SUMMARY: Three House Democrats on a key committee voted against the measure to lower drug prices as PhRMA ramped up its lobbying dollars to buy politicians. “I understand that the pharmaceutical industry owns the Republican Party and that no Republican voted for this bill, but there is no excuse for every Democrat not supporting it,” Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote in a scathing statement.
Category Archive: in the news
SUMMARY: Marion Gruber, director of the FDA’s Office of Vaccines Research & Review, and deputy director Phil Krause will exit the agency because the White House is getting ahead of the agency on COVID booster shots. I would argue, however, that the FDA is a bureaucratic mess with changes needed at all levels of leadership.
SUMMARY: Via Marci Hamilton is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania “the Constitution is not a suicide pact guaranteeing a right to harm others. The government has latitude to protect citizens from deadly conditions, especially when the science supporting vaccination is so clear”.
SUMMARY: President Biden wants to lower prescription drug costs. One of the ways to do this is by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. While it has wide approval in Congress, you can bet that PhRMA is already writing checks to politicians to try and stop this logical move.
SUMMARY:
- It’s almost impossible for the average person to get accurate and reliable information from the media.
- Even vaccine booster shots are being debated by HCPs and Pfizer.
- We need to follow the science.
- Physiican trust in the FDA is decling as well.
- The best way to get accurate health information may be to follow noted physicians on social media.
SUMMARY: People are anxious because of the resurgence of COVID. Unfortunately, there is a lot of false and bad information online. To get accurate information, follow one of the many physicians online. They can provide answers based on science and their experience.
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?
SKIMMERS SUMMARY:
- Health experts, including those on an external advisory committee to the FDA, are skeptical that Biogen’s drug will even successfully slow the progression of Alzheimer’s after late-stage clinical trials yielded mixed results and are angry the FDA approved the product.
- The FDA’s recent approval of aducanumab (Aduhelm) shows just how badly the agency has failed the public.
- In late April, the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee reviewed six accelerated approvals — a provisional pathway — involving a group of cancer immunotherapies where clinical trials had failed to confirm that the drugs extended survival or improved quality of life. Yet, in four of the six cases, the advisory committee voted to keep the accelerated approvals intact. (source: Medpage)
- In response to the FDA’s approval, three members of the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee who opposed approval of the drug quit the panel in protest.
- Physicians are signaling that they now want to see the “complete date” regarding new drug approvals.