|
|
|
A Lite Look at Your Kidney Function (And Why It Matters!)
When you (or loved ones) are taking prescription or over the counter medications…there is a lot you should be worried about, and a lot that your pharmacist may not be telling you. Most people are aware, for example, that several medications taken...
Problem: Thinning Hair? Solution: Saw Palmetto!
We know that many factors contribute to thinning hair. The culprits range from a poor diet to dihydrotestosterone and from heredity to perimenopause. This isn't just an issue for men and it isn't just an issue for those over 40. Thinning hair can...
The Modern EKG Machine
Perhaps one of the most useful 20th century technologies for the diagnosis of heart disease is the electrocardiogram (EKG) machine. Although much more bulky and heavy than the modern EKG machines in use today, the first device was built at the turn...
The Self-Appointed Altruists - Part II
NGO's in places like Sudan, Somalia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Albania, and Zimbabwe have become the preferred venue for Western aid - both humanitarian and financial - development financing, and emergency relief. According to the Red Cross,...
Turn Off the Fat Genes - A Book Review
Once in a while a good title comes along and "Turn Off the Fat Genes" is one of those titles that just have to be written about. If you are not familiar with Dr. Neal Barnard's work, he has been writing about how to lose weight on a high...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bextra Withdrawal Could Be Just the Beginning of Trouble for Pfizer
The pharmaceutical industry is a tremendously profitable one, as anyone who reads the business pages of their newspaper can see. Although it can take years to develop a new drug and bring it to market, the profits obtained from a breakthrough drug can be staggering. Last year Merck sold about $2.5 billion worth of Vioxx, and Pfizer sold about $1.3 billion worth of Bextra. The profits are huge, but so are the losses if a problem should develop with a pharmaceutical product. Pfizer voluntarily withdrew the popular anti-inflammatory drug Bextra from the market last month, and their stock has suffered from both the loss of sales and the potential for a large number of product liability lawsuits. Pfizer may have to endure a double whammy this year as the FDA announced that they are investigating reports that the impotence drug Viagra may be linked to cases of blindness in male users. Cialis and Levitra were also mentioned in the report, although most of the cases involved the use of Viagra.
The FDA reports shouldn’t cause alarm; the agency says that it is investigating fewer than 50 incidents of blindness in patients who use a drug that has been used by more than twenty million people since its introduction seven years ago. The FDA investigation says less about the likelihood of blindness in patients than it does about the agency’s own concerns about its reputation. The FDA rightly insists upon rigorous testing of drugs before they reach the market in the name of public safety. But that coin has two sides, and there are those who say that the agency is too quick to approve
potentially dangerous drugs and others who say that the agency’s testing isn’t thorough enough. Adding fuel to the fire are the recent memos obtained from Merck employees that suggest that the company was aggressively marketing Vioxx even though their sales staff knew the drug was potentially dangerous.
There may be no link between Viagra and blindness at all, as the form of sudden blindness alleged to have been caused by Viagra use is common to the sorts of patients who have erectile disfunction. The FDA is just being cautious, as they should be. Further tests will determine if there is an actual link. The party likely to suffer immediately is Pfizer, as stockholders, already concerned about Bextra lawsuits, drove the stock price lower immediately upon the release of the Viagra news. Sales will probably decrease, too, as patients who are now accustomed to reading about drugs being withdrawn from the market may shy away from the product until further tests are done. That could present a huge income for Pfizer, as they currently sell about $2 billion worth of Viagra each year. The drug business is a profitable one, but like any business, comes with risks. This year, it would seem that Pfizer is getting a double dose of bad medicine.
About the Author
©Copyright 2005 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including Bextra-Info.net, a site devoted to the withdrawn drug Bextra and StructuredSettlementHelp.com, a site devoted to structured settlements.
|
|
|
|
|
| National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health |
| Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine offers access to health information for consumer, patient, and physicians ... |
| www.nlm.nih.gov |
|
| Health and Medical Information produced by doctors - MedicineNet.com |
| Doctor-produced health and medical information written for you to make informed decisions about your health concerns. |
| www.medicinenet.com |
|
| Medicine in the Yahoo! Directory |
| Collection of sites for health professionals, with sections on specific disciplines, organizations, continuing education, conferences, publications, ... |
| dir.yahoo.com |
|
| MedlinePlus Health Information from the National Library of Medicine |
| Health information from the National Library of Medicine. Easy access to Medline and Health topics, medical dictionaries, directories and publications. |
| medlineplus.gov |
|
| Medicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Medicine is a branch of health science and the sector of public life ... The practice of medicine combines both science as the evidence base and art in the ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Journal Home - Nature Medicine |
| Nature Medicine has a vacancy for a Locum Assistant Editor for six months. The position involves working in all aspects of the editorial process, ... |
| www.nature.com |
|
| The New England Journal of Medicine: Research & Review Articles on ... |
| The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research findings, review articles, and editorial ... |
| content.nejm.org |
|
| eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base |
| eMedicine features up-to-date, searchable, peer-reviewed medical journals, online physician reference textbooks, and a full-text article database in 62 ... |
| www.emedicine.com |
|
| Open Directory - Health: Medicine |
| the entire directory, only in Health/Medicine. Top: Health: Medicine (11429). Description · Medical Specialties (4888); Surgery (2265) ... |
| dmoz.org |
|
| the www virtual library biosciences medicine |
| www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/wwwvl/ - Similar pages |
|
|
| Medicine - home |
| Bimonthly journal covering the latest results in clinical investigation relevant to hospital and office practice. |
| www.md-journal.com |
|
| Institute of Medicine |
| The Institute of Medicine serves as adviser to the nation to improve health. |
| www.iom.edu |
|
| ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News |
| Medical Research News. Health news on everything from cancer to nutrition. Full-text, images, updated daily. |
| www.sciencedaily.com |
|
| Google Directory - Health > Medicine |
| Search only in Medicine Search the Web. Medicine. Health > Medicine, Go to Directory Home. Categories. Alternative Medicine (6308) Basic Sciences (66) ... |
| www.google.com |
|
| the world wide web virtual library biosciences medicine |
| www.mcb.harvard.edu/biopages/medicine.html - Similar pages |
|
|
| PLoS Medicine - A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal |
| PLoS Medicine is a peer-reviewed, international, open-access journal published ... Every issue of PLoS Medicine contains a selection of readers' responses. ... |
| medicine.plosjournals.org |
|
| Medicine On-Line - Medicine Online -The International Medical Journal |
| Medicine Online - independent and peer reviewed journal published by Priory Medical Journals - priory.com. |
| www.priory.com |
|
| Entrez PubMed |
| PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for ... |
| www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |
|
| Stanford University School of Medicine |
| Home Page of the Stanford University School of Medicine. |
| med.stanford.edu |
|
| Medicine OnLine |
| Meds.com offers medical information and education on cancer (lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, leukemia) and HIV / AIDS for patients, ... |
| www.meds.com |
|
|