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Prescription Drugs, Without The Doctor?

Congress Could Create A New Class Of "Behind-The-Counter" Drugs

Migraine brains "are different"

Scientists have discovered differences in the sensory areas of the brains of people who develop migraines.

Elderly With Hypertension Less Likely To Get Lifestyle Modification Advice From Doctors

People older than 60 with high blood pressure are less likely than other groups of patients to receive advice from their doctors about lifestyle modifications that can help lower their blood pressure, a study by UNC researchers concludes

Report: Vermont Residents Healthiest, Louisiana Unhealthiest

The 18th annual edition of America's Health Rankings finds that the nation's overall health declined over the past year, despite modest gains in reducing cancer and cardiovascular mortality rates.

Younger Adults Increasingly Treated For Heart Disease Related Conditions

Based on this new analysis, the estimated number of 20 - 44 year olds nationwide on lipid-lowering drugs surged from 2.5 million in 2001 to 4.2 million in 2006, while the number of people of that age taking antihypertensives spiked from 7 million to 8.5 million in the six-year period.

Number Of Americans Living With Dementia Growing At An Epidemic Rate

About 2.4 million of those with dementia, or 9.7 percent of the population age 71 and older, were found to have Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia, according to the study.

Cancer Claim Is Dismissed Against Wyeth Hormone Drugs

Judge George F. McGunnigle of state district court in Minneapolis granted Wyeth’s motion to throw out the case, ruling that a woman who blamed the drugs for her breast cancer had failed to offer any “scientifically valid evidence” supporting her claim, the company said yesterday.

LifeMasters Provides Tips For Maintaining A Healthy Blood Cholesterol Level

Even though factors like genetics and age cannot be changed, individuals can make simple lifestyle modifications that can help lower blood cholesterol and reduce the risks of developing heart disease.

Investigational New Drug Application For "Fat Melting" Injections Cleared By The FDA

Treatments most properly called injection lipolysis have been commonly associated with the terms mesotherapy or fat dissolving "Lipodissolve". These types of treatments claim to reduce or eliminate unwanted local accumulations of fat, but their ingredients and injection locations and techniques may vary slightly.

New Data Show Olmesartan Has Significant Anti-atherosclerotic And Vascular Protective

In patients with larger plaque volumes olmesartan can significantly reduce plaque volume compared to atenolol

Prevention: Older Bones See Benefit of Calcium and Vitamin D

Calcium supplements, or calcium and vitamin D taken in combination, may reduce the risk for bone fracture and bone density loss in older people, provided the supplements are taken regularly and in large enough doses.

Record Number of Americans Lack Health Insurance

A record number of Americans are without health insurance, according to new U.S. Census Bureau statistics released Tuesday.

US Slipping in Life Expectancy Rankings

A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Extra Payments to Insurance Companies = Extra Profits

Medicare Advantage program--which allows private plans to provide Medicare benefits--is a "bright spot" for UnitedHealthcare, a financial analyst told clients in July. The company's latest report showed that profits rose 22 percent due to government-sponsored health plans during the second quarter, according to the business wire service Bloomberg News.

Calcium for the over-50s prevents broken bones

The scientists from the University of Western Sydney suggest that daily calcium supplements would prevent one in four fractures in this age group.

A connection was also established between the reduced risk and an appropriate dosage of vitamin D.

Heart Attack Don’t ignore your body’s subtle warning signs

In reality, the signs of a heart attack are much more subtle. Since symptoms can include mild pressure in the chest, lightheadedness and sweating, it's often hard for the average person to identify one.

'Off-label' drugs denied to patients in Medicare D

Medicare patients who rely on "off-label" use of drugs for pain, rare diseases and other conditions are often barred from getting them through the new prescription drug program, says a patient advocacy group in a report out Thursday.

Fat findings show friends a big factor

U.S. researchers have found evidence obesity is socially contagious and weight gain can spread from person to person through a social network in a domino effect.

What You Can't Read Can Kill You

Low Health Literacy Can Spell Death for the Elderly

Confirmed: A Link Between Breast Cancer and Hormone Therapy

Breast cancer incidence parallels estrogen-progestin use among menopausal and postmenopausal women

Researchers Say They've Developed an Allergy-Free Peanut

Worldwide, peanut allergies are on the rise. In the past five years, the number of children suffering peanut allergies in the U.S. has doubled to 600,000. Elsewhere in the world, Australia has one of the highest allergy rates in the world with 1 in 3 people affected.

12 Common Cancer Myths Debunked

Numerous Americans believe a score of scientifically unproven claims about cancer, with some people thinking shampoo and underwire bras cause tumors.

Tax Break Used by Drug Makers Failed to Add Jobs

Drug makers were the biggest beneficiaries of the amnesty program, repatriating about $100 billion in foreign profits and paying only minimal taxes. But the companies did not create many jobs in return. Instead, since 2005 the American drug industry has laid off tens of thousands of workers in this country.

Beware scammers posing as Social Security employees

The Better Business Bureau of North Alabama issued a news release today saying several callers to the bureau reported receiving telephone calls or visits from people who falsely claimed to be Social Security employees.

Keeping A List Of Your Meds Proves Helpful

You take the pinkish square pill in the morning, half of the yellow pill at noon - with food - and the round pill at night. It's great that you know the shapes and colors of your medication, but do you know their names, the doses you take, and why you take them?

Need A Cigarette And A Cocktail? Just Pop A Pill Instead

Smoking and drinking are two vices that often go hand in hand (one hand clutching a drink while the other holds a smoke). A decade ago, a study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol indicated that as many as 85 percent of heavy drinkers also light up.

Lifestyle Changes, Not Diets, Are Key To Losing Weight

"Many overweight patients come to me saying they want to go on a diet," says Dr. Jennifer Virant of DuPage Medical Group and Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital. "Some of these diets are unhealthy, especially those that feature supplements, promise quick weight loss, claim to cure disease, or that recommend excluding specific food groups."

Wall Street Journal Examines Hospital Quality, Comparison Web Sites

The private company Health Grades rates physicians and hospitals on 32 conditions and procedures and includes data from more than 5,000 large hospitals nationwide. Health Grades also uses Medicare billing data to provide specific percentages of complications or death rates.

AARP Wants Medicare Reform to Include 'Parity'

With Medicare reform back on the congressional agenda this month, a leading senior citizens' group said Wednesday lawmakers must address what it says are disparities between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage, the plan run through private insurance companies.

Opinion Pieces Examine Health Care Proposals Of Presidential Candidates

Two newspapers recently published opinion pieces examining presidential candidates' health care proposals.

Kul Rai, Hartford Courant: "Leading presidential candidates who support universal health care"
Ronald Brownstein, Los Angeles Times: Democratic presidential candidates "are hoping to avoid ... a direct collision" with health insurance companies

Make Sure You Can Afford Medicare

Admittedly, any projection you make is, at best, a good guess. The Medicare program of today, with a new drug plan and means-tested premiums for outpatient coverage, is not the same as it was a few years ago, and Congress can change the law just about any time it wants.

Sun Safety Tips To Help Reduce Your Risk Of Developing Skin Cancer

"Exposure to the sun is a key factor in the development of skin cancer," said Mary Jane Osmick, M.D., vice president and medical director at LifeMasters. "Anyone can get skin cancer, but individuals with a family history of skin cancer, fair skin that sunburns easily, and/or chronic exposure to the sun are at a higher risk for getting it. Early detection is key for curing all types of skin cancers. If you see a mole or skin lesion that changes, itches, or just looks funny, make sure you have it evaluated by a doctor. Most importantly, protect your skin from the sun."

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Protect Eyes Against Retinopathy, Study Finds

Paul A. Sieving, M.D., Ph.D., director of the NEI, said, "This study explores the potential benefit of dietary omega-3 fatty acids in protecting against the development and progression of retinal disease. The study gives us a better understanding of the biological processes that lead to retinopathy and how to intervene to prevent or slow disease."

More vitamin D can put more pep in seniors' steps

Declining physical performance among some Dutch seniors may not be a simple consequence of aging, it may actually be due to a vitamin D deficiency, results of a new study suggest.

US survey lowers uninsured numbers to 43.6 million

Their survey of 100,000 Americans is lower than previous federal estimates of 46 million.

Fun in the sun: Still not taking skin cancer seriously

Rogers is an example of what doctors keep trying to emphasize: No one is immune to skin cancer.

Physical Therapist To The Pros Offers Tips For Golfers

The achievements of golfers such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Lorena Ochoa highlight a new athleticism associated with a sport that was once considered "leisurely." Today's amateur and professional golfers, men and women alike, are stronger, more flexible, and wielding more powerful swings than ever before.

Edwards Steps Forward on Prescription Drugs

John Edwards may not end up as president, or even as the Democratic nominee, but he is having far more influence on the substance of this campaign than any other candidate

109th Congress Disappointed Seniors in 2006, Alliance Voting Record Reveals

Many of the lawmakers who did the most damage to the health and economic well-being of America's seniors during the second session of the 109th Congress no longer hold office.

Big Pharma Targets Women For Drugs They Don't Need

Selling anxiety sells medicine. Drug companies know this and profit by it. But are women benefiting as much as the industry's bottom line?

Customer choice plays bigger role in prescription drug selection

More than two-thirds of respondents surveyed said they are "very comfortable" deciding on the brand name of drug they receive, and one in ten even asks their physician to prescribe a specific brand.

Retirement at 65 not in many boomers future

Two new reports portray aging boomers as better educated, with higher incomes and longer life expectancies than the generations that preceded them. They also have fewer children and are less likely to be married, leaving them with fewer options if they need help in their old age.

Key To Losing Weight Is Calorie Density

Eating smart, not eating less, may be the key to losing weight. A year-long clinical trial by Penn State

Americans Go Abroad for Obesity Drug

People are traveling to Europe or buying the medicine through foreign Web sites after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration postponed a decision three times

Actuaries Say Medicare Needs Reform, Discuss Options

Reforms to the Medicare program are needed, and the sooner the better," said Cori Uccello, the Academy's senior health fellow. "There is no single solution to the challenges facing Medicare.

How To Protect Your Child's Skin From The Sun

It's never too late to take precautions against skin cancer. The incidence of melanoma, a potentially fatal skin cancer, is increasing dramatically. It is currently the most common type of cancer in young women between the ages of 25 and 29.

Jury Still Out On Cardiovascular Risk Of Using HRT

Despite recent studies on the cardiovascular effects of HRT, the level of risk of women in early menopause suffering coronary heart disease (CHD) remains controversial, according to BMJ Clinical Evidence from the BMJ Group.

Building Healthy Bones - Getting Started On Simple Habits Can Prevent Osteoporosis

While some people may view osteoporosis as an inevitable byproduct of aging, healthy habits early on can help prevent the disease that causes bones to become brittle and break easily.

FDA Still Unsettled Wake of New Questions

Responding to a suggestion that promoting collaborations with drug makers, including an effort to modernize human testing and find genetic markers to predict suffering from side effects, may not be politic, Dr. von Eschenbach said the agency was not working solely with pharmaceutical companies.

FDA Head Defends Working With Companies

FDA Commissioner Andrew Von Eschenbach said close cooperation between government scientists and drug developers is important, and that it will eventually produce safer medicines for consumers.

Prescription prices harder to swallow

The 60-year-old fell into the doughnut hole unexpectedly in March when she went to pick up her prescriptions and was shocked to find the total was hundreds more than she was used to paying.

Red Wine May Reduce Risk of Prostate Cancer

A Dutch study released in February found drinking a small amount of wine can extend men's life expectancy by a few years while a U.S. study last year found red wine could help protect the brain from damage after a stroke.

Opinion Pieces Address Study On Pharmaceutical Company Gifts To Physicians

This issue is not whether physicians should receive gifts from industry" but "whether the gifts are of a nature that could change a physician's behavior in a way that doesn't benefit his or her patients.

Gap Widens For What Insurers, Uninsured Pay

Those are the results of a study released last week and published in the journal Health Affairs, a report expected to intensify the pressure on hospitals to lower charges for patients with no health insurance. More than 60 class-action lawsuits have been filed against hospitals for charging higher rates to the uninsured.

Find the Dead Canadians

Here's a suggestion for a way to troubleshoot the U.S. Senate's gutting of legislation that would have allowed consumers to purchase prescription drugs from Canada and other industrialized nations: Begin with a dragnet for dead Canadians.

Heading Toward Reform of the F.D.A.

The bill would require the F.D.A. to focus on the entire life cycle of a drug to make sure it is safe and effective, not just the early testing stages that determine whether a drug should be approved for sale. The agency would be given new powers to regulate drugs after they are on the market and new authority to mine vast databases in search of signals that a drug may be causing adverse effects.

Dementia Risk May Be Reduced By Some Hypertension Drugs

Some high blood pressure medicines may help protect older adults from declines in memory and other cognitive function, according to new research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, reported at the annual meeting of the American Geriatrics Society in Seattle.

FDA Drug Safety Bill Passes in the U.S. Senate; Health Freedom Advocates Outraged At Betrayal of American Consumers

Health freedom advocates are now characterizing the final bill as the, "Big Pharma Protection Act of 2007" due to its emphasis on protecting the monopoly drug market in the United States while doing very little to accomplish its stated goals of increasing the "safety" of prescription drugs.

Senate Approves Tighter Policing of Drug Makers

The Bush administration has not actively opposed the measure, although it says the agency already has all the regulatory authority it needs. Within the agency, officials have been divided about whether they have the enough power.

Low-Dose Aspirin Best for Preventing Heart Attack

Higher doses of aspirin, which are commonly prescribed, don't offer better protection and are associated with increased risks of gastrointestinal bleeding, the study authors said.

FDA Approves 1st Parkinson's Patch

Parkinson's disease progresses gradually. Its four main symptoms are trembling in the hands, arms, leg, jaw, and face; stiffness of the limbs and trunk; slowness of movement; and impaired balance and coordination. As these symptoms become more pronounced, patients may have difficulty walking, talking, or completing simple tasks.

Doctors Reap Millions for Anemia Drugs

Two of the world’s largest drug companies are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to doctors every year in return for giving their patients anemia medicines, which regulators now say may be unsafe at commonly used doses.

Consumer Reports Picks Best Diet Plans, Books

For the diet plans, that may not have been the best strategy, says low-carb-diet expert Eris Westman, MD, associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center. Westman was a member of the "Consumer Reports" expert panel that helped rank the diet books.

Deciphering the Results of a Prostate Test

After his annual physical, a middle-age man is told that his PSA level has jumped to 2.3 after having been stable for years at 1.5. Should he be alarmed?

Trexima™ Demonstrated Efficacy Across Multiple Migraine Attacks

Patients who suffer from migraines frequently cite inconsistent effectiveness as a reason for their dissatisfaction with their medicine. New data from more than 1,100 patients show that the investigational migraine therapy Trexima, when taken early, produced pain-free results at two and four hours.

Bill To Allow FDA To Approve Generic Versions Of Biotechnology Medications

The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on Wednesday held a hearing on a bill sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) that would allow FDA to approve generic versions of biotechnology medications.

Study Confirms Tamoxifen Prevents Breast Cancer In High-Risk Women

Women at high risk for breast cancer who have undergone a hysterectomy appear to benefit from taking tamoxifen to prevent breast cancer, according to an extended follow-up of the Italian Randomized Tamoxifen Trial.

Drug-Resistant Cancer All 'Wrapped Up'

Imatinib is one of the most effective of a new generation of cancer drugs that are designed to attack cancer cells and leave healthy cells unharmed. Imatinib targets a protein called KIT that plays a role in cell reproduction. In healthy cells, KIT is active only on rare occasions, but in some cancers the protein is always "on," acting as a biochemical catalyst that spurs cancer cells to constantly reproduce.

A Matter of Health Versus Corporate Power

This episode in the Senate illustrates the influence of large corporations in shaping public policy. The will of the people was ignored while the power of large contributors to election campaigns was favored. According to Opensecrets, an organization that tracks campaign donation records, drug companies, hospitals, insurance companies and doctor organizations spent $400 million in 2005 and 2006 lobbying Congress and candidates for federal offices to enact policies they wanted.

Hard Sell Cited as Insurers Push Plans to Elderly

Insurance agents, spurred in some cases by incentives like trips to Las Vegas, have aggressively marketed the private plans, known as Medicare Advantage plans. Enrollment in them has skyrocketed in the last year, and Medicare officials foresee continued rapid growth in the next decade.

Popular Epilepsy Drug Damages the Unborn

A study by researchers in the United States has found that women who took an epilepsy drug during their pregnancy had a higher risk of giving birth to children with a lower IQ or with mental retardation.

Institute Zeroes in on Alzheimer's

The drug is intended to lower blood pressure. But in studies on mice, Roskamp researchers found it also reduced the level of a protein in the brain believed to be at the heart of Alzheimer's.

Certain ACE Inhibitors Cut Elderly Dementia Risk

"For older adults who are going to take an ACE inhibitor for blood pressure control, it makes sense for their doctors to prescribe one that goes into the brain," lead researcher Dr. Kaycee Sink, an assistant professor of internal medicine/gerontology, said in a prepared statement.

Senate Likely to Back Drug Reimportation

The Senate cleared the way yesterday for the likely adoption of a measure that would legalize the reimportation of lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada and other countries, a move supporters say would save consumers $50 billion over 10 years.

FDA backlog = Billions for Big Pharma?

Some $100 billion worth of branded drugs are expected to go off patent over the next five years. In theory, this should translate into lost revenue for branded drug companies because they would face a plunge in sales as they compete with low-cost generic versions of their drugs.

Severe Low Blood Sugar Won't Harm Brain

Researchers found that while serious hypoglycemic episodes did sometimes occur as a result of aggressive diabetes control, those low blood sugar events didn't have any effect on cognitive function.

Fewer Heart Patients Dying After Hospitalization

Each year, almost 8 million Americans will have a heart attack and another 5 million will have heart failure, according to the American Heart Association. A heart attack occurs when blood flow to the heart is blocked, usually by a blood clot. Heart failure occurs when the heart becomes so damaged that it can no longer pump blood efficiently.

Hormone Therapy May Protect Against Alzheimer's

Women who start hormone therapy earlier in life -- before they turn 65 -- could cut their risk of developing Alzheimer's or another dementia, a new study suggests.

FDA Urges Young Adult Warning on Antidepressants

Warnings on antidepressant drugs should be expanded to say the risks of suicidal thoughts and behavior extend to adults ages 18 to 24, U.S. health officials said on Wednesday.

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