Pharma

USPSTF Backs Aspirin for Primary Prevention – Medpage Today

/ SupremeCmdr / 1 Comment

But CVD, colon cancer recommendation still has very thin evidence, experts caution

Source: CardioBrief: USPSTF Backs Aspirin for Primary Prevention | Medpage Today

Still taking daily aspirin?  Stopped?  Confused?

Join the club.  I’ve been following this issue for years.  Read more here, here, and and here.

Cholesterol Lowering in Intermediate-Risk Persons without Cardiovascular Disease — NEJM

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Conclusions: Treatment with rosuvastatin at a dose of 10 mg per day resulted in a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular events than placebo in an intermediate-risk, ethnically diverse population without cardiovascular disease. (Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and AstraZeneca; HOPE-3 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00468923.)

Source: Cholesterol Lowering in Intermediate-Risk Persons without Cardiovascular Disease — NEJM

Source: Blood-Pressure Lowering in Intermediate-Risk Persons without Cardiovascular Disease — NEJM

Source: Blood-Pressure and Cholesterol Lowering in Persons without Cardiovascular Disease — NEJM

CNS – Pfizer to Face Testosterone Claims

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Source: CNS – Pfizer to Face Testosterone Claims After All

   The multi-district master complaint asserted 10 primary state law claims, including strict liability based on design defect and failure to warn, negligence, breach of implied and express warranty, fraud, consumer protection, and unjust enrichment.
The plaintiffs also allege non-tort claims for wrongful death, survival, loss of consortium, and punitive damages.

One of the books I’m reading is Powerful Medicines – The Benefits, Risks, and Costs of Prescription Drugs written by Jerry Avorn M.D.  Definitely a fun read in  the context of our culture’s addiction to the quick fix.  Whatever ails you there is a pill that promises to fix everything.  Dr. Avorn’s book is packed with information.  Simply stated, there are benefits and risks associated with any medication.  Ultimately it is the consumer’s responsibility to know and understand what those benefits and risks are with anything you put in your body.

It was clear to me from the beginning that the unsuspecting and too trustful public was going to be introduced to a new disease  Low-T.  The pharmaceutical strategy  was just another medicalization of a natural process.

More. Drugs. Please.

PPIs Tied to Increased Risk for Chronic Kidney Disease | Medpage Today

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

In a prospective, community-based study involving more than 10,000 adults followed for a median of 14 years, baseline use of a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) was independently associated with a 20% to 50% higher risk for incident chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Source: PPIs Tied to Increased Risk for Chronic Kidney Disease | Medpage Today

I got heartburn reading this article.

Opioid Overdose Deaths Keep Rising | Medpage Today

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Following a relative plateau around 16,000 deaths per year, prescription opioid overdose deaths shot up 16% in 1 year to 18,893 deaths in 2014, Rose Rudd, MSPH, of the CDC, and colleagues reported in Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report. Heroin deaths also continued to jump, reaching 10,574 that year, up from about 8,000 in 2013. The latest rate is nearly three times the heroin overdose rate in 2010, the CDC said.

Source: Opioid Overdose Deaths Keep Rising | Medpage Today