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Generically Challenged by: Alana Goodman, July 02, 2009 The Hatch-Waxman Act of 1984 was passed to help bring generic drug competition into the pharmaceutical market, but panelists at a June 23rd Center for American Progress (CAP) discussion argued that the U.S. government should be doing more to regulate pharmaceutical companies. They claim their proposals could save Americans over $35 billion over the next ten years. The Hatch-Waxman Act encourages generic pharmaceutical companies to challenge brand-name drug patents in court. Once the generic companies win the patents, they are able to sell the medication at reduced rates. Opponents of this act...

A tough economy has created a health hazard of its own. Strapped for cash, thousands of Americans are skipping medication doses, shunning doctor visits and forgoing diagnostic tests to save money. It's sickening. For real.

The number of prescriptions for anti-depressants has hit an all-time high, a mental health charity has said. More than 31 million were written last year - up 6% on the year before, according to Mind. Statistics show that within this figure, prescriptions for SSRIs (Serotonin Specific Reuptake Inhibitors) including Prozac have risen by 10% from 14.7 million to 16.2 million in England. It comes as the charity released research showing that country walks can help reduce depression and raise self-esteem. This has led to calls for "ecotherapy" to become a recognised treatment for people with mental health problems. Ecotherapy: the...

Consumers expecting a miracle in the Senate that would end Big Pharma's monopoly and the FDA-enforced drug racket now operating in the United States will be sorely disappointed by yesterday's events. Fifteen Democratic senators (led by Sen. Edward Kennedy) abandoned consumer interests and joined a Republican-organized amendment that would protect Big Pharma's stranglehold over U.S. consumers by blocking the importation of prescription drugs from other countries...

Friday Morning Autopsy Expected To Shed More Light (CBS) LOS ANGELES -- CBS 2 has learned that while searching Anna Nicole Smith's hotel room late Thursday afternoon investigators found two key pieces of evidence -- illegal narcotics and prescription medications. Now, a toxicology report will determine whether one of these drugs or a combination of both substances contributed to her death. An autopsy is scheduled for Friday morning in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Smith, 39, collapsed and was unresponsive while staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe Hotel and Casino, said the attorney, Ron Rale. She was rushed to Memorial Regional...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is promoting his new discount drug plan as a "voluntary" agreement between pharmaceutical companies and the State of California. But it's more like a raw deal. The California Prescription Drug Initiative calls upon drug manufacturers to offer five million low-income Californians huge discounts on prescription medications--up to 40% on brand-name drugs and a whopping 60% on generics. Presumably, drug companies should offer these discounts out of the goodness in their hearts. But if they don't comply? Well, then they'll be coerced by the Terminator. Companies failing to sell drugs at the government-imposed discount prices within five years...

PROTECT YOUR RIGHT TO CHOOSE COMPOUNDED BIO-IDENTICAL HORMONE MEDICATIONS THE FACTS: Recently, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, maker of Premarin & Prempro, (drugs derived from Pregnant Mares Urine – yes, horses pee) filed a Citizen’s Petition with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) asking the FDA to impose harmful restrictions on the compounding and dispensing of Bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT). (Bio-identical hormones are manufactured to have the same molecular structure as the hormones made by your own body.) This petition would eliminate the availability of compounded bio-identical hormones, which are prescribed by healthcare providers and prepared by pharmacists, to meet the unique...

China, with lower regulatory hurdles, is racing to a lead in gene therapy. Once a week, Hashmukh Patel, a 62-year-old retired semiconductor engineer from Silicon Valley, travels with his wife, Bena, from their Beijing hotel to Beijing-Haidian Hospital. They ride the crowded elevator to the ninth floor, enter a pleasant, sun-filled ward with private rooms, and Patel gets an injection that he hopes will save his life. Suffering from late-stage cancer of the esophagus, he has come to Beijing for a Chinese gene-therapy drug called Gendicine that's supposed to kill tumor cells. Patel tried just about everything before coming to...

Prescription Drug Abuse If you've ever had a nagging feeling that you need to cut down on your use of prescriptions drugs or you use them as you choose and not as they were prescribed, you may be one of the estimated 9 million people abusing prescription drugs in the United States. "This is a dangerous new drug abuse trend," says Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "While prescription drugs can relieve a variety of medical problems and improve the lives of millions, they can be dangerous, addicting and even deadly when used non-...

Unusual things are happening in the feminist world. The Hungarian representative to UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) said that, in the future, abortion will be viewed by women in the same way that torture is now viewed by human rights advocates. Now, given how often the UN turns a blind eye to torture, Saddam Hussein’s regime being a fine example of the carefully shielded glance, we may justifiably wonder if this means torture will become acceptable or abortion unacceptable. But even so, the possibility that CEDAW members are beginning to question the practice is telling....

An experimental diabetes drug can control blood sugar without causing weight gain or swelling, according to a small mid-stage clinical trial presented on Friday. The pill, called metaglidasen, is designed to regulate the genes needed to improve the body's response to insulin without activating those responsible for weight gain and fluid retention, according to its developer Metabolex Inc. Existing insulin sensitizers commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes, including GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Avandia and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.'s Actos, can cause weight gain and edema, which may lead to or worsen heart failure. "Metaglidasen seems to work as well as these drugs...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4696609 Health & Science Part 1: Documents Suggest Merck Tried to Censor Vioxx Critics by Snigdha Prakash All Things Considered, June 9, 2005 · Because of intense interest in this report, NPR has decided to present a full transcript. Introduction: NPR's story about Merck and its efforts to suppress safety concerns about the painkiller Vioxx continues with a look at how Merck exerted its influence in the world of top medical institutions. NPR's Snighda Prakash presents part two of her report. Transcript: Introduction: At least 38,000 Americans are believed to have died from taking the pain pill Vioxx before it...

Almost 13 years after the Food and Drug Administration made it easier for companies to speed life-saving medicines to patients, US Representative Edward J. Markey says the system of accelerated drug review is ''broken" and fails to protect patients. Markey, Democrat of Malden, said he came to that conclusion after reviewing documents he requested from the FDA and the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing whether drug companies conducted required clinical trials and reported that information to shareholders. Under legislation he expects to introduce next week, drug companies could face millions of dollars in fines if patients are harmed because tardy...

When Margaret Herlth wakes up in the morning, 13 prescription drugs and two over-the-counter supplements are as much a part of her routine as a first cup of coffee. That's a lot of pills, but not a highly unusual number for an 80-year-old with serious health problems, including cardiovascular disease and breathing difficulties. "They do make me feel better if I take them," says Herlth, who lives in southwest Baltimore. "I've been in and out of the hospital so many times. Each time they give me new pills, but they never take any away." These days, if you're elderly, a...

Large numbers of teachers believe themselves incapable of meeting the learning expectations placed on their institutions by the No Child Left Behind Act. Like the characters in Atlas Shrugged, they find themselves having to deal with problems they did not create within the constraints of a system designed to fail. In order to remain in their chosen profession, those caught in the middle must place blame elsewhere in order to find an “out.” Those who refuse to “work within the system” disappear. Mediocrity rises to the top and excellence disappears. Public education has cried “wolf” one too many times, claiming...

Civics lesson Bronx: I'll never vote again. I was told my vote counts, but obviously that went out the window along with my hopes and dreams for a safer, more prosperous, healthier world. I've had enough of my vote being wasted. Let's go destroy the inaugural. Don't we have a constitutional right to overthrow the government? Grisela Sanabria

<p>Drug-company Web sites are the first stop for many consumers who want to research prescription medications. But where should they go to get an impartial perspective?</p> <p>Last year, the pharmaceutical industry spent nearly $3 billion on direct-to-consumer advertising, up from less than $800 million in 1997. More than half of the 25 million consumers who visited pharmaceutical-company Web sites went to them in response to such advertising, typically television commercials, according to research firm Manhattan Research. The online visits outnumbered calls to toll-free numbers by almost 2 to 1. "The Internet increasingly represents a channel where consumers want to get information about drugs they are taking, or have an interest in taking in the future," says Mark Bard, who conducts Manhattan Research's Internet health studies.</p>

At Issue Is Whether Agency Will Lose Role in Assessing Safety of Medications. The growing political momentum of efforts to legalize and expand the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and elsewhere has escalated into a fundamental challenge to the Food and Drug Administration's authority to assess drug safety and protect the public from potentially unsafe medications, advocates on all sides agree. Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.), author of the House bill that would allow wholesalers and pharmacies to import drugs from 25 nations, said he understands why FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan has fought the idea so strenuously. "This is...

Winstone Zulu – A Dissenting Perspective By John Kirkham July 28, 2002 My response to the Winstone Zulu article printed in Positive Nation Before I specifically address the issues raised in the Winstone Zulu piece (Positive Nation, July/Aug 2002), I need to talk about my own motivation and involvement in AIDS dissention. It is the easiest thing in the world to castigate or lampoon AIDS rethinkers in the media, it is much, much harder to impartially negotiate the logic of their case. I am an AIDS rethinker simply because I care passionately about human life and health. My heresies against...

Elderly tell Stabenow about their struggle to cope with drug costs Tuesday, July 23, 2002By Sarah Kellogg and Kyla KingThe Grand Rapids Press It wasn't too long ago that Willie Price didn't know from month to month how he would pay for the handful of medications that keep him feeling well. Price, a 69-year-old retiree, paid prescription drug costs as high as $700 a month until a local agency helped him enroll in assistance programs. And it still is a struggle for Grand Rapids resident Shirley Malone, who has to decide each month whether she will buy the groceries she...