Martin Shkreli’s antics are giving the drug industry’s greedy ways a bad name.
Khalil Bendib is OtherWords’ cartoonist
A Chip Off the Old Pharmaberg
Category Archives: PHARMACEU’TIC: A Spoonful of Sugar
How Big Pharma Uses Charity Programs to Cover for Drug Price Hikes
A billion-dollar system in which charitable giving is profitable.
In August 2015, Turing Pharmaceuticals and its then-chief executive, Martin Shkreli, purchased a drug called Daraprim and immediately raised its price more than 5,000 percent. Within days, Turing contacted Patient Services Inc., or PSI, a charity that helps people meet the insurance copayments on costly drugs. Turing wanted PSI to create a fund for patients with toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that is most often treated with Daraprim.
Having just made Daraprim much more costly, Turing was now offering to make it more affordable. Continue reading
Drug Industry Shrugs Off Widespread Criticism and Keeps Raising Drug Prices
(graphic: Bull’s Eye/Imagezoo/Getty Images)
From the campaign trail to the halls of Congress, drugmakers have spent much of the last year enduring withering criticism over the rising cost of drugs.
It does not seem to be working.
In April alone, Johnson & Johnson raised its prices on several top-selling products, including the leukemia drug Imbruvica, the diabetes treatment Invokana, and Xarelto, an anti-clotting drug, according to a research note published last week by an analyst for Leerink, an investment bank. Other major companies that have raised prices this year include Amgen, Gilead and Celgene, the analyst reported. Continue reading
Big Pharma is making you STUPID
Common cold medicines and heartburn pills found to shrink the brain and slow thinking
If you find yourself forgetting more than usual, or you sometimes feel like your mind is not as sharp as it once was, you might want to take a look inside your medicine cabinet.
Older people in particular are being advised to avoid some common over-the-counter medications, as evidence piles up of their connection to thinking problems and memory loss. Continue reading
Government Penalties Against Major Drug Companies Have Sharply Declined
Major pharmaceutical companies have been feeling intense political heat in the past year over skyrocketing drug prices, with some lawmakers and politicians threatening congressional or administrative action to rein in those costs. Continue reading
Shakin’ it Up!: The Truth About Fat And Sugar
Cardiologist explains why FAT is the best medicine – and why it’s so crucial to our health
For decades, we were told that eating fat would lead us to early grave. Horror stories of clogged arteries and coronaries were the norm, while foods such as pasta were seen as healthy.
But research is increasingly disproving this theory – and sugar is now public enemy number one.
In fact, fat is good for us and should be our medicine, claims cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra, who is based in Surrey. Continue reading
How avocado could help fight CANCER
Fat from the fruit ‘targets leukaemia cells and stops them growing’ – raising hopes for a new drug
Avacados – they are delicious in guacamole or cut up in salads, and we’ve long been told they’re a healthy form of fat.
But now, scientists believe avocados could help in the fight against cancer.
A new study has revealed fat from the creamy fruit can combat acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a rare but deadly form of the disease.
Fat molecules from avocado tackles leukaemia stem cells, which are the root of the disease, as they grow into abnormal blood cells, Canadian researchers said.
Worldwide, there are few drugs that tackle leukaemia stem cells. Continue reading
Three questions to ask before taking antibiotics
A CDC report finds some hospitals over-prescribe the drugs
Doctor with stethoscope and handcuffs
Some hospitals and doctors overprescribe antibiotics and put patients at risk of deadly superbugs and drug-resistant bacterial infections, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this week. The CDC studied prescribing practices at 323 hospitals in 2010 and 183 hospitals in 2011 and found that some hospitals are three times more likely to prescribe antibiotics than others. The study also found that nearly a third of prescriptions for the common antibiotic vancomycin are ordered without proper testing or are given for too long. “Antibiotics are important medications…but they also have side effects,” says Arjun Srinivasan, a medical epidemiologist for the CDC. “It’s bad for patients to be on drugs they don’t need.” Continue reading
70% on Antidepressants Are not Depressed
Methinks, from the myriads of medical and/or quasi medical studies, not to mention numerous more pseudo reports, that ‘depression’ is one of the most clinically corrupted and manipulated of human experiences. For all of human history it was treated as a perfectly natural human expression which all human’s experience at times of grief or profound disorder. No doubt poor nutrition and/or lack of sleep and chronic worry may worsen depression, just as reportedly the side effects of other drugs, as well as those psychotropic conceptions allegedly meant to cure depression. After all, the brain requires as much care as the rest of the body. Continue reading
Corruption and the Myth of Safe and Effective Drugs
Why are pharmaceutical companies with a proven tainted track record, permitted by our (so called) health protection agencies to conduct their own safety studies … studies never properly verified by said agencies who’s mandate is to protect you and me? Continue reading
Sharp rise in antipsychotic drugs being prescribed to BABIES
Experts warn there’s no medical evidence they are safe in children
In 2014, 20,000 antipsychotic prescriptions made for children 2 and under
The number of babies and toddlers being prescribed antipsychotic drugs has soared in just one year in the US, experts have warned.
Almost 20,000 prescriptions for the medication were written for children younger than two in 2014.
It marks a steep rise from the previous year when 13,000 prescriptions for the drugs were made out – a jump of 50 per cent in the 12-month period, the New York Times reported. Continue reading
Number of children in the US suffering ADHD jumps 43%
Sharp rise in girls battling the condition
More than one in ten children and teenagers in the US suffer attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a new study.
That reflects a 43 per cent increase in ADHD diagnoses in schoolchildren – with spikes in diagnoses among girls, Hispanics and older children.
Nearly 5.8 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 are now diagnosed with ADHD, the study found. Continue reading
Energy Drinks Linked to Diabetes
The combination of caffeine and sugar in energy drinks cause teenagers’ blood glucose and insulin levels to ‘spike’, new research warns.
Adolescents who consume the popular drinks may suffer subsequent problems bringing blood sugar levels down to normal, which have been linked to diabetes in later life, the study found.
Consumption of trendy caffeine-containing energy drinks has soared over the last 10 years.
Despite a warning label stating they are not recommended for ‘children’, researchers say the drinks are ‘aggressively marketed’ to, and increasingly consumed by, children, teenagers and young adults. Continue reading
Specialty drugs now cost more than the median household income
The average annual retail cost of specialty drugs used to treat complex diseases such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis now exceeds the median U.S. household income, according to a recent published report.
The study of 115 specialty drugs found that a year’s worth of prescriptions for a single drug retailed at $53,384 per year, on average, in 2013 — more than the median U.S. household income, double the median income of Medicare beneficiaries, and more than three times as much as the average Social Security benefit in the same year. The report was prepared by the AARP Public Policy Institute to highlight the impact of drug prices on seniors. Continue reading
Big Pharma and Medical Industry Dole Out $3.5 Billion in Kickbacks to Doctors and Teaching Hospitals
“It is scary how many similarities there are between this [pharmaceutical] industry and the mob.” ~ former Vice-President of Pfizer pharmaceuticals.
The U.S. federal government has released disturbing data about the profiteering nature behind our medical system. Namely, a staggering 4.4 million payments made to physicians and teaching hospitals by medical device and pharmaceutical companies.
According to officials from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), during the last five months of 2013, big pharma and medical companies paid a total of $3.5 billion in kickbacks to 546,000 physicians and 1,360 teaching hospitals. Continue reading