs have significant side effects that can severely compromise our health. Lifestyle is a superior way to manage arteriosclerosis.
submitted by: admin on 10/16/2013
Big pharma redefines the criteria for disease to make more people "sick" and sell more drugs for these conditions. Pre-hypertension, pre-osteoporosis (osteopenia), and pre-obesity are examples. How this happens is described. This creates the "worried well!"
submitted by: admin on 10/16/2013
The largest study ever done on how we should treat hypertension showed that thiazide diuretics and lifestyle are what was recommended. It exposes the mercenary nature of big pharma in promoting their new designer drugs that work no better than older approaches that are cheap.
submitted by: admin on 10/17/2013
Cultural creatives come to life when they become more than interesting thoughts. There has been a turning point where people are taking action. The Wellness City Challenge in Walnut Creek is a great example.
submitted by: admin on 10/17/2013
The polypill is a brainstorm of the pharmaceutical companies to create a combination of drugs to make it convenient to take multiple medications. However, their real motive is to sell as much drug as possible. Consequently, they have done research under the guise of convenience but with the hope that they can convince the public and the medical profession to...
submitted by: admin on 11/08/2016
THE TRAGEDY OF AMERICAN HEALTHCARE
Len Saputo, MD
Introduction: The New Terrain of American Health Care
Over the past 25 years the practice of medicine has become a business, physicians have become employees, and patients have become commodities. Healthcare has become more standardized and doctors have been taught to treat “sets...
submitted by: admin on 10/17/2013
US health care performance is much worse than most countries; we're ranked by the WHO number 37 in the world in overall quality of health care. We spend nearly twice of any other country and yet our effectiveness is a disaster. When business trumps service, this is what happens. Universal health care is good for health care but not good for business...
submitted by: admin on 12/22/2024
We're bombarded with messages that there's something wrong with us. Aging adds to the list! There's a huge industry that feeds on this. Personality and soul are better measures of self worth. Beauty is in the mind too.
submitted by: admin on 10/12/2013
Vaccine manufacturers get billions of dollars in government contracts every year. In 2011 the top six vaccine makers received $5.7 billion from these contracts. Children who cannot afford the cost of vaccines are given free immunizations through the Vaccines for Children Program (VFC). This is often considered to be indisputable proof of kindness on...
submitted by: admin on 12/22/2024
Ghost writing is common in medical research. Big pharma employs writers who excel at making the conclusions it needs to sell a drug. Researchers are requested to put their name on editorial reviews written by ghost writers. This lengthens resumes but also sells drugs. The ethics of this are reviewed and the emphasis on greed, corruption, conflicts of interest...