SUMMARY: CVS announced its plans to begin closing its doors–about 900 locations across the country. They know the future isn’t about selling 20 kinds of shampoos and vitamins. In the words of the company’s mission, its goal is to “make high-quality health and pharmacy services safe, affordable and easy to access.”
Category Archive: Focus on patients
SUMMARY: Six in ten Americans live with at least one chronic disease, like heart disease and stroke, cancer, or diabetes. These and other chronic diseases are the leading causes of death and disability in America, and they are also a top driver of health care costs. But what we most often overlook is the effect of chronic health conditions on the quality of life leading to depression and suicide.
SUMMARY:
- The states struggling the most with covid-19 infections also have the least healthy populations.
- About two out of five American adults are obese, according to the CDC. Mostly because they don’t understand how what they eat effects their health.
- Only 23% of people get enough exercise and only one in ten eats enough fruit and vegetables, says the CDC.
- Less than half of Americans are proficient readers, and only 12% are considered by the country’s health department to be “health-literate”.
- Over one-third struggle with basic health tasks, such as following prescription-drug directions.
SUMMARY:
- People are going online more and more to sarch for health information after seeing a DTC pharma TV spot.
- Pharma websites are not consdiered a top resource for infromation on new products.
- Cost is not that big of an issue for people who have health insurance.
- It’s more about weighing the benefit against the potential side effects.
- TV spots are the number one way people learn about new pharma products.
SUMMARY:
- According to the NEJM “in participants with overweight or obesity, 2.4 mg of semaglutide once weekly plus lifestyle intervention was associated with sustained, clinically relevant reduction in body weight”.
- In the clinical study, participants were enrolled in an “intensive” behavioral study with 8 weeks low-calorie diet.
- Yet the media has led with “diabetes drug leads to major weight loss”.
- Will doctors inform patients?
SUMMARY: The media headlines promise weight loss for diabetes patients, but Norvo’s new drug is in the same class as other drugs and carries many warnings. Can diabetes patients really stay adherent to a drug for 63 weeks in which 85% of patients report GI side effects and will insurance cover the cost?
SUMMARY: The FDA is coming under intense pressure to approve Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug, but Aaron S. Kesselheim, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School via the Washington Post, says “the worst thing for people with Alzheimer’s would be to put out a product that doesn’t work.” For Biogen, the stakes are high as approval is likely to earn tens of millions, of to billions, in profits but is hope a reason to approve a drug over science?
QUICK READ: A two-month analysis of social media and prescription drugs found the number one reason online health seekers use social media is to share and ask questions about medication side effects. I also found an abundance of medication misinformation based on personal experiences and hearsay.