A paper by New Zealand researchers published in the journal, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica (subscription required for full text access*), summarizes a literature review and meta-analysis of drug company–funded mental health websites. The analysis compared mental websites funded by drug companies with those not funded by pharma. It concludes: Practitioners are encouraged to inform patients about [...]
Since we’ve been on a medical marketing kick this week, let’s catch up to what The Wall Street Journal reported last week: “Authorities in some U.S. states have become more aggressive in accusing drug makers of deceptive marketing, widening the potential liability for an industry that has shelled out billions of dollars to settle investigations [...]
Novartis and Hooters Is it a kickback to get doctors to prescribe certain drugs? Or is it truly an educational meeting for doctors – that happens to be held at places like Hooters across the country? Read the Wall Street Journal’s story from last week, “U.S. Accuses Novartis of Kickbacks.” It’s about a civil fraud [...]
Some drug stores in the US are now giving away statin drugs for cholesterol. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on a chain in its area doing so: “Retail grocery store competition is fierce, and Wegmans is trying to get an edge by giving away – yes, free – a generic version of what was the world’s [...]
A Minneapolis-area psychiatrist, Charles Dean, published an opinion piece in the Star Tribune, “Rise in ADHD cases is due to marketing.“ It appeared adjacent to the Strib’s republishing of the NYT op-ed piece, “Diagnosis: Human,” by Ted Gup – that we blogged about yesterday. Dr. Dean writes: “The 53 percent increase in the diagnosis of [...]
An op-ed worth reading in the New York Times – “Diagnosis: Human.” Journalist-author Ted Gup, a fellow of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, tells the tragic story of his son, one of the “11 percent of school-age children (who) now receive a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — some [...]
Drug companies clearly have a lot riding on understanding doctors’ prescribing behavior and how they assign trust to brands and to specific drugs. A Harris Poll of physicians found that: “…when it comes to driving trust, emotional connection, relationships with sales representatives, and perceptions of the pharmaceutical company or companies backing the product can be [...]
Olympian Apolo Anton Ohno is a marketable commodity. And drug company Teva Pharmaceuticals is riding those fast blades for all it can. And media love reporting on how Ohno is now the “national face” of the exercise-induced brochospasm campaign sponsored by Teva, which gives the condition the acronym label of EIB. Acronyms are hot in [...]
Psychiatrist-author David Healy blogs about “Prozac and SSRIs: Twenty-fifth Anniversary.” In his post, he touches on: the phenomenal explosion in the use of antidepressants suicides triggered by antidepressant use birth defects and miscarriages from antidepressants used in pregnancy “the dead doctor sketch” – what antidepressant prescribing has done to the practice of medicine and to [...]
The New Yorker profile of Dr. Oz, “The Operator: Is the most trusted doctor in America doing more harm than good?” The NPR piece, “Hanging A Price Tag On Radiology Tests Didn’t Change Doctors’ Habits.” PharmedOut.org’s new Drug Ads teaching tool. It’s a three-part slideshow covering misleading advertising in medical journals, indirect marketing, and disease-mongering; [...]
This story focuses on a family that may have a rare genetic mutation that increases their risk of heart disease. Unfortunately, the “rare” part wasn’t mentioned until 1,600 words into this 2,100 word story.
While this story adequately addressed 7 of our 10 criteria, the 3 on which it missed were significant omissions, yet could have been easily addressed.
Solid medical conference reporting, with many expert interviews and good context provided. Goes far beyond the conference presentation itself.
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