You may remember the drama a while back when John Mack confronted Peter Rost over alleged “spamming” by Rost.
In the most recent throwdown, Pharma Giles reports that Rost’s
rigorous bitch-slapping of John Mack’s sneering dismissal of a post by the eminently sane and sensible Ms. Shanley (of “On Pharma” fame) was thoroughly welcome and gave me [...]

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In case you were sleeping when the news was announced last week, generic versions of Ambien are on the way. As Reuters reported:
The Food and Drug Administration said … that regulators had approved generic versions of Ambien, a blockbuster sleeping pill from Sanofi-Aventis. The drug, also known as zolpidem tartrate, has been linked to [...]

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A new academic study details how drug reps use friendship (and, of course, other attributes) to manipulate doctors into prescribing their company’s medications more often.
An excerpt from the study, as reported by Reuters:
Reps scour a doctor’s office for objects — a tennis racquet, Russian novels, ’70s rock music, fashion magazines, travel mementos or cultural [...]

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A new study says allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices would save $20 billion per year.
Well, it ain’t gonna happen, after Big Pharma put its bought-and-paid-for politicians to work last week to stop proposed legislation. Here’s a nice analysis showing, point by point, how the bill’s opponents distorted the facts in their campaign [...]

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I find the FDA’s new plan to have pharmaceutical companies directly fund the agency’s review of drug commercials — through so-called “user fees” — strangely amusing. But then, I always found Orwell amusing, too.
The FDA positions the plan as a toughening of previously lax regulations in response to public complaints about direct-to-consumer ads. [...]

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Besides the unexpected public outcry, there may have been another reason why Merck curtailed its lobbying efforts to make Gardasil mandatory for teens.
The stuff may not even work very well.
From GoozNews:
The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page story today questioning the efficacy of Merck’s new cervical cancer vaccine. The story covers all the key [...]

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If you are buying chondroitin to sooth your arthritis, you may want to start looking for a new supplement. According to the New York Times,
Despite its popularity, a study released yesterday suggests that chondroitin may not offer any real benefit. Writing in The Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers said a review of 20 earlier [...]

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In case anyone missed the recent 60 Minutes segment exposing Big Pharma’s shameful, heavy-handed lobbying tactics, here it is.
Part One:

Part Two:

HAT TIP

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Speaking of pharmacists who humiliate customers, I’m reminded of this classic clip from P.T. Anderson’s Magnolia, in which Julianne Moore is harassed by pharmacy employees when she attempts to purchase powerful medications for her dying husband.
Be warned: the language is very R-rated — but the anger of Moore’s distraught character is certainly understandable.

Skip the drama [...]

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According to Sci-Tech Today, pharmacists in Washington state will no longer have the right to refuse to dispense Barr Pharmaceuticals’ Plan B drug — the morning-after pill — based on their personal beliefs:
Pharmacists who believe “morning-after” birth control pills are tantamount to abortion cannot stand in the way of a patient’s right to the drugs, [...]

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