Grassley Seeks More Info on Conflict of Interest Policies at Medical Schools

June 25th, 2009. By Evelyn Pringle

In a June 24, 2009 letter, Senator Chuck Grassley asked 23 medical schools for information about their policies for conflicts of interest and requirements for disclosure of financial relationships between faculty members and the pharmaceutical industry.

“I recently learned from an American Medical Student Association report, AMSA PharmFree Scorecard 2009, that your institution either had “no response” or “declined to submit policies” when asked to supply conflicts of interest policies,” he said in the letter.

Grassley asked the Universities to respond by no later than July 15, 2009.

Of the 149 schools asked, 126 provided information to the AMSA. The Scorecard 2009 was released on June 16, 2009. Thirty-five schools, or 23%, received an F. Seventeen got a D, 18 received a C, 36 were graded B, and only 9 schools received an A.

“There’s a lot of skepticism about financial relationships between doctors and drug companies,” Grassley said in a press release. “Disclosure of those ties would help to build confidence that there’s nothing to hide.”

“Requiring disclosure is a common sense reform based on the public dollars and public trust at stake in medical training, medical research and the practice of medicine,” he added. Read the rest of this entry »

MRI Health Risks: 2 You Need to Know

June 23rd, 2009. By AbiK

Anyone who’s had an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) pretty much knows the drill on removing jewelry, hair clips, belt buckles—anything metal that can interfere with the scanning process. But there are two other precautions you need to take to avoid some potentially serious MRI health risks.

1. Gadolinium Contrast

Gadolinium is a paramagnetic metal ion that is approved by the FDA to provide contrast during an MRI. While a contrast agent is not always required for an MRI, many times its use is requested to provide additional diagnostic information that cannot be obtained by an MRI without contrast. Gadolinium contrast is not without risks though. According to the FDA,

…certain patients who receive GBCAs appear to be at an increased risk for developing a serious systemic fibrosing disease, NSF. The patients at risk are those with acute or chronic severe renal (kidney) insufficiency (glomerular filtration rate < 30 mL/min/1.73m²); or renal dysfunction due to the hepato-renal syndrome or in the perioperative liver transplantation period. In the hepato-renal syndrome or in the perioperative liver transplantation period, the risk applies to any severity of renal dysfunction.

There is no known treatment for NSF, and NSF has been associated with each of the five FDA-approved gadolinium contrast agents: Magnevist, MultiHance, Omniscan, OptiMARK, and ProHance. Read the rest of this entry »

Generation of Kids Hooked on Psych Drugs

June 23rd, 2009. By Evelyn Pringle

Campbell Brown anchors a daily prime-time news program on CNN. On June 17, 2009, in a segment of the program called the “Great Debate,” the question was, Ritalin, Prozac, Adderall, are we “pushing pills on our kids and raising a generation hooked on meds.”

Featured in the debate were, Kelly O’Meara, author of the book, “Psyched Out: How Psychiatry Sells Mental Illness and Pushes Pills that Kill,” and Dr Charles Sophy, a psychiatrist in private practice in Los Angeles, who serves as medical director of the LA County Department of Children and Family Services. They were each given 30 seconds for an opening statement.

“It’s a two-part problem,” O’Meara explained.

“It’s the diagnosis itself that’s not based in science or medicine,” she pointed out. “There is no objective test that you can give children or adults to prove that you actually have some sort of psychiatric abnormality.”

“And the second part, of course, is the drugging,” she said, “the prescription drugs that are doled out to treat these so-called disorders.” Read the rest of this entry »

Raptiva, Reglan, Hydroxycut, Heparin and Floppy Hats

June 22nd, 2009. By AbiK

Ok folks. Let’s play a little “One of these things is not like the other; one of these things just doesn’t belong…” Sing along with me if you’d like. Or not. Either way, I’m betting the farm that you’re going to pick (drum roll please) Floppy Hats as your answer.

Raptiva, Reglan, Hydroxycut and Heparin are all drugs (one’s a supplement) that have either been directly linked to adverse (and dangerous) side effects and have been yanked or recalled from shelves by the FDA—or have received a more stringent black box warning in recent months. Each is a current legal issue with lawsuits pending.

Floppy Hats? That would be a suit, too, brought forth by Alfred G. Rava—a California lawyer. Seems he felt pretty injured (my words) when he didn’t receive a floppy hat as a giveaway at an Oakland A’s game in 2004. See, according to a great post by Rick Reilly over at ESPN.com (6/12/09), Read the rest of this entry »

Final Call for Raptiva Recall

June 22nd, 2009. By janem

The complete recall of Genentech’s psoriasis drug Raptiva throughout the US and some countries of the European Union will be finalized this week, after sales were suspended in April of this year due to the risk of serious Raptiva side effects, including a fatal brain infection known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML).

Although the overall risk of PML for patients on Raptiva is low, it appears to be increased in long-term users of the drug and in those with compromised immune systems. But the FDA announced that Raptiva would no longer be available in the United States by June 8, 2009. So that means a patient could get a prescription in June and potentially take Raptiva for at least 4 months or so after sales were initially suspended.

 I don’t get it: if the amount of time a patient is on Raptiva is a crucial factor in developing PML, why was this drug phased out slowly instead of being wiped off the market in one fell swoop?