In the last post [indications…], I started out by objecting to the FDA Advisory Panel’s endorsement of an indication for Vortioxetine [Brintellix®] in Cognitive Dysfunction in Major Depressive Disorder on the grounds of obvious Indication Creep [the well known marketing strategy of adding indications to allow misleading advertising]. But as I looked into the articles […]
I suppose every discipline has its jargon, words or phrases that have specific meanings that aren’t necessarily found in the general language. If you walk into the waiting room and see someone with bilateral exopthalmos [bulging eyes], you immediately think "Grave’s Disease" [hyperthyroidism]. It’s a pathognomonic sign: pa·thog·no·mon·ic [puh-thog-nuh-mon-ik] adjective Medicine/Medical. characteristic or diagnostic of […]
"Today the U.S. Senate voted in support of the confirmation of Dr. Robert Califf, M.D. to be Commissioner of U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Califf has demonstrated a long and deep commitment to advancing the public health throughout his distinguished career as a physician, researcher, and leader in the fields of science and medicine. […]
Lawmaker seeks moratorium on consumer drug ads Pharmalot @ STAT By Ed Silverman February 22, 2016 A congressional lawmaker has introduced a bill calling for a three-year moratorium on advertising newly approved prescription drugs directly to consumers, reasoning that such a freeze would prevent consumers from receiving inaccurate information and also hold down health care […]
About six months ago, I saw a patient on an outrageous medication regimen – one that rendered her literally unable to think. I mentioned her first in blitzed…], later in some truths are self-evident…, and most recently in a story: getting near the ending[s]… shortly after Christmas. I obviously had to get her off the […]
With all our graphs and tables, we can lose sight of the nuts and bolts of clinical medicine – signs and symptoms. Symptoms are those things patients report, and signs are things a clinician can see. In studying mental illness, we mostly have to rely on subjective reports of symptoms since the objective signs, like […]
Well, I did it. I posted links to the special issue of Psychophysiology on the elusive RDoC [RDoC…], and I read some of the articles. I only get what they’re aiming at doing, but I’m left with no personal understanding of how this will get them there. There are things that I know I’ll never […]
“To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Whether you attribute the quote to Mark Twain or to Abraham Maslow, the meaning is clear. Which brings me to Aaron Beck, Sigmund Freud, and Tom Insel [OK, actually to Tom Insel]. When a new chairman appeared in my department in the early 1980s, […]
The Physicians Desk Reference [PDR] has grown since it was introduced in 1947, the year I started the first grade. It was still pretty thin when I started medical school in 1963, just a year after the Kefauver-Harris Drug Efficacy Act passed in the aftermath of the Thalidamide affair. The Act charged the FDA with […]
I suppose a "pardon my French" apology is in order for my outburst in the last post on seeing that Rexulti® television ad yesterday. I’m not big on profanity and I apologize, but sometimes bold, underlined, italicized , or multiple repetitive posts just aren’t loud enough. As I’ve acquainted myself with what I think of […]