\nIndustry Influence Can Be Mediated by Understanding Theory Behind It<\/a><\/div>\nPsychiatric<\/font>News<\/font><\/strong><\/div>\nby Aaron Levin<\/div>\nSeptember 19, 2013<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nThe journal article and news report are about the work of a person who is one of the real good guys – Adriane Fugh-Berman, M.D.<\/font><\/strong>, at the Georgetown University Medical Center. She’s the brains behind the web-site PharmedOut<\/a>:<\/div>\n\nPharmedOut is a Georgetown University Medical Center project that advances evidence-based prescribing and educates healthcare professionals about pharmaceutical marketing practices. PharmedOut promotes evidence-based medicine by providing slideshows, videos, other resources, and links to pharma-free CME courses. Learn more<\/a> about us.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nPart of their work has been to point out the corruption of C.M.E. and to provide alternatives for free C.M.E. that are not Pharma contaminated. In the article behind all of this [Physicians Under the Influence: Social Psychology and Industry Marketing Strategies<\/a> – free download<\/a>], the authors hypothesize that if physicians are aware of the ways they’re being gamed<\/em> by the drug companies, they’ll be much less vulnerable to Pharma influence. That just has to be correct.<\/div>\nWhen I wrote about this article, I said it sounded like it would really help in physical medicine, but I didn’t think it was big enough for the problems in psychiatry. But I’m putting that aside for the moment [maybe the next post]. I want to stick to the visit to my friend yesterday and one of those newer drugs<\/em> he was on. When you have atrial fibrillation, a chaotic heart rhythm, you’re vulnerable to forming clots that can cause stroke – even if they convert your heart to a normal rhythm – because the atrial fib can and does frequently make a comeback. So anticoagulants [blood thinners<\/em>] are a mainstream preventative part of treatment. Without them, the risk of stroke is very real, not just statistical. That was true back when I had brown hair and it said Internal Medicine<\/em> on my door. Until recently, anticoagulation meant Coumadin [Warfarin], a Vitamin K antagonist that requires monitoring with blood tests, or sometimes Heparin, that requires frequent injections.<\/p>\n
But my friend was on Rivaroxaban<\/a> AKA Xarelto®<\/strong>, discovered and manufactured by Bayer and marketed by Janssen. It has been around for a few years. It’s essentially an oral anticoagulant that doesn’t have to be monitored – the best of both worlds. Having seen a jillion people on Coumadin in the past and adjusting doses endlessly, it’s not better medicine, but it’s a breakthrough in convenience. As for comparisons, all roads lead to this article:<\/div>\n\n
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I started with "I get calls about matters medical often and answer what I can.<\/em>" What I didn’t say was that the majority of those calls have to do with negotiating the hurdles and impossible binds in the many systems involved in the simplest of matters medical<\/em>. I see the term Affordable Health Care as a dream. But I support the Act only because in its not working, it may expose why it’s not possible in America and may lead to something that does work after a decade or so of tooth gnashing and blood letting. At least it’s movement…<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"