August 31, 2009 – 11:45 am
MedImmune is putting its FluMist nasal spray technology to the test against swine flu. FluMist, which got off to a shaky start in the U.S., brought in only $104 million last year, a fraction of what the big global manufacturers have been able to earn with their flu shots. But all those naysayers who scorned the terms of the MedImmune buyout in the face of such weak performance could well be silenced by the rewards available when a pandemic hits. AstraZeneca plans to make 200 million doses of swine flu vaccine by next spring.
August 27, 2009 – 1:00 am
So why is it that USA citizens in many states have the option to choose whether they or their children have the HPV vaccine but immigrants can not? In order to become a permanent, legal resident of the U.S, immigrants now must receive a vaccine that is not required of U.S. citizens. This is like saying these people are less important or more likely to be infected. This surely is wrong.
August 26, 2009 – 12:44 am
Any medication, from antidepressants to antihistamines, has the potential to make you ravenous or sluggish, or meddle with your metabolism. Here are the worst offenders and how to fight back.
August 24, 2009 – 6:24 pm
Earlier this week the Journal of the American Medical Association published an analysis of safety data that found the most common serious side effect was fainting, though some more severe adverse event occurred in Gardasil patients, including more than two dozen deaths. But the FDA and CDC say there’s no evidence the deaths or other severe effects were actually caused by the shot, and the agencies emphasize that they have reviewed the same safety data repeatedly.
August 23, 2009 – 9:24 am
Amid questions about the safety of the HPV vaccine Gardasil one of the lead researchers for the Merck drug is speaking out about its risks, benefits and aggressive marketing. Dr. Diane Harper says young girls and their parents should receive more complete warnings before receiving the vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. Dr. Harper helped design and carry out the Phase II and Phase III safety and effectiveness studies to get Gardasil approved, and authored many of the published, scholarly papers about it. She has been a paid speaker and consultant to Merck. It’s highly unusual for a researcher to publicly criticize a medicine or vaccine she helped get approved.
August 21, 2009 – 12:09 pm
“These companies have an obligation to the public to demonstrate to the FDA that their products are safe and effective, and they have failed to do so,” said Deborah M. Autor, director of the Office of Compliance at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
August 20, 2009 – 3:18 pm
The health care reform issues that concern me are how H.R. 3200 or other versions of health care reform plans being floated, would effect women’s access to health care and what, if any, constraints would be placed on the patient healthcare provider relationship. I want details about the continued availability of woman-centered services — women caring for other women. Will government managed health care be able to foster an environment were women who are the subject of care, and were treated as partners and active participants in their personal care.
August 19, 2009 – 11:38 pm
The latest issue of JAMA delivered a mixed blessing to Merck’s Gardasil. In a headliner study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, the side effects of the human papillomavirus shot were deemed reasonable. Serious adverse events cropped in up those who got the vaccine–including some 32 deaths and two cases of Lou Gehrig’s disease–but there’s no evidence the shot actually caused them. The most common complications were fainting and clot risk.
August 19, 2009 – 11:35 am
Women’s health care is in fact basic health care: annual gynecological exams; pap smears to screen for cervical cancer; breast-cancer screening, and birth control. Unfortunately, in our current health-care system, women are penalized simply because of their anatomy. On average, women of childbearing age pay 68 percent more out-of-pocket for their health care largely because of reproductive-health needs.
August 18, 2009 – 10:30 am
have noted the current health care debate that rages around us, through us and over us. Statistics and hypothesis are being flung at us by seething teams of political combatants, talking heads, and influential, special interest groups who have long since lost any sight of any middle ground and compromise. If the current course goes unchecked, the victors, be they blue or red will rule over the smoldering wreck of our Republic.
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