In the space of a week, ProPublica.org, the nonprofit investigative news site, published two stories about how the FDA permitted dozens of medications-including widely distributed ibuprofen-to remain on the market despite “egregious” violations at the research laboratory that was supposed to scientifically confirm their safety and effectiveness. The first story detailed how, in 2010, FDA….
Continue ReadingArchives for April 2013
No Progress on Preventing Food-Borne Illness
Spinach. Cantaloupe. Peanut Butter. All delicious things to eat, and all in the news recently because they were associated with widespread cases of food poisoning. And it’s not just media coverage-according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food-borne illnesses are increasing in the U.S. The CDC reports says cases of food poisoning have….
Continue ReadingFTC’s Annual Report on Health-Related Advertising
When you read an enticing ad for a weight loss product that effortlessly melts away fat, bear in mind, before you get out your credit card, that the product may be running a few steps ahead of the law. Never assume, just because the ad is out there in public, that the product really works…..
Continue ReadingLack of Authority, Resources Invites Contamination at Compounding Pharmacies
“Houston (and anywhere else there’s a compounding pharmacy) we have a problem.” So says FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, who wrote a blog on FDA Voice expressing concern about the lack of regulatory authority over the facilities that make customized, prescription medicines like the contaminated steroids that killed 53 and sickened 733 people last year…..
Continue ReadingToo Many People Have Lung Cancer Surgery When They Don’t Have Lung Cancer
No one would ever describe “surgery” as a walk in the park, but if being operated on resolves a problem or makes it less bad, it can be worth the risk, trouble and discomfort. But what if you undergo surgery to resolve a problem you never had? According to a preliminary paper presented earlier this….
Continue ReadingPsychiatric Guidelines Are Riddled With Conflicts of Interest
The Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Major Depressive Disorder is the primary resource for clinicians who treat patients with depression, which often involves prescribing drugs. Researchers from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, examined financial and intellectual conflicts of interest involved in the process of defining the guidelines to see if outside influences….
Continue ReadingOnline Assistance for Rating Senior Care Facilities
It’s hard enough to bear the emotional freight of putting an elderly loved in a care facility without the overwhelming burden of not knowing what’s available in your area, or how to assess a nursing home’s quality. A new digital service can help. Caregiverlist.com compiles data from more than 18,000 nursing homes across the country….
Continue ReadingNew Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines
For a long time, women were advised to get annual pap smears, especially if they had ever been diagnosed with HPV (human papillomavirus), a common sexually transmitted disease. Now, says the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, longer intervals are recommended-every five years for women 30 to 64, and those screenings should include both….
Continue ReadingProstate, Pap Tests Continue to Be Scrutinized
The value of two regular common screening tests-for prostate and cervical cancers-were called into question earlier this month by yet more professional medical associations. Today we’ll report on prostate cancer screening with the PSA test. Tomorrow: Pap tests for cervical cancer. A statement issued by the clinical guidelines committee of American College of Physicians (ACP)….
Continue ReadingYour Doctor’s Financial Interest Shouldn’t Determine Your Medical Care
Now there’s a headline we should never have to write. But consider this: If you think kickbacks are the sleazy kind of financial reward more commonly associated with organized crime than medicine, you’re probably not aware of PODs-physician-owned distributors. Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued….
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