Pharmaceuticals

There are a number of aphorisms that one imbibes over many years of medical education, especially in medical school. Some are useful; some are not; but some stick with you for reasons that even you can't figure out. For example, I still remember my first day of medical school over 30 (!) years ago. It started with an introductory session beginning at 8 AM that lasted about an hour, an "orientation," if you will, after which classes began as normal. During this orientation, members of the medical school leadership, such as deans and the chairs of certain major departments, got a chance to…

On Denialism Blog, Mark Hoofnagle writes that a wide array of drugs, from antibiotics to steroids to diuretics and chemotherapeutics, are in short supply around the country. Hoofnagle explains, "The drugs affected span all classes, what they have in common is they are all generic." Because of the low profit margin on generic drugs, "manufacturers try to cut costs where they can, they export production abroad (and away from FDA oversight), and keep supplies low." Quality suffers, and with only a few companies producing certain drugs, disruptions can have far-reaching (and deleterious)…

Yesterday's post made me sad. It always makes me sad to contemplate a 14 year old boy facing the loss of his father to an aggressive form of leukemia, as Danny Hauser is. The kid just can't catch a break. First he himself develops Hodgkin's lymphoma. Because he happens to live in a family that has taken up a faux "Native American" religion that claims its "natural healing" is better than chemotherapy, he resists undergoing treatment, and his family supports him. After a judge orders him to undergo chemotherapy, Danny and his mom then take off on the lam from the law, heading for Mexico and…

Let me just say at the outset that I generally pay extra to purchase brand name medications, prescription or over-the-counter (OTC), because of concerns I have about federal oversight of generic drug manufacturers. However. On April 30, McNeil Consumer Products issued a voluntary recall of a litany of children's cold products under the Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl brand names. McNeil Consumer Healthcare, Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc., in consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is voluntarily recalling all lots that have not yet expired of certain over-the-…

On Terra Sigillata, Abel Pharmboy reports on "sporadic, worldwide shortages of Arimidex," a drug officially approved by the FDA for inhibiting hormonal transitions in breast cancer patients. But up to a thousand times more men use this drug than women, as a non-FDA-approved therapy for testosterone deficiency. Pharmboy wonders if men taking Arimidex has resulted in some women "facing shortages of a drug essential for their survival." On Christina's LIS Rant, Christina Pikas asks if men are at a professional disadvantage in women-dominated fields such as "Nursing, Librarianship, Elementary…

Mike Adams is confused. I know, I know. Such a statement is akin to saying that water is wet (and that it doesn't have memory, at least not the mystical magical memories ascribed to it by homeopaths), that the sun rises in the East, or that writing an NIH R01 grant is hard, but there you go. Speaking of writing an NIH R01, that's exactly what I'm doing now, hence the decreased blogorrhea over the last few days, but sometimes trying to cram a five year project into the 13 pages (one page for specific aims and twelve to describe the project) makes my head hurt so much that reading and…

Our post on drugs and documents found in the Sedona resort room occupied by self-help guru James Ray requires a correction and a clarification related to the Michigan doctor of osteopathy who, according to publicly-available records, prescribed some of the drugs as detailed in these publicly-available documents. 1. Correction: Dr. John Crisler was referred to as an "Internet physician from Michigan." To be clear, he is a physician with an office in Lansing, Michigan, with an internet presence at allthingsmale.com. On his website, he lists an "Office Visit Fee - Office or Virtual" for $60.00…

Lookie what came in to my e-mail box overnight after yesterday's post about the hypotrichosis treatment, Latisse® brand of bimatoprost. Hmm...I have a few ideas who might have sent this (no profanity, so it wasn't Comrade PhysioProf). And very interesting that this comes just a week before FDA holds an opening hearing entitled, "Promotion of FDA-Regulated Medical Products Using the Internet and Social Media Tools. For your information, here's the PDF schedule courtesy of colleague John Mack - Pharma Marketing Blog and @pharmaguy. John is currently running a survey in his masthead to solicit…

I'm not a competitive athlete but there are just some drugs I *must* take because of my asthma. I expect that as I continue to age, I will have to take more drugs. But what if I were an elite master's track & field athlete? John Leland takes on this topic in yesterday's New York Times: Mr. Levine, who is 95 and has had operations on both knees, in June set the American record in the 400-meter dash for men ages 95 to 99, only to see it broken at the U.S.A. Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships a few weeks later. "Nothing counts unless you're first," he said. Mr. Levine belongs…

Yes, this is my second post on Derek Lowe of my last three. No, I am not his publicist. But Derek has another nice post on how drug company scientists could do a better job on educating the public on the drug discovery process: I do a lot of talking around here about how the general public doesn't really have a good idea of what goes on inside a drug company. But a conversation with a colleague has put me to thinking that this might be largely our own fault. One of Dr. Lowe's talents is the ability to put a lot of ideas into very concise posts. So take two minutes to read about the 90%…

I know that we have been very fortunate to attract a few new readers over the last year or so. For those, and as a reminder to others, I wanted to focus on some of my major blog influences. One of these is Derek Lowe, an early science blogger who is perhaps the only pharmaceutical company chemist who writes under his own name. Dr Lowe writes the blog, In The Pipeline. Dr Lowe gives invaluable insights into the industry about companies large, small, and tiny, and provides on of the few places where scientists entering the job market can truly get a glimpse of what it's like to work for a…

Judging from the press inquiries I've had since 5 am EDT today, expect today's focus in the Michael Jackson case to be on the anesthetic drug, propofol (Diprivan®). Last evening, California nutritionist and registered nurse Ms Cherilyn Lee gave an interview to Campbell Brown on CNN (and this AP exclusive report) describing Michael Jackson's repeated requests of her for the intravenous sedative drug for his insomnia. She wisely rejected his requests, instead providing him with a vitamin and mineral "energy" injection called Myers' cocktail. However, four days before Jackson's death she…

I love it when new readers stumble upon old posts. Such was the case when I received the following delightful comment from Seattle-based psychologist, Dr Gary Grenell, on my April 2008 post about the passing of Dr Charlotte Tan, a pediatric cancer chemotherapy pioneer: I was probably in one of her earliest actionmycin-D trial groups for Wilms tumor in 1957. Now at age 55, 52 years later, still going strong! Most of you scientific youngsters today probably only know of actinomycin D as a laboratory tool for inhibiting RNA synthesis. But here in the following repost, learn about the…

I just learned last week from Insider/Jack Friday at Pharmagossip that Reese Witherspoon will be starring in (and producing) a movie entitled, "Pharm Girl." (btw, if you are interested in the pharma industry and don't follow Pharmagossip, you must do so.) Reese Witherspoon is going into Big Pharma Universal Pictures is developing "Pharm Girl," an aspirational comedy centering on one woman's odyssey through the drug industry. "Bad Santa" screenwriters Glenn Ficarra and John Requa are writing the screenplay and in talks to direct. Witherspoon is producing via her Type A banner and will play…

Even at this incredibly slow time of the year for blog traffic, we hit about 250% of our average readership yesterday with search engines finding our post on Allergan's new eyelash enhancing cosmeceutical, Latisse. Lots of folks wanting to know where to buy Latisse - Allergan stock anyone? (Aside: Among my other search term hits yesterday was: "'junior faculty' hate my job." It hit an older post on whether junior faculty should invest time in writing review articles. I suggest that the reader start adding feeds to many of our commenters who with whom they may be able to commiserate.)

The tagline is from Elaine D'Farley at Self magazine talking about the FDA's then-pending approval of Allergan's Latisse™ for cosmetic growth of longer, thicker eyelashes treatment of hypotrichosis of the eyelashes. While not expected until early 2009, Jacob Goldstein at the WSJ Health Blog clued me in to the approval last Friday (Allergan press release here). Whether Ms. D'Farley intended, the choice of the brandname, Latisse, conjures up images of the design of the same name used on handbags and area rugs. Allergan is a leader in "medical aesthetic products" such as botulinum toxin type A…

The Japanese scientist who grew fascinated by fungi as a boy is one among five of this years' recipients of a Lasker Award. Endo was specifically given the Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award. Dr Akira Endo first isolated the hypocholesterolemic compound, mevastatin or compactin, from Penicillium citrinum. Compactin was the forerunner to the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG CoA reducatase) inhibitors. This fungal natural product gave rise to the cholesterol-lowering "statin" drugs. While not without risk of adverse events, this drug class is widely…

Jake Young, the MD/PhD student blogging at Pure Pedantry, has a great post this week on the detection of a novel formulation of the erythropoiesis stimulating agent (ESA) erythropoietin in Riccardo Riccó, the Italian cyclist who was thrown out of the Tour de France. Jake's post is a superb primer on the use of this peptide hormone as a therapeutic agent (in the anemia caused by kidney failure and in cancer chemotherapy). His essay also reminds me that I commented on this issue at DrugMonkey's a post exactly a week ago (and from this same couch at my local coffee shop while waiting for…

Naw. This is more likely a case of an older person flushing some old prescription drugs down the toilet: In a February interview with The Associated Press, Mayor Robert Cluck said trace concentrations of one pharmaceutical had been found in treated drinking water, but he declined to name it. He said revealing the name in the post-9/11 world could cause a terrorist to intentionally release more of the drug, causing harm to residents. "I don't want to take that chance," Cluck said. "There is no public hazard, and I don't want to create one." . . .Drinking water in Arlington, Texas, tested…

This whole "cosmeceutical" thing probably shouldn't be in "Medicine & Health" but we did call your attention to today's news item back on 27 July 2007: Drug maker Allergan announced at a stock analyst's meeting this afternoon that it is filing a New Drug Application (NDA) for a cosmetic form of its anti-glaucoma drug bimatoprost (Lumigan®) as a result of it side effect in increasing the number and thickness of eyelashes. Allergan (nyse: AGN) has completed its clinical trial program demonstrating that its patented formulation of bimatoprost, when applied directly to the base of the…