Instead of issuing a recall, after Johnson and Johnson discovered its Motrin caplets were defective, they hired a contractor to go around the country buy up all the drugs. It was a “secret recall” that left the bad medicine on shelves for months for consumers to buy. Now the Oregon AG is suing J&J. The story broke when one of the guys hired to do the buying faxed regulators the instructions J&J gave him. [More]
pharma
Stanford U Investigates A Dozen Docs For Taking Pharma Payola
By 12.21.10
Twelve doctors at Stanford University Medical School are under investigation by the school’s disciplinary board after their names cropped up in a database of docs getting paid big bucks by pharmaceutical companies for speaking gigs, a violation of school policy. [More]
1 In 7 Medicare Patients Harmed By Treatment Errors
By 11.29.10
A new Federal study finds that 1 out of every 7 Medicare patients are harmed during their hospital stays by treatment errors. These gaffes include bed sores, excessive bleeding, urinary tract infections, and mistaken medication. [More]
Drug Co's Pledge To Choose More Closely Docs They Pay
By 11.23.10
Several big pharma companies pledged to more tightly screen the doctors they pay to pimp their drugs to other medical professionals. The news comes after a major ProPublica investigation revealed the pill makers were paying princely sums to some docs with splotchy backgrounds. [More]
Drug Co. Accused Of Bribing Doctors To Prescribe Eye Drug
By 11.10.10
NYT has uncovered a program of hush-hush rebates they say Genentech gives to doctors to encourage them to prescribe the pricier eye medication Lucentis over cheaper alternatives. [More]
38,000 More Smelly Bottles Of Lipitor Recalled
By 11.1.10
Pfizer is recalling 38,000 more bottles of Lipitor because the bottles smell musty. [More]
17,000 Docs, Some Who Had Sex With Patients, Scarf Big Pharma Payola
By 10.19.10
Big pharmaceutical companies say they only pick the saintliest docs to be “their boys,” getting paid into the six figures to “teach” fellow doctors about the companies’ latest wunder-pills. But a major investigation into disciplinary action against these docs on the take reveals that some of them have splotchy pasts, from having sex with patients, to criminal convictions, to research misconduct and revoked licenses. The history included: [More]
ID An Unknown Pill
By 10.18.10
Ever find a pill in your medicine cabinet and forget what it is and how it got there? To the rescue comes Pillbox, a site that helps you identify unknown pills. Just select a few criteria, like shape, size, scoring and marking, and it tells you what kind of pill it is. Neat! [More]
Birth Control Pills Change Women's Brain Structure
By 10.6.10
A new study found that the brains of women on birth control have more matter in some parts of their brain, like the pre-frontal cortex. So is “the pill” also a smart pill? Not exactly. Researchers say the brain is like a “neural beehive” and messing with one part can mess with others. Or, as the study’s authors put it, one region being larger could actually mean it’s going “catawampus.” [More]
Choose A Multivitamin
By 10.4.10
Multivitamins come in an array of packages like “Silver,” “Kids Chewables,” and “Schwarzenegger,” but it’s all marketing. Just buy the cheapest. They’re all the same, just in different colored boxes. That’s the advice Consumer Reports is dishing out after it tested 21 different kinds of multivitamins, and finding most were indistinguishable from one another, with two exceptions. [More]
Children Can Now Stay On Parent's Health Care Policies Until Age 26, And 3 Other Health Care Reforms That Just Kicked In
By 9.27.10
Several of the provisions of the health care bill’s provisions went into effect on September 23rd, one of the most popular of them being the fact that kids can now stay on their parent’s health care policies until age 26, but there also three other important ones too! [More]
Drug Rep Accidentally Emails Consumer Truth About Overpriced Pills
By 9.23.10
Reddit user TheKarateKid says he emailed a major drug company asking why their $500 version of a $10 generic is worth the $490 markup. The drug company rep accidentally emailed the customer back this message intended for her colleague. [More]
Bad Nurses Dodge Checkered Past By Moving To New States
By 8.3.10
Naughty nurses, sanctioned for things like stealing prescription painkillers or missing critical tests for their patients, are able to jump to new jobs from state to state thanks to gaps in the regulatory framework and lack of information sharing, a new ProPublica report finds. [More]
Get Insurance Even If You're Uninsured And Have Pre-Existing Conditions
By 7.2.10
Yesterday healthcare.gov launched which, among many other resources, contains links to where you can apply for the new state high-risk pools which are for uninsured folk with pre-existing conditions. [More]
Shuttered Tylenol Plant Had Troubling Pattern of Problems
By 6.24.10
Should Tylenol have been recalled sooner? FDA inspection reports going back to 2003 paint a queasy picture. [More]
More Moldy Barfy Benadryl And Tylenol Recalled
By 6.17.10
Oopsy-poopsies! Johnson and Johnson forgot to recall four “lots” of Benadryl Allergy Ultratabs and one lot of Extra Strength Tylenol Rapid Release Gels along with the dozens already recalled in Jan. J&J took the pills off the market after consumers complained they smelled moldy and in a few cases, caused vomiting and diarrhea. [More]
Save On Drugs By Making Your Pharmacy Price-Match
By 6.2.10
What made Jules sicker than her strep throat was the price Kroger wanted to charge her for a 6-pack of generic Azithromycin. $38.72! “That’s highway robbery!” she told the them. Then Jules stumbled onto something most people don’t know that could save them serious money on prescription medication: you can price-match your pills. [More]
Unfortunately Named Products: Aciphex
By 6.2.10
Remember how when you were writing essays in school teachers would say that you should read your work aloud before handing it in? To see if you could catch any typos or strange-sounding phrases? Well, the nomenclature-smiths who came up with heartburn drug “Aciphex,” seem to have forgotten that important lesson. Watch the ad and you’ll hear what I’m talking about: “Fred, you have acid reflux disease. I want you to try prescription ass effects.” [More]
