Archives for June 2013

You hear a lot about the cost of medicines but the truth is most of us don't take enough of them. Statins, for example, would probably benefit most of us over 50 but they're given only to those with high cardiovascular risks. Pneumococcal vaccines would certainly benefit all adults over 50 but they're usually not recommended until you reach 75 or … [Read more...] about Vitamin supplements kill but get $27 billion a year in US consumer spending

Of course, this is not quite how Pharmafutures 5 puts it but it's what they seem to be suggesting and I think they're right. Here's how they put it, "today’s binary decision making at the point of regulatory approval and price setting would need to be replaced by iterative, dynamic decision-making that adapts as evidence is accrued, and value … [Read more...] about International thinktank calls for backroom deals between regulators, payers and pharma

According to this piece in The Independent, the British government and the Wellcome Trust want stringent new penalties for universities with researchers who publish fraudulent or misleading research. Fraud may be putting at risk the UK's place in global biomedical research. According to the piece, "retractions of medical claims alone in 2013 - … [Read more...] about Are university frauds threatening the UK’s research standing?

In the wake of the Ranbaxy scandals (see this post on our sister site, Health Issues India), multinational pharma is predicting doom for India's generics industry. This well-written piece by former Canadian politician (and former PhRMA staffer) Chris Ward comes from the latest Pharmaceutical Executive. You would not expect Ward to take a charitable … [Read more...] about Multinational pharma goes on the offensive against Indian generics

A report in yesterday's New York Times shows a dramatic drop in the prevalence of human papilloma viruses amongst teenage American girls over the past decade. HPV causes cervical cancer and genital warts. Experts ascribe the drop to the use of the HPV vaccine. In fact, the drop is  steeper than predicted because the minority of girls using the … [Read more...] about Mum, why did I have to get cervical cancer? “There was a vague sense of controversy about the vaccine”

Lucy Morgan Edwards, a former Economist correspondent, was interviewed on the BBC this morning and painted a very pessimistic picture. The US (and the UK) she argued have agreed to speak to the Taliban without preconditions because Pakistan will not allow the withdrawal of troops and materiel over its territory without a deal. The Taliban, she … [Read more...] about Are negotiations with the Taliban really just surrender talks?