-
Cholesterol Drug A No-Go
The FDA denied approval of the much anticipated Merck & Co. cholesterol drug Cordaptive on Monday, stating that more information on the drug is needed, and that the trade name Cordaptive is not acceptable. Merck is also the creator of the controversial cholesterol drug Vytorin, which came under fire in January when studies showed that ...
-
End Of A Marriage
Schering-Plough and Merck have been making moves to bring their two respective allergy drugs—Claritin and and Singulair—together to form one super-drug, but it according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. On April 25, the company said late the FDA had rejected an application for a ...
-
Going Robo
Our society loves over-the-counter (OTC) drugs almost as much as it loves prescription meds. Bored teens and adults have been known to down a bottle of Ny-Quil or Robitussin just to attain a loopy, cough medicine high. There are even entire message boards devoted solely to discussion of how to best achieve the “robo” high ...
-
Chris Rock Hits The Mark
Chris Rock is one of my favorite comedians of all time (I even got to see him live at Chicago Theater this year and he was amazing). Anyway, this bit is from an old HBO stand-up show of his and he totally hits it right on the nail as far as prescription drug ads go. ...
-
Killjoys (Literally.)
It looks like yet another miracle pill may be falling by the wayside. An April 23 AP article said it appears that a drug hat scientists had originally hoped would help people kick addictions and lose weight, might actually lead to increased risk of depression and suicide. It seems that the drug—which blocks pleasure sensors ...
-
Our Water Is On Drugs
Not to harp on an aforementioned issue, but I thought it was worth acknowledging the Chicago Tribune’s recent article on their own private analysis of the Chicago public water supply. In an April 16 article entitled “What’s in your water?” the Tribune said it hired an independent lab to “do the testing the city won’t ...
-
Heparin
According to an April 21 AP article, the FDA issued a warning Monday to Changzhou SPL, the company that manufactures the blood-thinning drug Heparin. The FDA informed the pharmaceutical manufacturing company that it is not doing an adequate job of removing impurities from the raw materials it uses. However, the company maintains that it does ...
-
New Kids On The Block
I decided to do some research and find out the names of some of the latest drugs to arrive on the scene in so far this month. Here’s what I discovered (courtesy of Drugs.com): Treximet, formerly Trexima, is sumatriptan succinate and naproxen sodium. It is being developed as a novel combination of sumatriptan succinate and ...
-
Ass-backwards System
The New York Times reported in an April 14 article that many insurance companies are now charging exorbitant prices for numerous prescription drugs. Instead of charging patients the usual $10, $20 or $30 co-pay, insurance companies are now asking members to pay between 20 to 30 percent of the actual cost of ...
-
Annuale
Saturday Night Live has done countless hilarious spoofs of prescription drug ads, and this one for Annuale is especially hilarious to me. I’ve always thought all these new-fangled birth control pills were a little frightening. I mean, while it would be of course fantastic to skip that time of the month, doesn’t it seem… well… ...
-
Dangerous Waters?
According to a March 9 AP article, a vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — were found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans. Although the AP report assured readers that only trace amounts of the drugs were found, it is still a little ...
-
Concentration in a Pill
One in five respondents to an informal, nonscientific online survey in the science journal Nature said they have used drugs like Ritalin and Adderall to boost their brain power, according to a CNN Health article. 1,400 people in 60 countries were polled, and the majority of those who responded said they worked in biology, physics, ...