NewsTrust - Pharmaceuticals - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

Pharmaceutical Industry Is Biggest Defrauder of the Federal Government Under the False Claims Act, New Public Citizen Study Finds

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - Dec. 16 (Press Release) - The drug industry has now become the biggest defrauder of the federal government, as determined by payments it has made for violations of the False Claims Act (FCA), surpassing the defense industry, which had long been the leader, according to a new Public Citizen study released today. The study found that pharmaceutical cases accounted for at least 25 percent of all federal FCA payouts over the past decade, compared with 11 percent by the defense industry.read more

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The (in) justice of COFINA?

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Center for the New Economy - Apr. 23 (Opinion) - Imagine it is the year 2035 and all international trade and travel has halted to a dead stop due to the sudden appearance of a highly contagious disease hitherto unknown to humanity. The good news is that Chinese Pharmaceutical Company, which is majority-owned by the Chinese government, has developed a highly effective vaccine against this disease. The bad news is that it will cost the government of Puerto Rico $2 billion to acquire sufficient doses to protect its population

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Industry Interests are Not in Their "Twilight"

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Glenn Greenwald - Mar. 21 (Opinion) - ... to pretend that this bill represents the "Twilight of the Interest Groups," that special interests have been "neutralized," that this bill is some sort of great victory over the health insurance and drug lobbies, is just hagiography and propaganda. Being able to force the Government to bribe and accommodate you is not a reflection of your powerlessness; quite the opposite. Everyone would love to be forced into a "twilight" like that. It's one thing for the Obama administration and the DNC to issue self-serving claims like this (we've stood up to the insurance and drug companies!), but those who hold themselves out as independent commentators ought to keep their feet on their ground.

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Funding Public Health Care with a Publicly Owned Bank: How Canada Did It

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Op Ed News - By Ellen Brown - Jan. 25 (Opinion) - The Massachusetts gubernatorial upset means the President may have to start over with his health care bill. The good news is that there's still a chance for the public option the voters thought they would be getting. How to fund it? The way Canada did -- with credit issued by the government's own central bank.

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The Health Insurance Trap

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Ian Sigalow - Oct. 06 (Opinion) - A year ago, I would have said that the government shouldn't intervene in health insurance. But after a cancer diagnosis and four months of chemotherapy, I have a very different opinion. This is my story.

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Official Report Reveals that Salmon Aquaculture in Chile Uses 600 Times More Antibiotics Than Norway

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

oceana.org - Jul. 24 (Press Release) - For the first time the Chilean Government revealed that the national salmon industry has been using roughly 385 tons of antibiotics, 600 times more than Norway, the main producer of farmed salmon in the world. The information was disclosed in response to a request for access to public information that the international marine conservation organization, Oceana, made to the Minister of Economy, Hugo Lavados.

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The Patriot's Guide to Legalization

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Kevin Drum - Jul. 06 (Opinion) - Maybe the war against pot is about to get a lot uglier. After all, in the 1920s, Prohibition gave us Al Capone and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and that was over plain old whiskey and rum. Are we about to start paying the same price for marijuana?

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An End to the War on Weed?

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

In These Times - By Nathan Comp - Apr. 12 (Opinion) - As a medley of border violence, recessionary pressure, international criticism and popular acceptance steadily undermines America’s decades-long effort to eliminate drugs and drug use, the U.S. movement to legalize marijuana is gaining unprecedented momentum. Once derided and dismissed by lawmakers, law enforcers and the law-abiding alike, marijuana reform is sweeping the nation, although the federal government appears committed—at least for the time being—to largely maintaining the status quo.

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Free Market Myth

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Boston Review - By Dean Baker - Feb. 19 (Opinion) - The extraordinary financial collapse of recent months has been commonly described as a testament to the failure of deregulation. The events are indeed testament to a failure—a failure of public policy. Blaming deregulation is misleading. In general, political debates over regulation have been wrongly cast as disputes over the extent of regulation, with conservatives assumed to prefer less regulation, while liberals prefer more. In fact conservatives do not necessarily desire less regulation, nor do liberals necessarily desire more. Conservatives support regulatory structures that cause income to flow upward, while liberals support regulatory structures that promote equality. “Less” regulation does not imply greater inequality, nor is the reverse true.

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Communicating Medical News -- Pitfalls of Health Care Journalism

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The New England Journal of Medicine - By Susan Dentzer - Dec. 31 (Opinion) - In my view, we in the news media have a responsibility to hold ourselves to higher standards if there is any chance that doctors and patients will act on the basis of our reporting. We are not clinicians, but we must be more than carnival barkers; we must be credible health communicators more interested in conveying clear, actionable health information to the public than carrying out our other agendas. There is strong evidence that many journalists agree — and in particular, consider themselves poorly trained to understand medical studies and statistics.5 But not only should our profession demand better training of health journalists, it should also require that health stories, rather than being rendered in black and white, use all the grays on the palette to paint a comprehensive picture of inevitably complex realties. Journalists could start by imposing on their work a "prudent reader or viewer" test: On the basis of my news account, what would a prudent person do or assume about a given medical intervention, and did I therefore succeed in delivering the best public health message possible?

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Dr. Jeffrey McCombs: A "S.A.D." Lifestyle

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - Nov. 17 (Opinion) - The wisdom of the body as a temple that needs to be cherished and cared for has been replaced by the philosophy of the body as an amusement park and I’ve got a season pass.

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Brain Enhancement: Beyond Either/Or

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Neuroanthropology - Mar. 09 (Opinion) - Benedict Carey writes, "Brain Enhancement Is Wrong, Right?" covering the emerging debate on performance-enhancing drugs in academia and other intellectual pursuits. This debate began in the journal Nature, and exploded since then. (I've covered some similar issues in a previous post, Drugs and Biosociality.) Carey poses us this question, "Is prescription tweaking to perform on exams, or prepare presentations and grants, really the same as injecting hormones to chase down a home run record, or win the Tour de France?"

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'Frankenfoods' Giant Monsanto Plays Bully Over Consumer Labeling

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Scott Thill - Mar. 06 (Opinion) - Since 1901, Monsanto has brought us Agent Orange, PCBs, Terminator seeds and recombined milk, among other infamous products. But it's currently obsessed with the milk, or, more importantly, the milk labels, particularly those that read "rBST-free" or "rBGH-free." It's not the "BST" or "BGH" that bothers them so much; after all, bovine somatrophin, also known as bovine growth hormone, isn't exactly what the company is known for. Which is to say, it's naturally occurring. No, the problem is the "r" denoting "recombined." There's nothing natural about it. In fact, the science is increasingly pointing to the possibility that recombined milk is -- surprise! -- not as good for you as the real thing.

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AlterNet: DrugReporter: Caught with a Bag of Weed? It Could Cost You More Than You Think

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Paul Armentano - Jan. 26 (Opinion) - A second option, 'regulation,' would also significantly slash many of society's prohibition-associated fiscal and human costs. Legalizing the commercial sale and use of cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol, with state-mandated age controls and pot sales restricted to state-licensed stores, could also potentially raise billions of added dollars in tax revenue while simultaneously bringing an end to the more egregious and adverse black-market effects of the plant's criminalization -- such as the production of pot by criminal enterprises and its clandestine cultivation on public lands.

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Pitching Prescriptions and Patient Empowerment

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:44:58 -0700

3 Quarks Daily - By Michael Blim - Jul. 30 (Opinion) - The pharmaceutical industry in the United States and worldwide is a big business. That's why its critics (and now some Wall Street analysts too) call it "Big Pharma." In the United States last year, the pharmaceutical industry grossed $275 billion. To put this figure into perspective, consider that the American people spent more on pharmaceutical drugs than they did on new cars last year. Product "promotion" is key. No doubt you have noticed pharmaceutical representatives in your doctor's waiting rooms. Young, clean-cut, always smiling, they are the detailers hoping to get a word in with the doctor before she sees you. Blandishments include those free samples, "starter kits," of drugs your doctor passes on to you. Big Pharma spent $6.7 billion in 2006 on detailing, and another half a billion dollars a year advertising in professional journals. They spent $4.8 billion on consumer advertising. In all, Big Pharma spent $12 billion to push its products.

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