Reader DudeAsInCool got an apology from Walgreens and a $20 coupon after submitting his complaint over the hassle he was put through when trying to pay with a check. Somehow the who/what/when/why/where/how of his purchase tripped Walgreen’s check verification service, Certegy, and he had to go through a ridiculous phone call in order to get his check cleared.
Pharma Medicine
Controversial Ad Implies Celebrex Is As Safe As OTC Painkillers
By 4.10.07
A new ad for Celebrex, a prescription painkiller related to Vioxx, has come under fire for implying that Celebrex is as safe as non-prescription painkillers such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) and naproxen (Aleve.) A consumer group has written a letter to the FDA requesting that they ban the ad, claiming that it contains “false or misleading statements.”
“The overall purpose of the ad is to make it appear, contrary to scientific evidence, that the cardiovascular dangers of Celebrex are not greater than those of any of the other Nsaid painkillers,” the letter said, referring to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. “Further, it asserts that certain gastrointestinal problems are, if anything, less frequent with Celebrex than with two popular over-the-counter (OTC) painkillers.”
The ad, which is two-and-a-half minutes long (Pfizer was the only sponsor of the program on which it aired), can be viewed at Celebrex.com. The ad marks Celebrex’s return to advertising after a two year hiatus following Vioxx’s withdrawal from the market due to dangerous cardiovascular side-effects.
Introducing: The CVS Chocolate Diet!
By 4.9.07
Reader Greg sends the above photo of his local CVS. Now there’s a diet….or perhaps just a helpful suggestion for those shoppers who are often drawn to this particular aisle.—MEGHANN MARCO
Religion On The Job
By 4.4.07
The law on this is Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits religious discrimination in the workplace. It requires employers to make “reasonable accommodations” for an employee’s religious beliefs — “reasonable” being anything that doesn’t create an “undue hardship” on the employer or on co-workers.
We think it’s great and wonderful and amazing that companies make these accommodations, but retailers should probably make sure there’s at least one friendly atheistic heathen-type cashier available at all times. Otherwise, at which register would we buy that gun that shoots pork-based birth control? —MEGHANN MARCO
San Francisco Modifies The Age-Old Question: Paper Or Plastic?
By 4.1.07
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 to ban the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags; supermarkets across the city will retrain their employees to ask: paper or biodegradable plastic?
The Plastic Bag Reduction Ordinance, written by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and Co., sponsored by six other supervisors, gives major supermarket chains with more than $2 million in annual sales six months to make the switch to biodegradable bags. Pharmacies and retailers with at least five locations have one year. Violators face fines of up to $500.
Supermarkets have let economics guide their choice between paper and plastic. Paper bags cost four cents, while plastic bags cost a penny. The largest San Francisco supermarket hands out 125 million plastic bags each year.
Fen-Phen Lawyers Run Off With $126 Million of $200 Million Settlement
By 3.27.07
W. L. Carter knew there was something fishy going on when he went to his lawyers’ office a few years ago to pick up his settlement check for the heart damage he had sustained from taking the diet drug combination fen-phen.
Doctors Who Have "Close Relationships" With Drug Makers Prescribe Newer, Pricier Drugs
By 3.21.07
“When honest human beings have a vested stake in seeing the world in a particular way, they’re incapable of objectivity and independence,” said Max H. Bazerman, a professor at Harvard Business School. “A doctor who represents a pharmaceutical company will tend to see the data in a slightly more positive light and as a result will overprescribe that company’s drugs.”
In Minnesota, a state in which drug company payouts are disclosed to the public, “More than 250 … psychiatrists together earned $6.7 million in drug company money — more than any other specialty. Seven of the last eight presidents of the Minnesota Psychiatric Society have served as consultants to drug makers, according to the Times examination.”
Generics Aren't Always That Much Cheaper
By 3.15.07
Generics meds are supposed to be a cheaper alternative to name-brand drugs, but a recent Wall Street Journal found that there wasn’t as much difference as you might think. — BEN POPKEN
Statistically Speaking, His Check Was Fraudulent
By 3.12.07
Checking systems’ vagaries make them susceptible to scams, so we can understand why Walgreens might want to protect themselves against our reader by denying his drug purchase.
Lawsuit: Is Walgreens Racist?
By 3.8.07
The lawsuit alleges that Walgreen assigns black managers, management trainees and pharmacists to low-performing stores and to stores in black communities, and that it denies them promotions based on race.
Mythbusting: Does Home Depot Have A Meth-Lab Aisle?
By 3.5.07
I have no proof of this, but it comes from a reliable source (well, someone I consider reliable).
FDA Approves Drug For Carsick Dogs
By 3.1.07
The FDA said the drug, Cerenia, is the first to prevent and treat vomiting in dogs. When used in tablet form, the Pfizer Inc. drug can prevent vomiting associated with motion sickness, the FDA said. The agency also approved an injectable form of the drug, known generically as maropitant citrate, that it said can prevent and treat acute vomiting due to chemotherapy, parvovirus, kidney disease, pancreatitis and other causes.
Buy Brand Name Cereal For Only $1.79 At Grand Central Northeast RiteAids
By 2.28.07
For some inexplicable reason, you can get any box of cereal right now for $1.79 at the Rite Aid in Grand Central in Manhattan. These normally run $6-plus. $4-plus.
First FDA Approved OTC Weight-Loss Drug: "Alli"
By 2.8.07
An obesity specialist in Washington, Dr. Arthur Frank, said Alli had a safe track record and could help patients lose 5 to 10 percent of their weight. On the negative side, Alli can cause annoying side effects including diarrhea and oily stools.
Are Drug Commercials Bad For Your Health?
By 1.31.07
“Most ads (82%) made some factual claims and made rational arguments (86%) for product use, but few described condition causes (26%), risk factors (26%), or prevalence (25%). Emotional appeals were almost universal (95%). No ads mentioned lifestyle change as an alternative to products, though some (19%) portrayed it as an adjunct to medication. Some ads (18%) portrayed lifestyle changes as insufficient for controlling a condition. The ads often framed medication use in terms of losing (58%) and regaining control (85%) over some aspect of life and as engendering social approval (78%). Products were frequently (58%) portrayed as a medical breakthrough.”
The researchers determined that big pharma advertisements don’t provide much factual information and Instead, rely on “characters that have lost control over their social, emotional, or physical lives without the medication.” We’re not scientists or anything, but we’ve noticed this too. —MEGHANN MARCO
FDA To Change The Way Drugs Are Approved
By 1.31.07 — Updated: 11.5.12
The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it is making changes in the way it operates to prevent the kind of drug safety controversies that have dogged the agency in recent years.
Cheap, Safe Drug Kills Most Cancers
By 1.30.07
Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and his colleagues tested DCA on human cells cultured outside the body and found that it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but not healthy cells. Tumours in rats deliberately infected with human cancer also shrank drastically when they were fed DCA-laced water for several weeks…DCA can cause pain, numbness and gait disturbances in some patients, but this may be a price worth paying if it turns out to
Best Buy Drugs
By 1.24.07
- The project aims to improve access to needed medicines for tens of millions of Americans–because they lack insurance coverage for prescription drugs, because the prices of many medicines today are so high, and because many consumers and physicians may not be aware of proven and affordable alternatives.
Doctors can be influenced by marketing from Big Pharma, so arm yourself with knowledge about alternatives. There may be a generic drug that works better and is safer and cheaper than the next new thing. Vioxx anyone? —MEGHANN MARCO
