It's a common trend among physicians - prescribing medication for something other than what it's approved for (example, the plethora of irrelevant Rx's for Neurontin that led to massive class action suits - or Seroquil, more recently). Be particularly reluctant to agree to alternate uses of anti-depressants and anti-psychotics (one would hope you would be anyway) don't take the brown pills
"The FDA requires drug companies to test their drugs only against conditions for which they're seeking approval. "Clearly, for many of these off-label uses, the manufacturers are benefiting enormously, and in some cases I think one could argue that off-label use has allowed them to circumvent the regulatory process," Stafford says. Although the regulatory process is not infallible, he says, "it does provide a level of scrutiny" beyond what the off-label uses have received...
"...according to a paper posted last month by the online journal PLoS Medicine, industry-paid "nationally known, influential academic physicians" help create "buzz" about off-label uses by writing about them for publication or presentation at scientific meetings. The article was written by physician Adriane Fugh-Berman of Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and Douglas Melnick, a preventive medicine doctor in North Hollywood, Calif.
Earlier this month in PLoS Medicine, medical school professor Michael Wilkes and law professor Margaret Johns, both of the University of California, Davis, called for doctors always to inform patients that they want to use a drug off-label, giving them the chance to decide whether they want to take it."
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
The Effects of the Housing Market on the Elderly
Many are unable to go to assisted living because they can't sell their homes. A Dickens-like Christmas indeed: Elderly caught in housing crisis
The Real New Deal - a Look at Roosevelt
Obama is engaging in a lot of Rooseveltisms, and our country is looking back to the Great Depression, (and, regrettably, comparing notes). The New York Times looks at what was really up with Roosevelt's economics in this Economic View
The Vatican Officially Forgives John Lennon
For saying the Beatles were more popular than Jesus -- Pope on forgiveness
Obama to Announce Geithner and Summers for Sec. of Treasury and White House Economic Counsel
along with other appointments Obama's choices
Thursday, November 20, 2008
So Many UFO's Sighted Over Buck County PA a Conference is Planned
Seriously, from ABC News: UFO sightings
Liquor Legends: True Stories of Capt. Morgan, Jack Daniel
and more including Jim Beam, Jose Cuervo & Johnnie Walker
Judge Releases 5 Guantanamo Detainees
Free at last - ruling that they were held for no reason for 7 years.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
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