Did you know it’s illegal for a doctor to charge you for giving you your contact lens prescription? Yup, it’s against federal law. The Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act mandates that a doctors must provide you with a copy of your prescription after a contact lens fitting.
Pharma Medicine
25th Anniversary Of Unsolved Tylenol Tampering Case
By 9.30.07
Medicines have tamper-proof seals for one reason: A 25-year-old case involving cyanide-laced Tylenol that killed seven people in the Chicagoland area during September of 1982.
Participating In A Clinical Study? You're On Your Own
By 9.28.07
The FDA’s own parent department, the Department of Health and Human Services, just issued a report that says the FDA “does very little to ensure the safety of the millions of people who participate in clinical trials,” according to the New York Times. The FDA has 200 inspectors, some of whom are part-time, to monitor 350,000 testing sites—and even when they reported “serious problems,” their findings were downgraded 68% of the time by higher-ups in Washington.
FDA Issues Public Health Warning About Cancer Pain Drug Fentora
By 9.27.07
The FDA would like to let you know that a medicine meant to be used to control pain in patients who have become tolerant to morphine and other similar drugs is being used incorrectly and some patients have died as a result.
Walmart Adds More Drugs To The $4 Program, You Can Now Control Your Fungus For Cheap
By 9.27.07
The New York Times is reporting that Walmart has decided to expand their $4 generic drug program. The program will now include generics of “widely used heart medication Coreg and the anti-fungal drug Lamisil.”
How To Fill A 120-Day Prescription For 1/5th Of The Regular Price
By 9.26.07
Here’s a potential way to get certain drug prescriptions filled cheaply—as in, a several-month supply for less than $15—from our own Consumerist reader and commenter Hambriq. He posted it last week and we thought it was worth bringing to the foreground for more readers to see.
Antifungal Medication Makes You See Chewbacca
By 9.21.07
A new antifungal drug, voriconazole, causes patients to “develop a range of neurological side effects, including auditory and visual hallucinations,” within 24 hours to 2 weeks of beginning treatment. The drug is marketed as Vfend, and is administered intraveneously to treat serious fungal infections. The National Institute of Health has been testing the toxicity of the drug and reported the neurological side effects at a recent conference.
Is The "Wal-Mart Effect" Slowing Drug Inflation?
By 9.21.07
The inflation rate for prescription drugs—currently at 1 percent for the past 12 months—is at its lowest ever recorded in the past three decades, and some are speculating that Wal-Mart’s popular $4 generic drugs program is helping drive the costs down across the market.
Exercise Helps Depression As Well As Meds, Says New Study
By 9.20.07
If you’re blue, but not into treatments that require a prescription, hit the gym. In a recent study of 202 depressed adults, researchers found that those who participated in “group-based exercise therapy” showed the same results as those treated with antidepressants, while those who exercised at home showed slightly less improvement, and those who were given a placebo pill remained depressed.
Wal-Mart Unveils Improved Insurance Plan For Its Employees
By 9.19.07
Wal-Mart’s rehabilitation continues, possibly: beginning in January, it will offer its employees a revamped insurance package designed to cut costs, expand coverage, and reduce the price of prescription drugs. Even past critics of Wal-Mart, such as health care advocacy group Families USA, are hopeful: “On face value, this looks like a very significant change and improvement.” Some of the plan’s details: a $100-500 grant to defray costs, premiums as low as $5/month, the “elimination” of expensive hospital deductibles, and an increase in the number of $4 prescription drugs to 2,400.
By 9.14.07
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A U.S. federal appeals court today invalidated the patent on Altace, a widely prescribed drug to treat high blood pressure. This clears the way for low-cost generic versions of the drug to hit the market immediately. King Pharmaceuticals, the company that makes Altace, is asking for a rehearing, but in the meantime it may lose its window of opportunity to “upgrade” Altace patients to a reformulated (and newly patented) version it was it planning on introducing in 2008. [Reuters]
By 9.13.07
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Mental Floss has a fun quiz that asks you to match actual warnings to popular drugs. It’s a good way to brush up on your side effect trivia, so you’ll know what to take to increase your gambling addiction but not interfere with your sleep driving. (Sadly, we only got 3 out of 10 correct.) [Mental Floss via BoingBoing]
By 9.12.07
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Americans spent more than $9 billion on the cholesterol drug Lipitor in 2004—more than any other drug, according to government estimates released today. “Cholesterol drugs in general raked in the most money for their makers,” followed by stomach acid drugs. [Reuters]
FDA Halts Sale Of Libido-Increasing Injectable Tanning Drug
By 9.6.07
The FDA has warned Melanocorp, Inc., of Tennessee to stop its online sales of Melanotan II, an injectable tanning product that the company claims is “effective in protecting against skin cancer and rosacea.” According to the FDA, such claims cause it to be “classified as a drug under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, as well as a new drug because there is no evidence that it is generally recognized as safe and effective for its labeled uses.”
Beware Viagra's Possible Love Side Effects!
By 9.5.07
And now, an article for the men. Dang!—it turns out Viagra has a sneaky side effect of making you feel love and not just arousal whenever you take it. In lab studies, it increases the amount of oxytocin in rats, which is a hormone associated with “feelings of love,” including nursing and childbirth as well as sexual pleasure. (This should not be confused with the drug OxyContin, which does something else entirely, and which tends to be widely abused by lab rats in the midwest.)
Heartburn Drugs Prilosec and Nexium May Cause Heart Attacks
By 8.11.07
The FDA has launched a safety review of the heartburn drugs Prilosec and Nexium after two studies linked the medicines to an increased risk of: “heart attacks, heart failure, and heart-related sudden death.” The FDA warned that the studies are only preliminary, and that doctors and patients should keep using the drugs. From the LA Times:
Publix Stops Price-Matching Walmart's $4 Drug Plan
By 8.10.07
Bad news for people who were enjoying Publix’s policy of price-matching Walmart’s $4 generic drug plan—they’ve discontinued it, opting instead of offer free antibiotics.
Johnson & Johnson Sues The American Red Cross Over "Red Cross" Symbol
By 8.9.07
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, marked the breakdown of months of behind-the-scenes negotiations and prompted an angry response from the Red Cross.
