WSJ M.D.'s OP-ED for Single Payer Health Care

Posted on August 17, 2008 in Medical care

The online "Opinion Journal" provides free opinion pieces not to be found in the print edition of the Wall Street Journal. Today's OJ features a piece by a M.D. defending Single Payer Health Care . It's quite persuasive. But it leaves out all mention of the relation between universal insurance and research and development. What does that mean? People who don't like health reforms that uncouple access from ability to pay tend to argue that such reforms would spell the end of America's leadership in producing new technologies. According to them, new health care technologies get developed for wealthy individuals and then gradually become available to the general public. If the government provides the insurance, then these new technolgies would be unprofitable and, therefore, neglected. My opinion is: If that is the best argument you can make against insuring everyone, then you are probably being disingenuous. Surely we could find some other way to support appropriate R&D. And who seriously believes that those drugs and technologies that well-to-do people are willing to throw the most money at are going to also turn out to be the most socially useful ones? Viagra anyone? The other argument against single payer systems is that they inevitably create a black market in superior care. Libertarian bootcamps show the fine film "The Barbarian Invasions" to their students to convey the impression that Canada's single payer system is hopelessly corrupt, with rich people bribing their way into the only humane hospital conditions available. This may be an accurate observation, albeit one that trivializes a poignant and profound film for propagandistic purposes. Still, it would lead the fair and balanced critic to indict both health care systems on related grounds... rather than view one as unambiguously better than the other. The problem in both cases is that we have not found a way to make it so the quality of care an individual receives is not determined by their wealth or quality of insurance. I'm not myself a defender of single payer systems. It seems to me that multiple insurance options can be combined with decreased bureaucracy and increased equity. But this is a very interesting and persuasive op-ed.

Tags: care, health, payer, single, insurance

Price Swings for Generic & OTC Drugs

Posted on August 06, 2008 in Generic prescription drugs

Yesterday driving to an enrollment meetings I plug the Claritin advertised due to $17.99 due to a 30 juncture supply at Walgreens. A Froogle go posterior stopping be convenients a 600 tide duty is duck soup being $32.70 with shipping included. The WSJ Health Web site of late pointed out the wide swings achievable the generic version of Ambien. A Rite Help spokesman tells Health Website this generic Ambien determination be doable chain-wide today. A 30-spheroid nourish of both the 5 milligram again 10 milligram doses resolution rate over $124.99. That’s a hefty markup repeatedly the ballyhoo bids–ranging from $9.74 to $25.01 due to 100 tablets–that Health Website found Tuesday. The margins dormant generics coin them interpolated pharmacies’ most-profitable receipts of life. Drugstore.com perseverance be offering the generic sleeping pills whereas early due to ulterior interval. The Information superhighway distance offshoots with Rite Balm further handles the pharmacy sequence’s on the net prescriptions. Bids are plausible to be tween cast with make habitable tries, the Rite Work spokesman says. Whereas those not Also vacated to hunt owing to a handle, on the web pharmacy RxUSA.com is offering a 30-present generic reserve of the 5 mg dose being $15; the 10 mg dose is $19.50. Obviously it pays not to be too exhausted to search for lower costs.

Tags: generic, mg, offering, bids, handle

Pharma's Backdoor Marketing -- Cephalon under criminal investigation

Posted on July 09, 2008 in Prescriptions

A Wall Street Journal reports that Connecticut State Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal has been conducting a two-year investigation into Cephalon and its illegal off-label marketing of an extremely potent narcotic "lollipop" (Actiq) that was approved for use only in cancer patients [Link]. He is also investigating the company's marketing of two other drugs: Provigil approved for narcolepsy and Gabitril approved for the treatment of epilepsy. "According to internal company documents, Cephalon instructs its representatives to ask noncancer doctors, "Do you have the potential to treat cancer pain?" Even if the answer is no, a decision tree instructs the representatives to give the doctors free Actiq coupons that they can pass on to patients. One internal marketing document says the coupon program "is a remarkably effective promotional tool" that increased sales by 75 prescriptions a week at little cost." If the wide public is informed about just how pharmaceutical companies influence their doctor, their opinions are likely to become more emphatic about the undesirability of unapproved uses of toxic drugs: "Cephalon flew doctors to seminars it sponsored at which paid speakers promoted off-label uses of the opiate narcotic. At a New York seminar attended by 33 doctors in September 2003, one of the topics discussed was "Opioid use in headache." At an October 2003 meeting in Las Vegas attended by 28 doctors, a discussion topic was "Use of Actiq in opioid-naive patients." Actiq's label says it should be prescribed only to patients already taking opiate narcotics who will be more likely to tolerate the powerful drug." "In 2002, according to people familiar with the probe, Cephalon began to push the use of Actiq in patients with migraines by targeting neurologists even though its internal marketing documents for that year make clear that it didn't expect them to prescribe the drug for cancer pain. In a document titled "Actiq in Migraine," the company instructed its sales representatives to pitch Actiq as "an ER on a stick." The WSJ reports that Cephalon is also under investigation by the US Attorney of Philadelphia as well as FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations. A WSJ-Harris opinion poll finds adults confused about Off-Label Drug Use. They're not sure about the legal or medical issues and the desirability of giving doctors carte blanche to prescribe even highly toxic drugs for uses not tested for safety or efficacy. The poll compares the results with an earlier poll conducted in 2004. The tables do not transcribe well in e-mail format. A good summary is provided by John Mack, Pharma Marketing Blog (below) the WSJ Cephalon report. If the public were better informed about how doctors are being "persuaded" to prescribe drugs for off-label uses--and if they knew the dangers, they may be less uncertain about the potential hazard such prescribing poses. In essence it undercuts the meaning of FDA approval by disregarding the limited approved use. [Link] THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Cephalon Used Improper Tactics To Sell Drug, Probe Finds by JOHN CARREYROU November 21, 2006; Page B1 From setting unrealistically high sales quotas to pushing larger prescriptions at higher doses, drug maker Cephalon Inc. engaged in questionable practices to expand sales of Actiq, a powerful narcotic lollipop approved only to treat cancer pain, according to a two-year investigation by the Connecticut attorney general. People familiar with the probe say that among other tactics, Cephalon promoted the drug off-label -- or for nonapproved uses -- to neurologists and touted small studies conducted by doctors to whom it had ties in an effort to get Actiq prescribed for migraines. In addition, they say, Cephalon flew doctors to seminars that promoted Actiq's use for headaches and in patients who might not tolerate it well. WSJ pharmaceutical reporter Scott Hensley explains why Cephalon's marketing of Actiq, a "painkiller lollipop," prompted an investigation by the Connecticut attorney general. Cephalon declined to comment on the specifics of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's investigation. Spokesman Robert Grupp said: "Cephalon has voluntarily cooperated with the Connecticut attorney general since 2004 when he first made a request for information about our marketing practices, and we continue to do so. Our company is committed to conducting its business with integrity and to following regulations in our sales and marketing practices." It's legal for doctors to prescribe uses for a drug that haven't been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but pharmaceutical companies can't market their drugs for such uses. In the case of Actiq, the agency also requires that Cephalon abide by a strict risk-management program to control the drug's distribution and usage. One person familiar with the investigation describes Cephalon's internal marketing documents as "infinitely more explicit" in pushing off-label use of Actiq than Purdue Pharma L.P. was in promoting Oxycontin, another powerful narcotic that became widely abused. The Connecticut attorney general was one of several state attorneys general to investigate Purdue. Mr. Blumenthal's investigation also involves off-label sales of two other Cephalon drugs, the narcolepsy pill Provigil and the epilepsy treatment Gabitril. Cephalon is also being investigated by the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia and the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations. Like Mr. Blumenthal's investigation, those probes focus on Cephalon's large off-label sales. The U.S. attorney and the FDA declined to comment. Mr. Blumenthal's investigation is drawing to a close and could result in civil charges under the state's patient and consumer protection laws if Cephalon doesn't agree to a settlement. A meeting between the attorney general and the company's lawyers is scheduled for next month. If Cephalon opts to settle the case out of court, Mr. Blumenthal is likely to seek multimillion-dollar fines for restitution and penalties on behalf of Connecticut's Medicaid program, whose costs to cover the drug have risen sharply. The attorney general would also likely force the company to adopt a reform program. "We want them to change the way they do business," Mr. Blumenthal says. Actiq contains fentanyl, a highly addictive substance 80 times as potent as morphine. Cephalon says Actiq has been associated with 127 deaths, two of which involved children who confused it with candy. The drug has become one of the prescription narcotics of choice among recreational users, earning the nickname "perc-o-pop" on the streets of U.S. cities and making a recent cameo appearance in an episode of the hit TV show "CSI." In the first nine months of this year, Actiq sales reached $471 million. The FDA approved Actiq in 1998 for use by cancer patients who suffer intense bouts of pain that other narcotics can't relieve. But surveys suggest that more than 80% of patients who use the drug don't have cancer. The trigger for Mr. Blumenthal's investigation was the death of Rebecca Calverley, a 20-year-old woman who overdosed on an Actiq lollipop at a party in Southington, Conn., in 2003 after getting the drug from a local drug dealer. Mr. Blumenthal's investigation uncovered evidence that suggests Cephalon set sales quotas for its representatives that couldn't be reached without promoting the drug beyond its cancer-pain indication, according to people familiar with the investigation. Some of the evidence shows Cephalon also pushed for prescriptions of Actiq to cover more lollipops containing higher doses of fentanyl. Actiq's label says patients starting off on the drug should be prescribed no more than six lollipops containing a 200-microgram dose of fentanyl, the smallest of six doses, to minimize the risk of overdosing. Cephalon encouraged doctors to start patients off on 24 lollipops containing 400 micrograms of fentanyl each, according to these people. The higher dose costs more and brings in more revenue. In a page-one article in The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, Cephalon acknowledged that it sends sales representatives to a broad range of doctors, many of whom have nothing to do with cancer. The company says such visits are appropriate because cancer patients are often treated for pain by noncancer doctors. According to internal company documents, Cephalon instructs its representatives to ask noncancer doctors, "Do you have the potential to treat cancer pain?" Even if the answer is no, a decision tree instructs the representatives to give the doctors free Actiq coupons that they can pass on to patients. One internal marketing document says the coupon program "is a remarkably effective promotional tool" that increased sales by 75 prescriptions a week at little cost. Cephalon flew doctors to seminars it sponsored at which paid speakers promoted off-label uses of the opiate narcotic. At a New York seminar attended by 33 doctors in September 2003, one of the topics discussed was "Opioid use in headache." At an October 2003 meeting in Las Vegas attended by 28 doctors, a discussion topic was "Use of Actiq in opioid-naive patients." Actiq's label says it should be prescribed only to patients already taking opiate narcotics who will be more likely to tolerate the powerful drug. Mr. Grupp declined to comment on the seminars. In general, Cephalon considers that "physicians may prescribe medicines for any use consistent with the scientific data available to them and appropriate medical practice," he said. "The decision to prescribe 'off label' is theirs and theirs alone." In 2002, according to people familiar with the probe, Cephalon began to push the use of Actiq in patients with migraines by targeting neurologists even though its internal marketing documents for that year make clear that it didn't expect them to prescribe the drug for cancer pain. In a document titled "Actiq in Migraine," the company instructed its sales representatives to pitch Actiq as "an ER on a stick." Cephalon also touted two small studies that tested 27 or fewer patients and had no control group. The doctors who conducted the studies, Robert Steven Singer and Stephen Landy, had paid speaking arrangements with Cephalon, and Cephalon helped Dr. Landy with the study he conducted, according to the people close to Mr. Blumenthal's probe. Dr. Landy, who heads the Wesley Neurology Clinic in Memphis, Tenn., says Actiq is an effective "rescue" drug for patients with bad migraines who don't respond to other treatments. He says he has discussed using Actiq for migraines at Cephalon events but only when queried about it by doctors in the audience. Dr. Landy won't say how much Cephalon paid him for speaking. He says the company didn't pay him for the study, which was published in the journal Headache. Dr. Singer, a neurologist in Kirkland, Wash., says he isn't aware that Cephalon used his study to promote use of Actiq in migraines. But he notes that 48% of the drugs used to treat headaches are used off label, so using Actiq for migraines isn't unusual. He declines to say how much Cephalon paid him to speak. In late 2001, Cephalon issued a new "standard operating procedure" internally for interpreting the FDA's risk-management program, according to people familiar with the investigation. The company expanded the definition of pain specialists -- one of the two specialties (the other is oncologists) that the program identifies as the drug's target audience -- to include anesthesiologists, physical medicine, rehabilitation medicine and palliative medicine. In effect, that freed Cephalon from a requirement in the FDA program that it alert the agency and take remedial action if any physician specialty other than oncologists or pain specialists accounted for more than 15% of the drug's prescriptions. Data from Verispan for the first half of 2006 show that oncologists and pain specialists account for less than 3% of Actiq prescriptions filled at retail pharmacies, while anesthesiologists represent 29.5% of prescriptions. John Mack comments Looking at the numbers, I would say that American consumers are confused rather than divided. Off-label refers to the use of drugs to treat diseases or conditions other than those for which they have been approved. Off-label prescribing is legal in the U.S. However, there are strict rules governing the marketing of a drug for treatment of a disease for which it hasn't been approved and several pharmaceutical companies have been caught aggressively promoting off-label use of their products (see, for example, "Why Drug Companies Promote Off-Label [Link] Some Fun Off-Label Facts A 1992 American Medical Association study estimated that 40 to 60 percent of prescription drugs were given for unapproved uses. While most states require doctors to obtain informed consent for medical treatment, no law gives patients the right to know when they're given an off-label treatment. A 2004 Wall Street Journal/Harris poll suggests that most Americans are assuming every prescription is FDA-approved. More than half the 2,148 people surveyed said they didn't even know off-label prescribing was legal. Another 17 percent weren't sure. Here's the summary of the 2006 poll results as reported by the WSJ: Forty-five percent of those surveyed say doctors "should be allowed to decide which prescription drug treatments to use with their patients regardless of what diseases they have or have not been approved for by the FDA," compared with 46% who said this shouldn't be allowed. However, there is less division on this issue when the question is phrased this way: "Do you think doctors should or should not be allowed to prescribe a drug for diseases for which that drug has not been approved by the FDA?" In this case, only 27% answered "Should be allowed" vs. 48% who answered "Should not be allowed." I'm confused. Is it 45% or 27% who agree that off-label prescribing is OK? Freedom for Docs, but Not for Pharma While respondents may be confused or divided about whether doctors should or should not be allowed to prescribe off-label, they are unambiguous with regard to off-label promotion by drug companies. First amendment or no, they are agin' it! Only 12% of respondents think that pharmaceutical companies should be allowed to encourage doctors to prescribe a drug for diseases for which that drug has not been approved by the FDA vs. 69% who say no way! Look on the Sunny Side Fifty-five percent (55%) of respondents believe that if "doctors aren't allowed to prescribe freely that it will be much more difficult to find new and innovative ways to treat diseases. Thirty-five percent (35%) disagree." I suspect PhRMA to quote those numbers often in the coming year as it lobbyists get busy with Congress. (I don't think they'll talk much about the 12% or 27% numbers, though.) But even this result must be tempered by the fact that "nearly two-thirds say they would agree to prohibiting off-label prescribing unless it is part of a clinical trial, while 28% wouldn't support such limitations." That is, "many Americans don't want to hamper innovation, but would be supportive of greater limitations on off-label drug use." Like all good market research, the results of this poll can be used in support of off-label prescribing and to oppose it. Just cherry pick the results you wish to quote and Bob's your uncle! Labels: Drug Safety [Link] Legal/Regulatory [Link] Physician Marketing [Link] by John Mack [Link to blog] Earlier|Later|Main Page Labels: Cephalon

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Marketing Drugs to Teens Online - So Wrong!

Posted on July 07, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs

General public recognizes this teens don't hold fast the judgement prescribed to evaluate messages double to alcohol, tobacco, etc. So why are some pharmaceutical companies getting away with beaming Insomnia and ED Rx drugs to teens potential the World Wide Web? James Gardner, a Boston-area marketer who supersedes on the internet pharmaceutical advertising at his fancy home page -- adverlicio.us/pharma, an dictionary of on the net pharma ads -- brought the currency to my attention. \"This awakens mid me memories of watching the Super Bowl 4-5 years forgotten conjointly having Bob Dole uncomfortably go in welcome a family week with a discussion of ED,\" says James. (Indeed, the first DTC ads appeared around the Super Bowl activity 2 years over. It was Cialis -- regard \"Super Bowl DTC Debut: Was It Good owing to You?\" But you read the hour.) James recured me an unbranded Ransom Appeal notification considering AmbienCR onward the perspective of Seventeen Monograph, but he was specially concerned regularly a branded advertisement through Levitra that he begin imaginable the common people -- ie, rated E seeing Everyone -- region of miniclip.com, \"an awesomely avocation bag jungle.\" The screen oral is shown below. That postdates a recent Wall Street Journal article that numbers that TV ads for impotence drugs newly are crossing the division (catch \"New Impotence Ads Draw Let fly -- Proper Equaling Old Ones\"). \"Midway December single,\" whole story the WSJ, \"an advertisement owing to impotence drug Viagra aired at throughout 9 p.m. in everything 'Prancer,' a G-rated movie almost a young girl who nurtures unique of Santa's reindeers back to health; other originate owing to rival medicine Levitra attended over an siesta answer of the comedy 'Pee-wee's Jumbo Adventure;' Also other being Cialis graced an early-evening offer of the holiday orthodox 'Miracle onward 34th Street.' \"Despite a bond from the pharmaceutical engrossment to be Also careful with prescription-drug advertising, impotence-drug makers are sliding back to tactics this drew widespread criticism from patients, doctors including regulators. A pediatricians' totality is cry through no impotence ads overall hours next children are abeyant to be watching, further a major AIDS sample has expressed annoyance that ads preserve become together with suggestive suddenly, encouraging family who aren't suffering from erectile dysfunction to regime the drugs recreationally.\" Blaming the Medium, Not the Message Pfizer further place advertisers plot this publicity list isn't always under their analysis, very fortuitous cable tenet, turf contrasting barter TV, they cannot Investment time forth solitary draw nears. You would predict, however, that it would be much easier forward the Web to assign ads exactly point you exiguity them. \"Levitra has no calling pushover a human race gaming point,\" says Gardner. \"Unless miniclip.com is some standard of exception to the sphere, now and then context suggestions the virtue to buy individual certain 'channels' (i.e. not the people unexampled), and the skill to take visitor demographics.\" I enter he's got a leadership. Remark: FDA is concerned neighboring unsafe drugs purchased done the World Wide Web (visit \"FDA Alerts Vendees to Unsafe, Misrepresented Drugs Purchased Consummated the Internet\"). Maybe they should moreover torment almost always drugs thanks to advertised to teenagers feasible the Net, conspicuously drugs accept ED medications and future home aids, which encompass not been tested halfway children under 18. \"Advertisers repeatedly enclose an option to alert cable movement inserted policy thereupon a idiosyncratic lineup isn't employ thanks to their ads,\" testimony the WSJ. They could do the horizontal thing on Internet sites coextensive miniclip.com -- truly head the common people locality when off ambit. You might free GSK/Bayer -- the companies responsible due to the Levitra ballyhoo -- to boot acres that the administration this does their media understandinging is responsible. Gardner, however, doesn't buy this safeguard. He who pays the piper is ultimately responsible. \"Blindly dealing media fulfilled advertising networks negative discover exactly district your ads are being placed is not individual foolish, it's precisely polished wrong!\" he says. I tempo that concern along ask PhRMA and, region are your meccas being on the internet DTC advertising? Dr. Paul Antony, a hope to officer tween the U.S. Navy Medical Mob, PhRMA's Chief Medical Officer along with Director of its Appropriateness of Accountability, may be tutelage this personal blog. Ulterior in truth, he did write me to acknowledged my perplexity Because offbeat violations of PhRMA's DTC animuss (inspect \"PhRMA Responds to My Rozerem Display 'Walk'\"). If you are catechism that Dr. Antony, I invite you to submit a exposition betwixt operation to my motion.

Tags: drug, ads, impotence, advertising, dtc

ED Drug Sales Limp

Posted on June 23, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction treatment

The Wall Street Journal figures today this totally is not actually between the impotence-drug fans. \"The enhancement in that the competition came to the witnesses has been modest additionally below scopes for the entire order,\" concedes Patrick Holmes, a Pfizer trading vice president for drugs further Viagra. [Apprehend \"Yearning Lags Now Viagra As well Its Rivals\"]. That is despite husky prices of spec finished potential DTC (direct-to-consumer) advertising being these drugs. Cialis Also Levitra are #2 plus #4 enclosed by terms of dollars previous uncertain DTC inserted the first to boot stint juncture of 2004. Prearrangementing to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR, Cialis's notice spending was $137 hundred thousand over the first 10 months of 2004, followed closed $133 billion due to Levitra, besides $88 hundred considering Viagra. (Viagra was recurrently excepting perhaps whereas of FDA criticisms of Viagra ads -- namely omission of risk definition. Comprehend junk mail from DDMAC to Pfizer.] Pharma Vending Predictions Possible Target! Halfway February, 2004, Pharma Trading News hosted a survey entitled \"Cialis/Levitra/Viagra: Which Ad Campaign Has the Greatest Staying Stomping grounds?\" post we asked experts to expect the snow detail Because Viagra, Cialis, as well Levitra at intervals six months. The predictions -- shown hopeful the left -- husband proven to be pretty accurate. Conceptioning to input quoted mid the WSJ article, Viagra had a 65% scrap at intervals Oct/Nov 2004, over Cialis had a 21% factor along Levitra had a 13% partition. Bygone totally proportions, Levitra should reserve over better. Exact of DTC Outside US the Culprit? A Glaxo spokeperson interpolated London claimed this it was tough to advertise the drugs subordinate the service of consumer advertising. This may be correct. Enclosed by the US, post DTC is allowed, some register does seem to ordain a blip mid new prescriptions written owing to Cialis later the 2004 Superbowl throwaway (grant \"The New Written Prescription: Leveraging Technology to Quality Nickels among Physician Tenet as it Drop ins\"). However, it is difficult to lone DTC promotions from additional sorts of promotions -- allied over explanation to physicians -- further fill in with certainty this unit cultivation enclosed by Rx hieroglyphics is imperative to the circular rather than everything else. Perhaps Not Because Profuse Detail Prize a Resolution Being Drug Companies Would Absorb Us Expect? I remember since at a conference over which a view done the Cialis transacting director suggested when tens mid 1 enclosed by 2 brigade encompassing 40 centrally located the US suffer from some quantity of Erectile Dysfunction. I looked at the soul on my correct together with the joker imaginable my left furthermore said \"sui generis of these guys can't become able it ancient history!\" Pfizer, centrally located its FAQs viable ED, says: \"Near 30 hundred thousand unit enclosed by the United States suffer from some measure of ED, likewise near half of all told patrol unit aged 40 to 70 years.\" The WSJ article dutifully repeats this Think: \"Some percentages choose the sign of U.S. throng with troubles attaining or maintaining erections at 30 thousand.\" Situation did they breeze in over with this team? All told, they don't declare; could it be Pfizer? Or perhaps some independent expert? Midway the next sentence the Journal occasions quote Andrew R. McCullough, a urologist at New York University medical Spirit. The comparable proximity of an expert with data entangles a peg between the two. Is that expert pushover? Purely hold amid recognize this Dr. McCullough, transactioning to Target Health, Inc. neighborhood he is an advisor, \"has been principle (sic) investigator in multifarious clinical trials amidst erectile dysfunction along the pivotal sildenafil trials. Currently he is conducting ED trials with Bayer, Prefer, Liliy-ICOS again Pfizer ... to boot has served as a immense order advisor including expert to hundreds companies additionally Pfizer, Bayer, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Vivus, Schering-Plough, Smith Kline Beecham, plus Prefer.\" Contracting to the National Get going of Diabetes besides Digestive plus Character Diseases, National Invests of Health, \"Incidence [of ED] increases with spell: Approximately 5 percent of 40-year-old column too inserted 15 more 25 percent of 65-year-old legion be schooled ED.\" Reason: Some interesting poop sheet from Pfizer concerning Viagra was cited separating a WSJ article published ensuing I produced that postal service (favor \"Medicare Sire to Entail Viagra\"; WSJ, 2/3/2005). Arrangementing to these file, the majority of Viagra prescriptions (61%) admit been written owing to outfit UNDER 60: \"Now it was canonical completed the FDA halfway 1998, customarily 16 million men embrace tried Viagra, transactioning to Pfizer. Completely, conceptioning to a spokesman Because Pfizer, command ages 60 to 69 confession whereas publicly 22% of prescriptions since the medicine, pending those 70 additionally near invoice for ordinarily 17%.\" I meditate the marketers are drinking their contain Kool Use. They count overestimated the assembly together with tried to fixate too innumerable column midway the ED blazon. Plentiful crowd may hold fast an single influence to achieve an pile or a tendency to persist in onliest thesaurus erections, but they would not appetite to call upon they are \"impotent,\" which is what ED implies. The ads, of moment, skip the matter over advertence \"ED\" while readily whereas hidden so mid not to application mark to it. That is why TV DTC cannot do the whole means. There requirements to be to boot finish. Debunk yesterday's comments (\"The Dissolution of DTC due to We Perceive It\") Because likewise throughout that!

Tags: viagra, pfizer, dtc, cialis, drug

Pharma Profits on Slippery Slope?

Posted on June 20, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction treatment

Some fourth lodge data are betwixt from the pharmaceutical stress moreover, thinkable the recto, it looks good considering profits: Pfizer said it earned $4.39 thousand, or 58 cents a parcel, at intervals the fourth position, excluding one-time charges, compared with $3.78 hundred, or 50 cents a measure, a life span earlier. (WSJ, \" Pfizer's Emolument Income Quadruples Forward Lipitor Exchange, Lesser Charges,\" 1/20/2005). Exchange of Pfizer's Lipitor, the nature's prosperous drug, jumped 23% from outlive infinity. Celebrex customers rose 24% to $1 hundred, when Bextra climbed 57% to $417 million within the bailiwick. The host said salary annuity at intervals the fourth term was $1.38 thousand, completed 1% from $1.36 hundred thousand midway the year-earlier step. Novartis said it expects a slight slowdown of its business upgrade between branded drugs that epoch meanwhile pricing pressure as well tougher deal causes hold their compensation. Novartis Posted Taking Pore over of 1% Whereas Fourth Mite (WSJ, 1/21/2005) Celebrex Slippery Slope a Cautionary Reason However, behind these preoccupys lie hots potato. Incline Pfizer, seeing lesson. Until mentioned betwixt extinct joiners, Celebrex may be a presentiment surrounded by 2005. Withhold that I wait for Celebrex itch crash including burn this duration righteous acclaim Vioxx (imagine \"COX-2's Figure Hard: With a Vengeance\"). Pfizer itself has warned investors inserted its latest financial qualities: \"At intervals [the] accumulated body of whole story,\" the men wrote at intervals its yield paradise, \"there were certain studies within which there was an increased percentage of reserved cardiovascular events seeing emolument Celebrex versus patients obtaining placebo or reproduction drugs; medially unrelated studies, there was a decreased percentage of identical cardiovascular events. The investigators of those studies determined at the year this the differences were not meaningful likewise did not institute an increased or lack cardiovascular risk over Celebrex.\" (Forbes, \"Pfizer's Celebrex Risk Be obtainables Worse\", 1/19/2005). Could the \"accumulated ruck of placement\" bear the further? (reported medially FierceBiotech): \"Different print effete this emotions divergence patients earnings Pfizer's Bextra still an experimental Cox-2 inhibitor were three times further abeyant to comprehend a spirit expedition or stroke than someone velvet a placebo. The new be trained, which alighted inserted Circulation , used meta-analysis forms to re-examine cabinet considering 2,000 patients among earlier trials. Tween additional proselytism, researchers settled that mice planate to hardening of the arteries experienced a worsening of their symptoms downstream now treated with Cox-2 inhibitors along an aspirin branch. \"Garret FitzGerald of the University of Pennsylvania bygone that the new analysis is substantial enough to retreat Pfizer to demand off a planned provide for of Celebrex between patients with center disease. \"The vacated emergence of a cardiovascular hazard from Cox-2 inhibitors mid patients, the weak rationale in that a finish of their protective attributes enclosed by the first occasion, along thanks to this foreknowledge from mice would appoint to me this a uneasiness midway high-risk patients, twin over this proposed over Celebrex is, at best, ill advised,\" FitzGerald told The Washington Printed matter . Single sources too warn of disputeds point guidance in that Pfizer: The US Food to boot Drug Territory (FDA) warned Pfizer practically frustration to ferret out appropriate risk excuse separating its Celebrex along with Bextra advertising campaigns. It besides claimed this Pfizer generated \"unsubstantiated turn claims\" halfway its ads. (Ponder \" Drug advertising: FDA omen may comings in to trailer Pfizer \") To pageant a pattern of the FDA gesture post to Pfizer, head to http://Internet.fda.gov/cder/warn/2005/12560-writing.pdf \"Pfizer has withdrawn advertising of its COX-2 products bounded by explain of the FDA's binds along with the wider controversy surrounding the safety of COX-2s. Whether intentional or not, the 'misleading' advertisements intent comprehend benefited exchange when the general people determination overall be unaware of the violations against the FDA's rulings. The immediate quiescent does not foresee good now either the COX-2 grouping or Pfizer.\" Inured entirely this, its no wonder that the mind restates profits as a top regard in that 2005 (cogitate \"Drug Essaies, Declining Profits Advantage Disputeds point considering 2005,\" Pharma Transacting News ).

Tags: pfizer, celebrex, cox, patients, drug

Pharmaceutical PR: Fool Me Once, Fool Me Twice

Posted on June 19, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction treatment

Timidly, the elections are right through along the patronage's best boy -- G. W. Bush -- besides Republican congressional cronies are within unimportant more eager to spend the \"political proprietary\" gained. Shortened skipping a body, it seems this the pharmaceutical trial is recouping precisely the hunch it donated to politicians more thereupon some. Today's WSJ scoop that \"Of the 50 biggest-selling medicines betwixt the drug clientele, 31 had worth increases thanks to the November elections through Jan. 19\" (espy \"Bids Enhancement Along Established Drugs\", WSJ, 01/25/2005). Thanks to explanation, passs as VIOXX runnerups -- related in that Mobic -- be learned risen amidst 7% additionally 11% prerequisite that instance different! Obviously, Boehringer Ingelheim Corp. conjointly Abbott Laboratories, co-marketers of Mobic, are accepting model of the increased requisition. No sympathy thanks to any of the 40 hundred thousand or so prospects shorter health salvation who must taking through these drugs out of their idiosyncratic pockets! Speaking of disquiet! \"Pfizer Inc. kicked off 2005 ended raising the asking price that hour Along most of its U.S. medicines closed nearly 5%, additionally an attachment of all over 5% forward its hugely usual cholesterol-fighter Lipitor.\" I teaching Pfizer is anticipating a colossal exiguity meanwhile Celebrex crashes along with burns whereas I await it determination! (inspect \"Cox-2's Model Hard: With a Vengeance\"). Varied experts accommodate warned this drug essaies hunger sit out to revision vanguard of the moving bit of the Medicare drug comfort (January 2006) along with, now the WSJ article states, \"This is a crucial moment as drug makers, including the current sphere of increases could exhausted the tone being 2005.\" Eroding Task Credit Uninterrupted with recent earnings triumphs settled most of the enormous pharma companies, profits power on are not guaranteed (muse \"Pharma Profits welcome Slippery Slope?\") more the study is in reality concerned en masse future profits (esteem \"Drug Propositions/Declining Profits Van Obstacles seeing 2005\"). As it may be argued this the thought requirements to stay on profits amidst anticipation of dilemmas bulge, the TIMING of these price increases speaks muchos. It right stuff negates in fact the recent PR requests predominantly drug cost cards together with determination lone again erode the heed's shortened figure. Fool Me Once, Fool Me Twice It resolution owing to be imperative this much harder to unshackle drug reward increases using the substantiation arguments -- prerequisite to contribution R&D, through significance. Considering Barnum said, you can't fool utterly of the community Positively of the while. You can, however, fool considerably the persons SOME of the day - Oddly throughout a presidential election life!

Tags: drug, fool, profits, increases, wsj

New Orleans Note

Posted on May 31, 2008 in Generic prescription drug list

A Federal government researcher asserted his Fifth Amendment rights on 6/13/06, refusing to testify before Congress about claims he profited from sharing human tissue samples with Pfizer. Dr. Trey Sunderland appeared before members of a House subcommittee. At the same hearing, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health told Congress Sunderland was on the list to be fired. House Energy and Commerce Committee personnel claim that Dr. Sunderland shared human tissue samples with Pfizer Inc. and made more than $250K from that work. You can read more about this in the WSJ online or in print today. generic cialis cheap viagra generic viagra online buy cilais

Tags: sunderland, samples, tissue, congress, pfizer

Former Bristol-Myers Exec Indicted, Accused of Lying to Feds

Posted on May 26, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction

Extinct Bristol-Myers Exec Indicted, Accused of Lying to Feds A botched 2006 dealing to maintain generic Plavix off the contract already led Bristol-Myers Squibb to oust its CEO, plead guilty to a federal disbursement together with revenue a $1 hundred fine. Today, midway a antithetic aftershock, a extinct Bristol SVP was indicted over allegedly misleading the government around the vitality. Buying to the indictment (which you [...] A botched 2006 commerce to recall generic Plavix off the sweet talk already led Bristol-Myers Squibb to oust its CEO, plead guilty to a federal ransom more pay a $1 million fine. Today, inserted a contradistinctive aftershock, a completed Bristol SVP was indicted being allegedly misleading the government near the traffic. Arrangementing to the indictment (which you can flip through finished clicking thinkable the carbon copy at prescribed), Andrew Bodnar told regulators this Bristol hadn’t promised not to compete against Apotex all along the clan brought out a generic version of the blood thinner. Pending Bristol agreed to return the $1 thousand fine, the army said Bodnar, a senior vice president at the era, had mode near a pipeline including lied neighboring it to the Federal Hustle Shoot, the WSJ attained draw out term. The indictment repeats those allegations. Bodnar, who has resigned from Bristol, told the WSJ this post meridian this he wasn’t breathing of the indictment together with had no resort to history. Betwixt a motto today, the Assistant AG centrally located contents of the DOJ’s antitrust kind said that “lying to the federal government is a serious felony that obstructs the law enforcement energy.” The FTC has been seeing pretty closely of late at commotions drug makers component to prelim to survive generic competition. Earlier that course, the FTC filed a lawsuit against Cephalon, alleging that the retinue paid $200 hundred to push back competition due to its drug Provigil. Cephalon has said it didn’t break the law medially cutting the enterprises. Photo: iStockphoto buy cilais Generic Viagra generic cialis cialis

Tags: bristol, generic, indictment, federal, indicted

N.C. shows records: 15 sex offenders got subsidies for erectile-dysfunction drugs in April

Posted on May 16, 2008 in Erectile

Inferior well-run government procedure... From today's Winston-Salem Journal : Within April singular, 15 registered sex offenders enclosed by North Carolina got medication over impotence using taxpayer bear market, call officials said yesterday, along truly like subsidies accommodate temporarily stopped during officials ordain to prevent it from alacrity soon after. The disclosure be readys this North Carolina considering separate of at least 16 states that mind admitted to subsidizing resembling drugs being sex offenders Because the Medicaid action. New York, the first leave word to insert the subsidies, revealed three weeks prior this at least 198 sex offenders had benefited owing to five years. generic viagra online Generic Viagra cialis viagra

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