Pepin’s Pharmaceutical Prattle for 01-31-2005

 Good morning ! 

Male bonding

After dinner on Sunday evening my youngest son and I decided we would work on his taxes. He had two small jobs last summer so we had some W-2’s and my copy of Turbo-Tax. I let him “drive” so he had to pay attention. After putting in his SSN (which he remembered)  the rest was somewhat eye opening. “Why do they ask about Farm Income?”, “What’s alimony?”, “Why can’t I claim myself?”, and “Do I declare the $3.56 in bank interest if I didn’t receive a 1099?” and “Where does the money for the presidential campaign come from if it does not increase my taxes?” were among our most lively exchanges. While he came up with a $0 return (nothing to pay or have returned) he learned a little bit… not the least of it was the immutable fact that the printer will ALWAYS run out of ink halfway through printing a tax return. We have to wait until the office supply store opens to wrap this up. 

He understands that “adult” tax filing is not as simple but he may attempt to do his own in years to come because this first one was painless. All in all it was a good experience and we had a chance to talk about things that don’t come up in normal conversation (like Amortized bond premiums). The best thing about it is that for once I can depend on having MY return print without running out of ink (assuming I can finish before he runs through all of the ink on term papers and homework).

 Don’t let April 15^th sneak up on you…..

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ps. Best answer this week to the question "How are you?" was "Still buying green bananas!" 

1) No class is world class

Legislation to reduce the extent of class action suits introduced. Recent class action activity against Augmentin, Paxil, Lupron, and Cipro are just a few examples. “Vioxx lawyers” were advertising in papers the day after the drug was withdrawn from the market. Hopefully this will mark the end to the “I just won the lotto” mentality. Some recent rulings may add to the chill on these cases; all of the oxycontin-addiction cases to date have been thrown out. Something about a little thing called “PROOF”. Expect the Dems to put up only a token fight this on behalf of the Trial Lawyers… and lose!

http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh95146_2005-01-25_22-49-09_n25642494_newsml

 2) BMJ eats public crow

British Medical Journal printed a story accusing Eli Lilly of hiding unfavorable data. They found out that they were wrong and admitted it. Sort of reminds me of “Rather-gate” with a better accent. Lancet isn’t all that well respected in the medical community. BMJ took a giant step in their direction and a small step back toward respectability with the admission. Being “first” isn’t as important as being “right”! (Right?)

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/24-01272005-439684.html

 3) SUI is not an Hoosier pig call but is re-called by Indiana pharma

Lilly retracts application for Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) indication for Cymbalta (duloxetine) in the USA. (It is approved for SUI in other countries already.) FDA wants more data. Expect this to be brought back.

http://www.pharmalive.com/news/index.cfm?articleID=208235&categoryid=9&newsletter=1

 4) DO you want fries with your health plan?

McDonald’s and others join to offer some health benefits to part-time employees in all 50 states. UHC is involved but is prohibited from selling in Minnesota…. They will have to find a partner in their own backyard in order to be in ALL states. Plan won’t cost the corporations anything but sweat… they contribute nothing to the health care costs. This corporate initiative sounds like the beginnings of a major push by corporate America for NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE. (but then again I have been called a “paranoid optimist” before)

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/10753823.htm?1c

5) Drug recall.

Methylin 5mg tablet lot number #AMT50402A [expiration date April 2006] recalled. While potentially serious (THREE TIMES THE INTENDED DOSAGE) this will affect few patients because it is infrequently prescribed. The wrong dosage is still in the range used in some children but the recall is the RIGHT thing to do.

http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/SAFETY/2005/safety05.htm#Methylin

 6) Bird flu jumps human to human..

Daughter passed fatal disease to her (now dead) mother before dying. Aunt was also infected but lived.  It is just a matter of time before this becomes a pandemic of monstrous proportions. What ended World War I? Influenza pandemic of 1918 killed more soldiers than bullets… http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/uda/   both sides were decimated. I am happy that a vaccine is being investigated…. Will it be ready in time?

 Medscape (quick registration required) http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/498048?src=dne

 or for those who are lazy (a slightly different account from Yahoo) http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&ncid=571&e=3&u=/nm/20050122/hl_nm/birdflu_vietnam_dc_2

7) Smoking good?

Maybe the reason that there was less Parkinson’s disease in smokers than non-smokers was because Parkinson’s is a disease of older people and the smokers were already DEAD!  Even if this was not the case, I’d rather take my chances with a disease I could live with.  (Yes, in true Minnesotan style, I ended the sentence and this edition with “with”).

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=594&u=/nm/20050121/hl_nm/smoking_parkinsons_dc&printer=1

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