Archives

Archive for October, 2015

some clarity?…

( OPINION )

Back in August, I sent this email out to a number of people I’m one of the authors of the RIAT article about Paxil® Study 329 due out soon in the BMJ. In the course of things, I have a question that I find hard to get a definitive consistent answer to, so I decided […]

a ruse…

( OPINION )

APA Urges Creation of Payment Codes Specific to Collaborative Care Model PsychiatricNews by Mark Moran September 24, 2015 Separate codes should be created for the care-management and psychiatric-consultation components of the collaborative care model. Appropriate payment codes need to be developed to reflect the work of physicians — including psychiatrists — participating in collaborative care […]

self-evident…

( OPINION )

The CNN Democratic debate transcript, annotated Washington Post October 13, 2015 COOPER: And welcome back to the final round of the CNN Democratic presidential debate. This is a question to each of you. Each of you, by the way, are going to have closing statements to make. Each of you will have 90 seconds. But […]

setting things right…

( OPINION )

This is a very important story about Data Transparency and about the Pharmaceutical Industry’s attempts to derail it. In January 2012, the European Medicines Agency [the European version of the FDA] announced that it was going to release the raw data submitted for approval publicly and proceeded to do just that. Cheers were heard throughout […]

catch 22…

( OPINION )

Here’s a story that’s eerily close to a recent experience of my own: Health Canada hands over documents but muzzles doctor Toronto doctor muzzled, not allowed to talk about morning sickness drug info Toronto Star By David Bruser and Jesse McLean Oct 14 2015 Dr. Navindra Persaud aims to publish a medical journal article based […]

reflections on a doodle…

( OPINION )

I was looking at my old patent-life graph I used in a reset button…, and was updating it while I watched the debates on television. It didn’t take very long, and I found myself doodling a frequency distribution on the back of a nearby envelope. It looked kind of interesting, so I made an accurate […]

problem solved?…

( OPINION )

Most UK docs support disclosing payments from drug makers: survey Pharmalot by Ed Silverman October 13, 2015 To disclose or not to disclose, that is the question. A new survey of UK health providers finds that an overwhelming majority of those queried – 87 percent – believe that payments from drug makers should be transparent. […]

insel’s agenda, insel’s theme…

( OPINION )

"Major depression is now recognized as a highly prevalent, chronic, recurrent, and disabling biological disorder with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Indeed, major depression, which is projected to be the second leading cause of disability worldwide by the year 2020, is associated with high rates of mortality secondary to suicide and to the now […]

a reset button…

( OPINION )

Tom Insel came to the NIMH at the height of the rise of neuroscience. It was a new century. The future DSM-5 team was just setting its sights on finally adding the hard science fixings to the psychiatrized brain. The drugs were steadily pouring from the pharmaceutical pipeline and were hitting the top of the […]

the common decency act…

( OPINION )

Senator asks FTC to investigate Shkreli for antitrust violations Pharmalot by Ed Silverman October 8, 2015 A US Senator has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether drug makers are hiking prices and then restricting distribution to prevent generic drug makers from making lower-cost versions of their medicines. In a letter to the agency, […]