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Pepin’s Pharmaceutical Prattle
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01-16-2006 Quote of the day: I never took hallucinogenic drugs because I never wanted my consciousness expanded one unnecessary iota. Fran Lebowitz (1950 - )
Humor What's so funny? A brand name pharmaceutical company that charges their own employees the same copay for brand and for generic drugs. I think this is hilarious because they are effectively saying that brand and generic drugs are of the same value when they want to project the opposite. By encouraging the consumption of competitive brand name drugs (most will charge zero copay for drugs that they make) they will either make it necessary to pay more when they buy out their competitors or add to the profitability their rivals. Some good advice (as best I can remember it) from the late Danny Thomas: "Never, ever tell a dirty joke. The audience may laugh at the time but when they get home they are likely to feel bad about it. Rather than being angry with themselves for listening to it, they will be mad at you for telling it. If for no other reason that longevity in the business... never tell a dirty joke." Watch out what goes in your ears because it can often find its way out of your mouth. Practice "positive self-talk" and remember that you may not be able to control the situation or circumstance in which you find yourself but you can control your response. Keep a positive attitude and many of your troubles will melt away. Attitude is altitude! =================================================== ps. Best answer this week to the question "How are you?" was ""I'm as happy as a pig in mud…and there's a whole lot of mud!"
pps. Occasionally, some of the links require FREE registration.... I'm sure you can handle THAT slight inconvenience.
==================================================== 1) How many people take drugs? Half the women and 40% of males take rx drugs regularly. The bigger question is "How many SHOULD be taking drugs regularly?". Non-compliance with medications can be deadly; especially in diseases such as hypertension, asthma and diabetes. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticleSearch.aspx?storyID=210882+12-Jan-2006+RTRS&srch=drug
2) FDA below average report card If the FDA was a child, we would have to have a talk about grades. Only 20 new drugs approved in 2005… about half of the number approved in 2004. FDA maybe has cold feet after the recent Vioxx issues. Expect some heat to increase the number of new chemical entities for 2006 http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060111/ZNYT04/601110730/-1/HEALTHMATTERS
3) … but 5 blockbusters set for 2006! Arthritis, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and a vaccine against HPV lead the pack. A blockbuster is one that will generate a BILLION dollars a year…. so brace yourself. http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/09/magazines/fortune/blockbusters_fortune/
4) Perquisite vs benefit In 1998 35% of employers fully funded their employees health plans. That was down to 28% in 2003. Asking employees to share in the cost of their healthcare, especially in proportion to their use of services, is the only way that spending will ever approach control.
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5) Consuming Children's Cough Concoctions Can't Continue There is no evidence that cough syrups work in kids so exposing them to the medicine may not be a good idea. The risk benefit equation does not look good when the denominator goes to zero! (all risk and no benefit)
6) Lucy in the Sky a centurion Abby Hofmann, the Swiss chemist that invented LSD is going strong at 100 years. He plans to take a trip; this time physically to a conference on hallucinogens.
7) Be all that you can be! Being fat is seen negatively by only 25% of the population. This is down from 5%% back in 1985. (In their favor: 60% said that they would like to lose 20 lbs). A few years ago a group of marketing people picked a theme on which to compete: Gluttony! The winning ad was a picture of a very fat person doing a belly flop into a giant mud puddle. It carried the tag line:" Gluttony: Be all that you can be!" It showed that people can be "as happy as a pig in mud" even if it is not healthy for them. http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/WeightManagement/tb/2477 ------------ Have a SUPER-FANTASTIC week. Steve Disclaimer: "Pepin's Pharmaceutical Prattle" (AKA "The Prattle") is the property of PHARMWORKS, LLC and Steven M. Pepin, Pharm. D, BCPS. The opinions expressed are those of the bald-headed author. To start or stop any drug without the advice and supervision of your physician would be stupid. So don't do anything based upon what you read here without professional advice. To be added to or removed from the distribution list please e-mail your request to spepin@pharmworks.com . All insightful comments from readers are thoughtfully considered (the rest are callously discarded). Copyright 1998-2006 PHARMWORKS, LLC all rights reserved. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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