PharmaGazette

Farewell Post

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:00:12 -0700

It is with a heavy heart that I tell you that this is my last post. Due to circumstances beyond my control I will no longer be writing PharmaGazette.

I've been doing this since last Sept and have learned much but the most important thing I take with me is the friends I've made. Those of you that I've emailed with over the last 10 months I've already let you know where you can contact me so we can stay in touch. If anyone else wants to chat pop me an email at pharmagazette (at) yahoo (dot) com. I'll enjoy hearing from you.

The world of pharmaceuticals was new to me but I take away with me a broader understanding and appreciation for the subject. I hope that some of the articles posted here have given you the same curiosity and thirst for knowledge.

Thank you all for you support and take care!

Medical Gadgets on the Web

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:00:46 -0700

Of equal importance to prescription medicines are the tools and gadgets that go along with keeping people healthy.

There are a number of good sites that bring web folks up-to-date information on all the newest medical products being tested and developed.

Here's a list of the best:

Remember that a lot of these really are "gadgets" some are not tested for medical safety. Some are futuristic pipe dreams. Some make claims that they can "cure" or "stabilize" illnesses that are untrue. Some may work for your friend but cause damage to your health. Always research and discuss with your doctor any product that you are thinking of purchasing with specific medical instruction.

Interesting Articles for Week of July 25, 2008

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:00:25 -0700

Another week with a vast array of articles on health issues that couldn't be covered here. As usual they cover a wide range of topics such as sleep apnea and breast cancer to Fentanyl and Fragile X Syndrome.

All are interesting and informative and worth reading. Use a little of your weekend down time to check some of them out.

Not All Women Complete Radiation for Breast Cancer (Reuters Health)
Nutrition Critical after Severe Brain Injury (Reuters Health)
Scientists Define 21 New Genes Associated with Crohn's Disease (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
Sleep Apnea Linked to Night Heart Attacks (HealthDay)
Spinal Cord Stem Cells May Act as Nerve Repair System (HealthDay)
Gene Interacts with Hormone to Impair Thinking (Reuters Health)
Information from CDC and FDA on the Safety of Gardasil Vaccine (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Inhaled Sugar Helps Clear Lungs in Cystic Fibrosis (Reuters Health)
Laser Resurfacing Produces Long-Term Results (HealthDay)
Learn More about Fragile X Syndrome (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Oxygen Therapies May Ease Headache Pain (Reuters Health)
Pregnancy Results Good with Single-Embryo Transfer (Reuters Health)
Prenatal Fish Oil May Lower Child's Asthma Risk (Reuters Health)
CDC Reports 1,000 Fentanyl Overdoses in 2 Years (Reuters Health)

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Isentress Potent Tool in AIDS Drug Arsenal

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:00:04 -0700

Research from a new study indicates that the AIDS drug Isentress (raltegravir) has significant benefits to patients who have received other treatments that were not successful. The drug doubles the likelihood that, despite being immune to other medications, AIDS infected patients will beat back the virus.

"We now have a drug that can bring many people back from a downward curve with no hope for resurrection of the immune system and no hope for control of the virus," said study author Dr. Roy Steigbigel, head of the HIV Center at Stony Brook University in a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The drug appears to be successful on patients who have been inconsistent with their drug regime and thus developed resistance to medications, those that develop resistance in spite of strictly following the regime and those that are infected by a resistant strain of the virus.

Raltegravir has already been approved by the federal government as a "salvage therapy" based on early results of the study which was funded by the drug's manufacturer Merck & Co.

[Source: MedLinePlus]

Topamax Gets 6 Month Pediatric Exclusivity Extension

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:00:16 -0700

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted a six month pediatric exclusivity to Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals for its drug Topamax for use in patients aged 1 to 24 months with partial onset seizures.

The extension does not give the drug FDA approval but instead allows the pharmaceutical 6 months to continue to investigate the use of Topamax on this specific segment of patients.

Currently Topamax is approved for use with patients 10 years of age and older with partial onset seizures or generalized tonic-clonic seizures. It is also indicated in adults for the treatment of migraine headaches.

Recent research may have found a link between the use of Topamax and birth defects and recently, along with other epilepsy drugs, narrowly escaped being required to have a black box warning by the FDA.

[Source: PRNewsWire]

Antidepressant Prescriptions up 16M over 3 Years

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:00:31 -0700

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality release a report stating that between 2002 and 2005 the number of prescriptions filled for antidepressants rose 16 million.

The increase from 154 million to 170 million, which does not include refills, breaks down as follows:

29% of the prescriptions were written by psychiatrists (medical practitioners who specialize in the treatment of mental illness)
23% were written by general practitioners (doctors who provide primary care but are trained in a specialty.
21% were written by family doctors (doctors who provide primary care who have completed a residency in family medicine)
10% were written by internal medicine specialists (doctors who complete a residency in internal medicine and who specialize in the diagnosis and non-surgical treatment of adults with illnesses that are hard to diagnose or manage.

The study included only prescriptions written in an outpatient setting. Prescriptions that were administered in an inpatient setting or in a clinic or medical doctor's office were not included in the analysis.

[Source: PharmaLot and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Certican (Everolimus) Prolongs Advanced Kidney Cancer Survival

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:00:48 -0700

In a report published in the online edition of The Lancet Dr. Robert J. Motzer, from Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York reported that treatment with everolimus improved the progression-free survival of patients with advanced kidney cancer who had not responded to other treatments.

The study involved 410 patients with kidney cancer that has metastasized to other parts of the body despite treatments with sunitab and/or sorfenib. Patients received either everolimus or a placebo once a day in addition to supportive care.

Everolimus, which has already been U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved as Certican, is indicated for the prevention of heart transplant rejection and if new approval is granted as a cancer drug, use of the agent would greatly expand.

The progression rate of the kidney cancer was found to be 37% in the everolimus group as compared to 65% in the placebo group with survival time being 4 months for patients receiving everolimus and 1.9 months for those receiving placebo.

Side effects of the drug included mouth sores, rash and fatigue were more common in the everolimus group but were found to be mild or moderate.

[Source: YahooNews]

Topamax (topiramate) May Cause Birth Defects

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:00:18 -0700

Only one month after Johnson & Johnson was required to put a black box warning on Regranex and a week after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected a black box warning on epilepsy drugs, research has found that J&J's Topamax may increase the risk of birth defects.

The study, a small one of 203 patients, found a 14-fold increase in the risk of birth defects in patients taking the epilepsy drug Topamax. The risk was potentially even higher in patients that took Topamax with valproate (Depakote) or other epilepsy medications.

Due to the small size of the study, experts have stressed that more research is needed to confirm the possible birth defect link. Experts also stated that pregnant women who suffer from epilepsy should not stop taking there drug as the seizures without the medication can have an even greater damaging effect on the fetus. However patients taking the medication for the purpose of migraine relief and who are pregnant or contemplate getting pregnant are prompted to talk to the health care provider about a suitable alternative.

Epilepsy Drugs to get FDA Warning

Epilepsy Drugs Likely to Avoid FDA Black Box Warning

Alcoholics’ Quality of Life Improves with Topiramate

[Source:FiercePharma]

NutritionPedia: Online Nutrition Search Engine

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:00:53 -0700

The vast majority of online search engines are pretty much useless but Nutritionpedia is not one of them.

Nutritionpedia provides nutritional facts and information on over 72,000 food items. You went out with friends and went off your diet. Want to know what that Burger King Bacon Double Cheese Burger set you back in calories? Try 570 calories with 148% of your daily recommended fat allowance. Not good! So the next day for lunch you try to make up for it with a McDonald's Chicken Cesear Salad. Calories 228, fat 27%. Much better!

Nutritionpedia covers over 70 fast-food and casual dining restaurants and includes information on meals, snacks, coffee, ice cream, baked goods and pizza. Put into the search box the food you are looking for and it takes you to a page with the nutritional information for that product.

Also available, in different sections, is information on diet, reading food labels, protein, calories, fats, BMI and carbs. A helpful site for those that keep track of the calories, fat, salt and other nutritional contents of meals they consume.

Viagra Helps Depressed Women with Sexual Dysfunction

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:00:35 -0700

A recent study published in the Journal of American Medical Association found that the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra worked effectively at fighting sexual dysfunction in women taking antidepressants.

The study included 98 women whose depression was in remission but were still experiencing sexual problems such as pain during intercourse, lack of arousal and lack of interest. Over an 8 week period the women took a pill up to two hours prior to sex; half were given Viagra and the other half a placebo.

72% of the women taking the Viagra reported improvement while 73% of those on the placebo pill reported no improvement.

"By treating this bothersome treatment-associated adverse effect in patients who have been effectively treated for depression, but need to continue on their medication to avoid relapse or recurrence, patients can remain antidepressant-adherent, reduce the current high rates of premature medication discontinuation, and improve depression disease management outcomes," wrote lead author George Nurnberg of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

Currently Viagra is only U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved for use by men.

[Source:YahooNews]

Vytorin Study Disappointing

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:00:09 -0700

Results from a major European study found that Vytorin did not prevent worsening of heart valve disease nor did it lower the need for valve surgery.

Preliminary results of the study found that Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough's joint marketing venture of Vytorin showed no statistical difference between the drug and a placebo at lowering the risk of major cardiovascular event such as heart attack, stroke, surgery or death in patients with aortic stenosis. Other studies have also found no benefit to patients taking Vytorin which resulted in a media blitz by the manufacterers to attempt damage control.

Vytorin is a combination of Merck's Zocor and Schering-Plough's Zetia and the study did find that the drug reduced cholesterol levels by 60% but results were no better than the previously established benefits of Zocor and other statins.

In March cardiologists recommended that doctors fall back to older, established treatments for high cholesterol. Schering-Plough reported that U.S. prescriptions for Vytorin and Zetia had both dropped by just over 25% in the period of January to June as compared to a 5% drop in total cholesterol drug sales.

[Source: YahooNews]

Teva Buys Barr Pharmaceuticals

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:00:18 -0700

The Isreali based Teva Pharmaceuticals has agreed to purchase Barr Pharmaceuticals, of New Jersey for approximately $7.5 billion and in addition will assume $1.5 billion in debt.

Both companies are manufacturers of generic drugs but with Teva facing a wave of patent infringement suits, the company is looking to expand upon its existing proprietary medications. Currently Teva has 300 generic drugs and 3 proprietary drugs (brands of its own). One for Multiple Sclerosis, one for Parkinson's and one for asthma. Barr Pharmaceuticals has a host of branded drugs, mostly in women's health products such as Plan B, an emergency contraceptive, Seasoniques, an oral contraceptive and Paragard, a long-term, non-hormonal contraceptive.

The deal is expected to close in late 2008 and the $7.5 billion purchase price values Barr at $69.44 per share which is a 48% premium over closing price on July 16. Friday's closing has Barr valued at $63.43 up $6.26 from the previous day's closing.

[Source: Forbes]

Interesting Articles for Week of July 18, 2008

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:00:44 -0700

It's been a slow week in terms of pharma news but I've been reading through a lot of health related articles that are interesting and what to share them with you. Check out some of the following, I think you will enjoy them!

Exercise Might Slow Brain Shrinkage in Alzheimer's Patients (HealthDay)
For Young Adults, Borderline High Blood Pressure a Threat (HealthDay)
Kids Should Work with Hands for Brains' Sake (Reuters Health)
Medical Visit Companions Boost Care Satisfaction (Reuters Health)
Not All Patient Adverse Events Recorded by Hospitals (Reuters Health)
Statins Show Little Benefit for Kids with Learning Disorder (HealthDay)
Stomach Germ May Protect Against Asthma (HealthDay)
No Evidence Breast Self-Exams Cut Cancer Deaths (HealthDay)
Premature Birth Linked to Some Unexpected Later Problems (HealthDay)
Researchers Find Link between Organ Transplants, Cancer (HealthDay)
Scientists Find Key Brain Circuits for Attention (Reuters Health)
Brain Scans Show Heightened Risk for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (HealthDay)
Cancer Survival Depends on Where You Live (HealthDay)
Dietary Fiber Cuts Risk of Pregnancy Complication (HealthDay)
FDA Reaches Settlement with California Hearing Device Maker (Food and Drug Administration)

Read on, you can never have too much info about what's going on in the world of health!

Combination Drug Therapy Improves Rhenumatoid Arthritis Remission

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:00:21 -0700

A new study at the University of Leeds and Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust in the United Kingdom and recently published in The Lancet, found that patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis have benefited from a drug combination of Enbrel (etanercept) and methotrexate.

The study, funded by Wyeth manufacturer of Enbrel, found that combining the two drugs improved both remission and radiographic non-progression rates within 1 year when compared to treatment with methotrexate alone. Patients taking the drug combination were also found to stay employed.

The study consisted of 500 outpatients who had no been treated with methotrexate, a chemotherapy drug. Patients were randomly assigned either methotrexate plus 50 milligrams a week of Enbrel or methotrexate alone.

The study found that while only 28% of the patients receiving methotrexate alone went into remission, half of those receiving the combination therapy went into remission and 94% reported having a good/moderate response. the study also found that almost 25% of patients who were working at the start of the trial and were in the single drug group were forced to stop working while only 10% of the combination drug patients were required to stop.

[Source: WashingtonPost]

Pain Relief from "Liquid Marijuana" Oral Spray

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:00:29 -0700

Sativex is a mouth spray derived from marijuana plants. It is one part THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol), the main psychoactive substance found in a cannabis plant, and one part CBD (cannabidiol), the part of the plant that moderates the euphoria and seems to add a sedative effect.

GW Pharmaceuticals has begun late stage clinical trials on the buccal spray in both the U.S. and Europe. It was approved in Canada for the treatment of neuropathic pain in Multiple Sclerosis in 2005 and as an adjunctive analgesic treatment for peole with advanced cancer with moderate to severe pain.

According to GW Pharmaceuticals "Sativex is a pharmaceutical product standardized in composition, formulation, and dose...which has been, and continues to be, tested in properly controlled...studies," according to the company's website. "Crude herbal cannabis (marijuana) in any form...is none of those things."

The U.S. currently has two synthetic cannabinoid pills, Marinol and Cesamet, that are used in the treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Marinol is also indicated for the treatment of AIDS related appetite loss.

[Source: USAToday]