By: Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, The Independent
Thursday, 23 October 2008
Scientists have made a dramatic leap forward in the treatment of multiple sclerosis with the discovery of a drug that not only halts the disease but can also reverse it.
The discovery is being hailed as the biggest advance against the debilitating [...]
Archive for the ‘drug companies’ Category
Drug (Alemtuzumab) that can reverse the effects of MS
Posted in Editor, Science, chronic disease, diagnosis, drug companies, health, life, news on October 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Ignored: the mentally ill killed by drugs that are meant to help them
Posted in Editor, Politics, RISKS, Science, chronic disease, drug companies, health, life, mental health, news on October 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
By: Nina Lakhani, The Independent
Sunday, 5 October 2008
Campaigners plan to use World Mental Health Day to highlight discrimination within the medical profession against some of its most vulnerable patients.
Daniel Galvin died of a heart attack in August. He was six stone overweight and had high blood pressure; his hair was falling [...]
Fears over internet sales of DIY abortion pills
Posted in Editor, RISKS, STD's, Science, Women's health, diagnosis, drug companies, health, life, mental health, news on July 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
By: James Watson, PA, The Independent
Friday, 11 July 2008
Women living in countries where abortion is restricted – including Northern Ireland – are using the internet to buy medication enabling them to perform an abortion at home, it emerged today.
Women in more than 70 countries, including Northern Ireland, have used the internet site Women [...]
Rimonabant, a controversial weight-loss drug, has been approved for use in the NHS
Posted in Editor, Politics, RISKS, Science, Violence, diagnosis, drug companies, health, life, mental health, news on June 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
By: Jane Kirby, PA, The Independent
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
A controversial weight-loss drug has been approved for use on the NHS, it was announced today.
Rimonabant will be made available to overweight or obese patients who cannot take, or who have had no success with, two other drugs, orlistat and sibutramine.
It comes after concerns about [...]
Online contraceptive pill service launched
Posted in Editor, HEART, RISKS, Women's health, diagnosis, drug companies, health, life, news on June 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
PA, The Independent
Monday, 23 June 2008
Women will be able to get the Pill online without having to visit their doctor under a new service being launched today. The medical website DrThom is offering three months’ supply for £29.99.
The service will initially be offered to women already on the Pill but will soon be expanded [...]
Breakthrough in migraine therapy ???
Posted in Editor, Research, Science, bmj, chronic disease, diagnosis, drug companies, health, life, news on June 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
By: Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, The Independent
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
New anti-migraine drugs that have fewer side effects than existing treatments could be on the market within three years, scientists said yesterday.
They have been developed thanks to improved understanding of the mechanism that makes the brain over-react to stimuli and will usher in a new era [...]
Antidepressants an untold story?
Posted in Clinical review, RISKS, Research, Science, bmj, chronic disease, diagnosis, drug companies, health, news on March 10, 2008 | 1 Comment »
BMJ 2008;336:532-534 (8 March)(published 27 February 2008)
By: Jeanne Lenzer, medical investigative journalist, New York.
New generation antidepressants aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.
That seems to be the central message in the meta-analysis published this week by Irving Kirsch and colleagues in PLoS-Medicine, and it was this message that made the headlines.
Kirsch’s conclusion follows on the [...]
MPs criticise influence of pharmaceutical industry on GP prescribing
Posted in bmj, drug companies, health, news on January 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Zosia Kmietowicz – BMJ News, 18 January 2008
Too many GPs are influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, says a report from the Public Accounts Committee.
And the NHS spends at least £200m more than it should on medicines because GPs do not heed official guidelines and continue to prescribe branded medicines rather than generics, says the report. [...]
Rapid Responses to: Doctors must not be lapdogs to drug firms
Posted in Rapid Response, bmj, drug companies, health, news on September 25, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
“Of course Adriane Fugh-Berman is correct that we need to bite something tender and to get out of that lap.
But we are fighting the wrong beast. The beast is not the pharmaceutical industry – it is ourselves.
We, as doctors, have created the atmosphere which has allowed companies to malfunction. We have allowed industry to subvert [...]
Doctors as lapdogs to drug firms
Posted in bmj, drug companies, health, news on September 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Drug representatives are paid to be nice to us, as long as we cooperate, sustaining our market share of targeted drugs and limiting our continuing medical education lectures to messages that increase drug sales. This is an unspoken agreement, but no less clear for being covert.
The drug industry is happy to play the generous [...]
