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The War on Legal Drugs
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The US is the only industrialized country that doesn’t regulate the price of prescription drugs.
A new study reports finding traces of painkillers, cholesterol-lowering drugs and the antibacterial agent triclosan in drinking water from 15 municipal plants in southern Ontario that draw their raw water from lakes or rivers. (Hamilton Spectator) PREVIOUS: More testing sought Drugs in drinking water
LONDON - Work really can kill you, according to a study on Wednesday providing the strongest evidence yet of how on-the-job stress raises the risk of heart disease by disrupting the body's internal systems. (Reuters) PREVIOUS: Whitehall II Miscarriage risk with 2 coffees a day
VANCOUVER - Novopharm Limited, a generic drug maker, was denied Tuesday its application to have the BC Supreme Court temporarily suspend the tendering process pending trial in the matter. (Vancouver Sun)
Deadly parasite, bacteria taint child medicines
OTTAWA - Health Canada is advising consumers not to use two foreign natural health products to treat digestive upset in infants and children because of potentially dangerous contamination. (Toronto Star) MORE: Health Canada issues warning
FDA wants warning on flu drugs
WASHINGTON - Government health regulators recommended adding label precautions about neurological problems seen in children who have taken flu drugs made by Roche and GlaxoSmithKline. (AP)
ATLANTA - More than a million doses of a common vaccine given to babies as young as two months was being recalled Wednesday because of contamination risks, but the top US health official said it was not a health threat. (AP)
RENO, Nev. - A jury levied a $134.5 million judgment against pharmaceutical giant Wyeth in a lawsuit filed by three Nevada women who claimed the company's hormone replacement drugs caused their breast cancer. (AP)
More than one in four Canadian seniors are still taking medications that are potentially harmful for their age group, finds a study released today by the Canadian Institute for Health Information. (CTV) STUDY: Drug claims by seniors: 2000-2006 More bad news for diabetes drug
A cancer vaccine with political will or powerful lobbying
It has been called "the medical breakthrough of the 21st century" and the most significant development in women's reproductive health since the Pill. Yet the same week that Ontario announced it was offering all Grade 8 girls a vaccine that could prevent cervical cancer, the country's medical journal carried an article from experts questioning the merits of the vaccine. (National Post) PREVIOUS: Gardasil Merck & Co. Cervarix GlaxoSmithKline
Power to probe hospitals urged
TORONTO - Ontario is the only Canadian province where hospitals aren't subject to the scrutiny of an ombudsman - an "extremely alarming" oversight that compromises public safety, according to Ontario Ombudsman André Marin. (Toronto Star)
NHS pays too much for its drugs
LONDON - Drug companies are charging the NHS up to 10 times too much for well-known branded medicines, the competition watchdog said yesterday. (Telegraph UK) RELATED: US health care costs will climb
LONDON - A drug company faces accusations of cheating the NHS by blocking a generic version of Gaviscon, the lucrative treatment for indigestion. Internal documents leaked from Reckitt Benckiser reveal the existence of Project Eric, a secret plan by the company to manipulate doctors and regulators. (Guardian UK)
Fentanyl pain patches recalled
OTTAWA - In the latest of several alerts on the safety of fentanyl pain-relief patches, Health Canada has announced the recall of two brands of the powerful patches. (CTV)
Britain 'hooked on painkillers'
LONDON - Doctors are unwittingly fuelling the growing number of Britons hooked on prescription drugs by giving patients dangerously high doses of medicines that can prove highly addictive, a parliamentary inquiry has concluded. (Guardian UK) PREVIOUS: 'Suicide rating' could be given to new drugs
'Bio-Identical' hormone claims unsupported
WASHINGTON - US health officials warned seven pharmacy operators on Wednesday that their claims about the safety and effectiveness of "'bio-identical" hormones were false, misleading and not supported by medical evidence. (Reuters)
NEW YORK - Actor Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs that included painkillers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication, the New York City medical examiner said Wednesday. "Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine," medical examiner's spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said. (AP)
Drug firms' sway over BC's new PharmaCare Task Force
VICTORIA - The release failed to mention that Don Avison also sits on the board of the LifeSciences British Columbia, a lobby group formerly known as BC Biotech that includes dozens of drug companies. (Tyee)
Free drug samples go to wealthy
WASHINGTON - The pharmaceutical industry contends that the samples help the uninsured and people with low incomes, but the study of prescription use by nearly 33,000 US residents during 2003 found that the neediest were least likely to get samples. (Reuters) PREVIOUS: Characteristics of recipients of free prescription drug samples The Cost of pushing pills
NEW YORK - In western Virginia, far from the limelight, US Attorney John L. Brownlee found himself on the telephone last year with a political and legal superstar, Rudolph W. Giuliani. For years, Mr. Brownlee and his small team had been building a case that the maker of the painkiller OxyContin had misled the public when it claimed the drug was less prone to abuse than competing narcotics. (NY Times)
Report faults FDA on trial audits
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration does very little to ensure the safety of the millions of people who participate in clinical trials, a federal investigator has found. In a report released, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, Daniel R. Levinson, said federal health officials do not know how many clinical trials are being conducted, audit less than 1% of the nation's testing sites, and, on the rare occasions when inspectors do appear, generally show up long after the tests are completed. (NY Times)
TRENTON - Merck & Co. said it will pay $4.85 billion to end thousands of lawsuits over its painkiller Vioxx in what is believed to be the largest drug settlement ever. (AP) MORE: Merck ruling 'huge' impact for Canada Merck abandons HIV trials Brazil issues compulsory 'licence'
Doctors rely too heavily on drug company data: CMA
Most of the information doctors receive about prescription drugs comes from the very companies making the product, a doctor said Wednesday, pointing to a possible reason why doctors continue to prescribe dangerous drugs to seniors. (CBC) PREVIOUS: Drugs continue to be prescribed Off Limits
The Nigerian government is taking on Pfizer, the world's biggest pharmaceutical company. It accuses the company of using a meningitis epidemic to test an unapproved drug on Nigerian children. Eleven children who participated in the tests died and others were left with disabilities. (Spiegel) PREVIOUS: Violence, 'Godfathers' and corruption in Nigeria
Ontario needs to crack down on doctors who have turned drug addiction therapy into a money-making venture, a provincial report says. (Toronto Star)
Blunders 'kill 90,000 patients'
LONDON - More than 90,000 patients die and almost one million are harmed each year because of hospital blunders, research suggests. (Telegraph UK)
TORONTO - A Toronto family doctor admitted yesterday to pumping more than 130,000 prescription sedatives into the black market and defrauding Ontario's health care system of more than $750,000. (Toronto Star)
WINNIPEG - Twelve Manitoba doctors topped the medical millionaire mark in billings to the province last year, including one pathologist who claimed $9.2 million in fees. (Winnipeg Free Press)
Warnings from federal regulators four years ago that antidepressants were increasing the risk of suicidal behavior among young people led to a precipitous drop in the use of the drugs. Now a new study has found that the drop coincides with an unprecedented increase in the number of suicides among children. (Washington Post)
Rebates from generic drug manufacturers are passed on to patients in the form of pharmacy services rather than lower prices, the BC Pharmacy Association said Tuesday in response to a Competition Bureau of Canada report. (CBC) REPORT: Generic Drug sector study Rebates keep generic drugs pricey Generic showstopper
MYRTLE BEACH, SC - People in the US are living in a world of pain and they are popping pills at an alarming rate to cope with it. The amount of five major painkillers sold at retail establishments rose 90 percent between 1997 and 2005, according to an Associated Press analysis of statistics from the Drug Enforcement Administration. (AP)
AIDS drugs fiasco a tale of red tape
As Canadian officials bickered about why Canada's Access to Medicines Regime failed to send one generic AIDS pill to needy countries, thousands of people died of the disease in Rwanda. (Toronto Star) PREVIOUS: US super market to offer free antibiotics Rwanda launches key test
REGINA - The West Nile virus has killed an elderly woman in the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region and, as health officials predicted last week, the number of cases this year has reached a record high. (Regina Leader-Post) PREVIOUS: Canada invests $199M in flu vaccine GlaxoSmithKline
A year after Ontario introduced new legislation that promised to make drug approvals more transparent, key parts of that legislation have still not been implemented. (Ottawa Citizen) PREVIOUS: Statistics Canada: Deaths by selected grouped causes List of causes of death by rate
OTTAWA - Health Canada is trying to halt the sale and use of Resolve, a product used to help quit smoking, because of a potential health risk to consumers. (CanWest) MORE: Smoking cessation product is risky
Avandia raises heart-death risk
CHICAGO - Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline Plc's widely used drug for treating type 2 diabetes, increased the risk of heart death by 64 percent and the risk of heart attack by 43 percent, U.S. researchers said on Monday. (Reuters)
Free trade zones ease passage of fake drugs
DUBAI, UAE - Three months ago, when the authorities announced that they had seized a large cache of counterfeit drugs from Euro Gulf's warehouse deep inside a sprawling free trade zone here, they gave no hint of the raid's global significance. (IHT)
Chinese gangs 'behind fake drugs'
A Mississauga hospital battling an outbreak of C. difficile bacteria may be dealing with the exceptionally virulent strain that has killed some 2,000 people in Quebec since 2003. (Toronto Star) RELATED: Hospital director 'kept in the dark' as patients died
Arthritis supplements often lack key ingredient
WASHINGTON - If the bottle of supplements you bought to help ease arthritis pain hasn’t helped, the reason might be that the pills don’t contain the ingredients they’re supposed to. (MSNBC)
Physicians signal frustration, elect private-care chief
CHARLOTTETOWN - Canadian doctors signalled their frustration with Canada's health care system yesterday, overwhelmingly approving a call to allow physicians to practise both private and public medicine, and choosing the co-owner of a private clinic as their new president. (CanWest) PREVIOUS: When doctors do politics Canadian Government Directive on Regulating National Professional Organizations
OTTAWA - The number of Canadian deaths caused by cancer may soon overtake those caused by cardiovascular disease, according to a new study. Statistics Canada reported Friday that over the past 25 years, the number of deaths caused by cardiovascular diseases has been declining while cancer-caused deaths have been on the rise. (CTV) REPORT: Mortality, summary list of causes 2004 Tables Cancer from X-rays kills hundreds a year
Medical journal criticizes WHO for neglecting evidence
When developing "evidence-based" guidelines, the World Health Organization routinely forgets one key ingredient: evidence. That is the verdict from a study published in The Lancet online Tuesday. The medical journal's criticism of WHO could shock many in the global health community, as one of WHO's main jobs is to produce guidelines on everything from fighting the spread of bird flu and malaria control to enacting anti-tobacco legislation. (AP) MORE: WHO guidelines report .pdf
Unapproved drugs given to kids
Antipsychotics are being widely prescribed to children with behaviour and mood problems, with a significant proportion going to children under nine, new research shows. Ninety-four per cent of 176 child psychiatrists in Canada surveyed are prescribing powerful drugs known as atypical antipsychotics for a variety of disorders and symptoms, including anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and "poor frustration tolerance." (CanWest) MORE: Child's death raises concerns about psychiatric drugs Nursing homes give seniors antipsychotic drugs they don't need
WASHINGTON - Four out of five doctors surveyed in the United States said they let drug and device makers buy them food and drinks despite recent efforts to tighten ethics rules and avoid conflicts of interest. (AP) PREVIOUS: National survey of physician-industry relationships Characteristics and Impact of Drug Detailing for Gabapentin The drug pushers Big business behind your doctor's diagnosis
HIV patients live years after diagnosis
ATLANTA - An American diagnosed with the AIDS virus can expect to live for about 24 years on average, and the cost of health care over those two-plus decades is more than $600,000, new research indicates. The research found that the average annual cost of care is about $25,200 - nearly 40% higher than a commonly cited estimate from the late 1990s. (AP)
US drug company to move trials to Canada
MONTREAL - SFBC International, a controversial drug development company under Senate investigation in the United States says it will close its beleaguered Florida labs and transfer planned clinical trials to Canada. (CTV) PREVIOUS: Big Pharma's shameful secret
Suspected cholera outbreak in Ethiopia
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - More than 680 people in Ethiopia have died in a suspected cholera outbreak that has also affected neighbouring countries, officials said Wednesday. (AP) PREVIOUS: More than 115 dead in cholera outbreak Doctors without borders: Somalia
BC doctors are being put on alert that the most commonly prescribed antidepressant in BC is increasingly being observed to have toxic overdose consequences like seizures and even deaths. (Vancouver Sun) MORE: Venlafaxine Wyeth Popular painkillers can raise heart risk
FBI raids office of Bristol-Myers CEO
NEW YORK - Agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the office of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Chief Executive Peter Dolan as part of a criminal antitrust probe, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing a person familiar with the matter. (Reuters)
Firm denies knowingly selling fake diabetes strips
MONTREAL - A Montreal company selling test strips used by diabetics to monitor their blood sugar denied yesterday knowingly distributing the counterfeit health product, which could lead to serious injury or death. Medical Plastic Devices Inc. of Pointe Claire said it is investigating the matter. (Montreal Gazette) PREVIOUS: FDA warns about fake diabetic blood test strips
US health insurance jumps twice inflation rate
WASHINGTON - Workers won’t find much comfort in the smallest increase in health insurance premiums since 1999. The 7.7 percent increase this year was still more than twice the rate of inflation. Since 2000, health insurance premiums have gone up 78 percent; wages 20 percent. (AP) PREVIOUS: Report slams FDA's drug approval system Institute of Medicine: The future of drug safety
USFDA alleges counterfeit net drugs
WINNIPEG - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration blindsided Canada's online pharmacists Wednesday with a report that found fake versions of Lipitor and other widely used prescription drugs were sold by websites linked to a co-founder of the industry. (CP)
Africa has 400 million cases of acute malaria per year; up to 2 million die. Countless millions are too sick to work or go to school, countless millions more must stay home to care for them, and meager family savings are exhausted on anti-malaria drugs. (Canadian Free Press)
No 'rational discussion' at AIDS conference
ANTIGONISH, NS - The federal minister of health says he didn't make funding or policy announcements at the International AIDS Conference because overwrought delegates were making it impossible to have a "rational discussion." (CP)
AIDS cases drop, but due to revised data
Suit over Aids drug price hike
In the almost two decades since Prozac - the first of the antidepressants known as SRIs, or serotonin reuptake inhibitors — hit the market, many patients have reported extreme reactions to discontinuing the drugs. (AP)
Spending to death: How much is living worth?
Dying of lung cancer, Carolyn Hobbs tried a new biotechnology drug that produced an unanticipated side effect: acute sticker shock. (AP)
Report: Ex-FDA chief faces criminal inquiry
NEW YORK - Lester M. Crawford, the former commissioner of the US Food & Drug Administration is under federal investigation amid accusations of financial improprieties and making false statements to Congress, a newspaper reported Saturday. (AP)
WASHINGTON - The federal government yesterday awarded $1 billion in contracts to five pharmaceutical companies to help them develop modern methods of producing influenza vaccine that would replace the current slow, laborious and unpredictable technique. (Washington Post)
Petitions to FDA delay generic drugs
When its hot-selling antidepressant Wellbutrin XL was facing the prospect of competition from cheaper generics late last year, Biovail Corp. filed a "citizen petition" with the Food and Drug Administration, raising concerns about the safety of its potential rivals. (Washington Post) RELATED: The lawlessness of the FDA
Drug firms' research spending falls short
OTTAWA - Brand-name drug makers spent $1.2 billion or 8.7 per cent of their sales on research and development, marking the fifth consecutive year that the industry has failed to meet the 10-per-cent-of-sales ratio pledged when patent rules were strengthened in 1987. At the same time, the industry's revenues continue to climb. (Ottawa Citizen)
Study: Teens use medicines to get high
WASHINGTON - Teens increasingly are getting high with legal drugs like painkillers and mood stimulants, and they're turning to cough syrup as well, says a government survey released Thursday. (AP)
NIDA: Decrease in illicit drug use
Teen prescription drug abuse 'entrenched'
Partnership attitude study (PATS) 2005
Teen develops way to detect disease in body
18,000 kids dies each day from hunger: UN
UNITED NATIONS - Some 18,000 children die every day because of hunger and malnutrition and 850 million people go to bed every night with empty stomachs, a "terrible indictment of the world in 2007," the head of the U.N. food agency said. (AP) World Food Program UN: Lack of sanitation kills millions every year UN Development Program Report 2006 29,000 kids die each day