Beginning tomorrow morning, drug companies will stop peppering doctors’ offices with branded pens, bandages, tongue depressors, stethoscopes, calipers, mugs, prescription pads, soap dispensers, and t-shirts.
pharma
By 12.31.08
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Starting January 1, drug companies will implement a voluntary moratorium on branded goodies from drug companies.
Drug Maker Accused Of Paying Ghostwriters To Pen Journal Articles
By 12.12.08
A drug company is accused of paying ghostwriters to write favorable articles about their drugs — even after one drug was shown to raise the risk of cancer.
Walgreens Jerks You Around When You Try To Buy Plan B
By 12.1.08
A reader’s girlfriend tried to buy Plan B yesterday, but the Oxford, MS Walgreens pharmacy seemed to go out of their way to make it has hard as possible. Mere incompetence doesn’t explain what happened. Instead, it sounds more like a consciously decided system of policies designed to discourage people from buying the pill…
Medicare Costs Going Up In 2009, So Be Ready To Compare Plans
By 9.27.08
If there’s one group of Americans who don’t carry their weight and need to pay more money to the healthcare industry, it’s those layabout senior citizens! That’s why their Medicare drug premiums are increasing by an average of 31% for the 10 most popular plans beginning in 2009. If you were with Humana, formerly the cheapest Medicare drug plan you could get (its premium was $9.51 in 2006), you can expect to pay $40.83 per month in 2009, an increase of 60% over this year’s rate. As you would expect, Humana is no longer the cheapest option—so it may be time to shop around for a new plan.
FDA Bans Import Of 30 Popular Generic Drugs
By 9.17.08
The FDA has banned the import of 30 different generic drugs made by Ranbaxy due to unresolved ongoing concerns about quality controls in the manufacturing process. Some of them are popular, like a generic for Zocor. The complete list inside. If you’re taking any of the affected drugs, keep taking them. The FDA found no evidence to suggest any consumers are at risk. If you have concerns, consult your doctor.
New Lipitor Ads Mercifully Free Of Fake Doctors
By 9.2.08
Well, it seems that Pfizer is ready to move on from that embarrassing “Dr. Jarvik is not actually licensed to practice medicine” kerfuffle back in February. The company pulled its Lipitor spots after Congress became very interested in whether or not the ads were misleading the public into believing that Dr. Jarvik was qualified to offer medical advice — and that he was really rowing that boat. Now, theWall Street Journal has a tantalizing preview of the new “Dr. Jarvik Free” Lipitor ad. The spot features a regular person named John — a heart attack survivor who urges you to learn from his example and be more proactive about controlling your cholesterol (with Lipitor, damn it! Lipitor!).
Target Generic Costs Less, But It's 1/2 Strength
By 8.25.08
Conventional thinking says that you should buy based on better unit price, but Target knows this and has figured out a way to trick you. On the left is a name brand joint-strengthener, on the right, Target’s generic. Going just by unit price, Target looks like the better deal. But let’s see what’s going on on the back label…
Shun Brand Name Drugs With Two Letters After The Name And Save
By 8.5.08
What do those little letters, CD, ER, SR, etc, after a brand name drug’s name mean? The exact terminology varies, but they usually translate to the same thing: unnecessary ripoffs.
14 Ways To Save On Drugs Big Pharma Doesn't Want You To Know
By 8.4.08
It’s no secret that prescription drugs are expensive, but it is a bit of one that they don’t have to be. Dr. Edward Jardini’s book, How To Save On Prescription Drugs, has 20 methods that anyone can use to drastically cut the costs of long-term medications, without sacrificing quality. Here’s 14 of them:
Could Generic Drugs Be Even Cheaper Without The Middle Man?
By 7.23.08
The WSJ Health Blog says that pharmacy benefit managers are marking up the amount they charge your insurance company for generic drugs and keeping the difference. Often the mark-up isn’t too severe, but the WSJ has one example where the difference was over a hundred dollars.
FDA Warns Of Tendon-Rupturing Antibiotics
By 7.18.08
The FDA slapped a black box warning on a group of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones for their link to tendonitis and tendon rupture in patients. Drugs in this group include Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, Oscient, Factive, Proquin XR, Floxin Noroxin. Ruptures associated with the drug have included the achilles tendon, thumbs, shoulder, bicep and hand. Public interest group Public Citizen has been petitioned the FDA in 1996, 2005 and 2006 to add greater warnings to the drug. Only after Public Citizen sued the FDA for not responding to the petitions were the warnings added. One patient described what happened after he was hospitalized for an infection and treated with Cipro…
Walmart Pharmacy Error Causes Teen To Lapse Into Coma
By 7.16.08
Jessie Scott, an 18-year-old from Draper, Utah has been in a coma since the end of April because of a critical error which occurred at a Walmart pharmacy. His doctor prescribed Jessie 5mg of Oxycodone Hydrochoride in a liquid solution to help him with the severe pain of his strep throat, however, what he received from the pharmacy was a concentrated solution which was supposed to have been diluted before being dispensed to Jessie. Exactly how much medication did Jessie consume?
Personal Finance Roundup
By 7.10.08
Seven Websites That Saved Me Money in the Last Week [The Simple Dollar] “Here are seven websites I used to directly save money over the last week, my exact purchases and savings, and how much cash they saved me.”
11 Cheap Generic Drug Programs That Will Save You Money
By 6.24.08
Here at the Consumerist we’d like you to save money. That’s why we’ve put together a handy list of those $4 generic drug programs that you’ve been hearing about. We hope this list will make it easier for you to locate the store that has the best deal on all your medications. If your local grocery store is doing a similar program and we missed it, please add a link to the comments. If you need help researching the medicines, we recommend Consumer Reports’ excellent site Best Buy Drugs. Enjoy!
New "Pro-Life" Pharmacies Won't Sell You Birth Control
By 6.23.08
Putting their own beliefs ahead their customers’, the DMC Pharmacy, scheduled to open in Chantilly, VA., is among a growing number of “pro-life” pharmacies that will not sell any form of contraception. According to the Washington Post, the pharmacy, an expansion of Divine Mercy Care, asserts a “right of conscience” which means they won’t provide any services or products that they find objectionable. Details, inside…
Call For Entries: What Are The Most Disturbing "Side Effects" Mentioned in Drug Ads?
By 6.17.08
We’re putting together a “top 10” list of disturbing side effects mentioned in drug ads and we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss any.
