Pharma Under Fire Over Pricey Drugs for Kids

New study documents dangers of Avandia, but company nixes recall

(NEWSER) - A popular diabetes drug may increase heart attack risks, a study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes. Patients who took Avandia, which treats Type 2 diabetes, were 43% more likely to have a heart attack than those who took a placebo, the Cleveland Clinic study found. More»

Drug firms may play bigger role than thought in medical lit

(NEWSER) - Ghostwriters funded by a drug firm were deeply involved in writing papers supporting therapies that helped the firm’s sales boom, court papers show. The 26 scientific papers, published in medical journals from 1998 to 2005, highlighted the benefits of hormone replacement therapy over the risks, a boon to Wyeth, which paid the writers. The news hints at the extent to which drug firms may pull strings in medical literature, the New York Times reports. More»

Popular website uses health info to pitch drugs to users

(NEWSER) - More than 27 million people have gone online to take a quiz called RealAge, which promises to determine your "biological age" and then suggests recommendations on how to feel "younger." But most users are unaware that the site makes its money by selling test results to pharmaceutical companies, who then pitch their products to users, reports the New York Times. In essence, RealAge users are filling out detailed medical questionnaires and then handing them to drug companies for free. More»

(NEWSER) - Health-care policy debate in America is usually framed around the 45 million (and rising) uninsured, but rarely do policymakers bring up the additional 25 million facing the “shadow problem” of under-insurance, Time reports. These people pay more than 10% of their income on out-of-pocket medical costs, often on flimsy short-term policies that seem generous when you’re healthy, but prove insufficient should you ever really get sick. More»

Salty foods, lack of water, and obesity may be at fault

(NEWSER) - Once associated with middle age, kidney stones are growing more common among US children, the New York Times reports. A few decades ago, physicians would “see a kid with a stone once every few months,” says one doctor. “Now we see kids once a week or less.” The increase comes from factors like salty diets and drinking too little water; some doctors link the stones to childhood obesity. More»