The maker of the EpiPen has raised the price of two injectable treatments to about US$600, six times the price nine years ago. Why do drug companies do this? Because they can. The FDA ends up helping.
The FDA recently advised people not to eat raw cookie dough because raw flour with E. coli in it had sickened 38 people. Do we really have to forgo our favorites?
A sales clerk exhales vapor while smoking with a vaporizer during a wait for customers at the e-cigarette shop Henley Vaporium in New York.
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Federal officials could give the FDA authority to develop e-cigarette regulations. But developing regulations that maximize their benefits and minimize their risks is harder than it looks.
Thalidomide was used by the pregnant women – the population that turned out to be most vulnerable to its risks.
Reuters pictures
Thalidomide’s manufacturer, Chemie Grünenthal, marketed the drug as safe for pregnant women despite reports it was causing malformations in newborns. Why such blatant denial?
Emil Jeyaratnam, The Conversation and Sasha Petrova, The Conversation
Documents reveal thalidomide’s manufacturer was warned about possible harms as early as 1956.
Representatives of the 12 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries at a press conference in Atlanta, after a deal was reached.
EPA/Erik S. Lesser
Before the last round of negotiations, only a handful of issues remained in the way of concluding the TPP. A potential deal-breaker for Australia was intellectual property protections for biologics.
Our re-analysis.
found significant increases in harms with both the antidpressants used in Study 329, compared to the placebo.
Steve Smith/Flickr
The Victorian government is calling on other state governments to join it in banning powdered alcohol, which was recently approved for marketing and sale in the US.
Tourism isn’t just for sunshine and beaches. It can also be for unapproved medical interventions.
IV via ARZTSAMUI/Shutterstock
Medical tourism is the practice of seeking medical care across international borders. Countries with established medical sectors like the US, Europe, India and Thailand have been traditional destinations…
Who pays for experimental treatments? Stock image from
www.shutterstock.com
In the last six months Colorado, Louisiana, Missouri, Michigan and, most recently, Arizona have passed “right to try” laws that allow terminally ill patients to access treatments that have only passed…
What if an experimental treatment seems to hold a terminal patient’s only hope?
Pill bottle image via www.shutterstock.com
On November 4, the state of Arizona will decide whether to join Colorado, Missouri, Louisiana and Michigan in passing so-called right to try laws. If passed, the “Arizona Terminal Patients’ Right To Try…
Ron Woodroof (played by Matthew McConaughey, right) changed HIV treatment in the US.
EntertainmentOne
This article contains spoilers. In the award-winning movie The Dallas Buyers Club, Matthew McConaughey plays the role of Ron Woodroof, a real-life Texas cowboy who was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 1985…
Developing new drugs is hard and expensive. The lengthy process from initial discovery to the market is some times compared to the difficulty of putting a person on the moon. Despite accusations that the…
Between 2005 and 2011, nearly half of all new drug formulations in the US were approved without companies having to demonstrate a tangible benefit, such as relieving disease symptoms, extending life, or…
The market for personal genome services is facing a reality check. While the most prominent and innovative company 23andMe has flourished so far, in the past few years many of its competitors have gone…
Genetic testing is a powerful tool. Two years ago, with the help of my colleagues, it was this tool that helped us identify a new disease. The disease, called Ogden Syndrome, caused the death of a four-month…
Trans fats are used in highly-processed foods such as biscuits, pastries, and fast food.
Flickr/crimfants
The increased supply and marketing of processed food high in fat, sugar and salt are recognised as the major drivers of obesity and diet-related diseases globally. As part of efforts to improve the healthiness…
In 2001 I met David Graham, an official from the US Food and Drug Administration, in a car park in Washington. I wanted him to shed light on why the diabetes drug troglitazone, or Rezulin, had been available…
Professor and Director of Quantitative Biosciences Institute & Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, University of California, San Francisco