Search Results for "off-label"
Robotic thyroid surgery doubles the expense
To a man with a new hammer, everything looks like a nail. To a hospital and/or surgical team with a new robotic surgery system, everything looks like a prime candidate for the robot. And then there’s this about “off-label” use of the robot for thyroid surgery: Reuters Health reports: “Surgery to remove part of the […]
8/15/2012Guest post followup: Why does National Library of Medicine still index Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine?
The following is a guest post by Kevin Lomangino, one of our story reviewers on HealthNewsReview.org. He is an independent medical journalist and editor who is currently Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Nutrition Insight, a monthly evidence-based newsletter which reviews the scientific literature on nutrition for physicians and dietitians. He tweets as @Klomangino. ———————————————————————————— Why Is the […]
8/8/2012Disclosing conflict of interest: two pieces in TheScientist.com
Both worth a closer look: An opinion piece on TheScientist.com, “Bias Is Unavoidable: Simply disclosing conflicts of interest is not enough.” and An opinion piece, “Off-Label Drug Disclosure Inadequate: Some 85 percent of researchers involved in promoting off-label drug use do not adequately disclose financial conflicts of interest in published articles.”
Immune-Disorder Drug Shows Promise for Alzheimer’s
There were many strong elements in this story: cautious language early and often, strong input from independent experts, and concerns stated about off-label use. Nice job.
Immune-Disorder Drug Shows Promise for Alzheimer’s
USA Today piece on pain patches gives hospitalist a headache
Dr. Bradley Flansbaum, who blogs on The Hospitalist Leader, is Director of Hospitalist Services at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. He’s also a keen observer of health care news coverage. He wrote the following guest post. He wrote to me, saying, “I treat a lot of pain, and always approach any claims re: […]
2/1/2012Readers may be snared in heart journal’s tangled web of conflicts
The following is a guest post by Kevin Lomangino, one of our story reviewers on HealthNewsReview.org. He is an independent medical journalist and editor who is currently Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Nutrition Insight, a monthly evidence-based newsletter which reviews the scientific literature on nutrition for physicians and dietitians. He tweets as @Klomangino. ———————————————————————————————- Blogger Marilyn Mann […]
12/6/2011Don’t miss our Toolkit – to help journalists & consumers
As one clear sign of how we want to help improve the flow of health care information – not just criticize things we see that are communicated inadequately – we’ve built a section of the site called The Toolkit. We plan to continue to add to the Toolkit as time permits and we welcome your […]
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Tips for analyzing studies, medical evidence and health care claims
To back up our goal of improving the public dialogue about health care interventions, we offer these tips for analyzing studies and health care claims and interventions, aimed at helping both journalists and consumers. We also offer writing tips for health care journalists that touch upon some of these issues. Absolute vs. relative risk Animal […]
8/10/2011Laurel & Hardy and prostate cancer chemoprevention
In the sometimes Laurel-and-Hardy-like (“Here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten us into!”) interactions between industry, government, and clinicians, there’s a debate brewing about whether drugs used to treat benign prostate problems (BPH) should also be used to try to prevent cancer of the prostate. (Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/karlosofsyston/) The drugs are of the class called 5-alpha […]
7/15/2011Reminder of our online toolkit: tips for understanding studies
Many visitors to this site may still be unaware of one important little corner of the site – our “Tips for Understanding Studies.” It’s just a collection of brief little primers on important topics such as: Resources for Reporting on Costs of Medical Interventions Association Versus Causation (primer on limitations of observational studies) “Off-label” Drug […]
6/28/2011“Harm has been done” – spine journal’s critical review of Medtronic Infuse studies
The Spine Journal has published a special June issue focusing on Medtronic’s INFUSE product, or rhBMP-2, a bone growth product commonly used in spine fusion surgeries. A journal news release states: A critical review of 13 industry-sponsored studies on a spine surgery product found that the actual risk of adverse events was 10 to 50 […]
6 11/4/2010Drug company's secret inducements to get docs to use $2,000 drug instead of $20 sibling
The New York Times reports: Genentech has begun offering secret rebates to eye doctors as an apparent inducement to get them to use more of the company’s expensive drug Lucentis rather than a less costly alternative. Under the program, which started on Oct. 1, medical practices can earn up to tens of thousands of dollars […]
5/6/2010A day in the life of misleading drug promotions by pharma
These were all in the news yesterday. FDA warns Novartis about two websites that the FDA says “are concerning from a public health perspective because they promote Gleevec for an unapproved use, fail to disclose the risks associated with the use of Gleevec, and make unsubstantiated dosing claims about this medication that can put […]
8/4/2009A growing public health threat: network TV morning health news segments
By reviewing health news coverage every day, we are able to see big pictures of clear patterns unfolding that the casual day-to-day news consumer may miss. One picture is quite clear. The morning health news segments on ABC, CBS and NBC do the following regularly: Unquestioningly promote new drugs and new technologies Feed […]
8/3/2009Network TV morning health news segments may be harmful to your health
By reviewing health news coverage every day, we are able to see big pictures of clear patterns unfolding that the casual day-to-day news consumer may miss. One picture is quite clear. The morning health news segments on ABC, CBS and NBC do the following regularly: Unquestioningly promote new drugs and new technologies Feed the “worried […]
