The crescendo of news in anticipation of an FDA advisory committee’s consideration of the drug flibanserin for hypoactive sexual desire disorder or HSDD is crazy. And few stories question the oft-cited estimate that up to 40% of women may have this problem. Why don’t they cite the source? Why don’t they explain how flimsy the [...]
This week the FDA will vote on flibanserin, the much-talked-about drug for women with the condition called hypoactive sexual desire disorder or – because everything in sexual health needs an acronym like ED or PE – HSDD. On the eve of the FDA vote, CBS last week ran still another story about flibanserin. This drug [...]
That’s how researchers Michael Hochman of USC and Danny McCormick of Harvard described medicine’s lack of evidence for many treatments in an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times that reflects on the authors’ paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week. Excerpt of the op-ed piece: “.. we analyzed 328 [...]
Make sure you see the onslide slideshow accompanying this article about how the FDA is cracking down on drug companies for ads that underplay serious risks. The slideshow gives you details on the ad or promotional campaign behind the drug and includes copies of the warning letters the FDA sent to the companies responsible for [...]
CBS News ran a segment last night on a little girl who apparently benefited from the use of a left ventricular assist device called “The Berlin Heart” – a device that supported her heart for a few days while she waited for a heart transplant. The girl was the daughter of Chicago Bears football player [...]
The Wall Street Journal Health Blog published an interesting inside look of – as they put it – “how drug makers can try to lay the groundwork for sales well before a new therapy hits the market.” The topic is premature ejaculation. Some might call the methods “disease-mongering.”
The Minneapolis Star Tribune had a good idea in writing about possible changes in the FDA’s medical device approval process. I first blogged about this 3 months ago with a focus on the agency’s 510K process – established 30 years ago as a way to allow the manufacturers of some medical devices to get a [...]
In the circles I run in, there’s been a buzz about an announcement first made last December about a “partnership” between the FDA and WebMD. Yesterday the two entities announced an expansion of that partnership “to provide increased access to FDA’s consumer health information.” I can appreciate the FDA’s interest in reaching the public more [...]
Front page. More than 2,000 words. The kind of story Americans need to understand. We’re fortunate to have the WSJ on days like this with stories like this. – “FDA Backs Knee Device After Long Lobby Effort.”
I’ve been tracking news coverage of a Minnesota company’s heart “sock” device for heart failure for four years. Four years ago, I questioned Star Tribune coverage. Two years ago, questions of evidence started to surface. Today the Star Tribune reports: “The high-profile consumer advocacy group Public Citizen expressed “deep concern” this week about whether the [...]
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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