Pepin’s Pharmaceutical Prattle for 02-07-2005

 Good morning ! 

We all have our Greenspans.

 My daughter is greatly affected by anything that Allan Greenspan says. She is in the mortgage industry. “Uncle Allan” can cause all sorts of commotion in an otherwise busy week.

 For many into drugs (in a positive way… such as me) it is “Cousin Elliot” or the FDA or any drug company that issues a recall.

 We have to assume that “they” are not personally trying to make our live miserable but are doing the jobs for which they were hired. I’m sure that each have their own “Greenspan”… including Greenspan. (Trade deficit anyone?)

 How you deal with these “fire drills” reflects on your overall worth to YOUR company. If you let them “get to you” then you have lost. We can’t affect many things that occur TO US during the day but we CAN affect our own attitude and how we react. I choose POSITIVE…. and this affects everyone around me. If I keep a positive “can-do” attitude then those around me “catch it” … if I am angry, upset, and nasty then others can “catch” that too.

 I’m sure that my daughter will find a “talk-line” that can spin an impending rate hike into a few more “locked” loans and save her clients from even larger interest rates.  I’m sure that you will be able to find some opportunities within your “fire drills”. Work for your clients enlightened self interest and you will find yourself enlightened and better off yourself.

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ps. Best answer this week to the question "How are you?" was "Still fogging a mirror!" 

pps This Tuesday is Mardi Gras and Wednesday is Ash Wednesday…. I would give up being funny for Lent but everyone says that I already  did that…. all year long!

1) This just could be available before Golf season ends….

Tygacil™ (tigecycline) receives NDA priority review status from the FDA. It will be a hospital based injectable antibiotic for resistant bacterial infections. Sort of a sandwedge for getting out of the antibiotic resistance bunker. I would be trying to tie up a certain Golf personality as the spokesperson to physicians if I were the marketing director at Wyeth. (I heard that Fuzzy Zolar http://www.fuz.com/ hasn’t been doing much lately but I’d try to put a Tiger in my tank!)

http://www.ptcommunity.com/Daily/DailyDetail.cfm?chosen=63852

 2) “You can wait with the diet and exercise…here take this pill”

Newly diagnosed diabetics (the adult onset or type II) should be treated aggressively with medication from the get go. Diet and exercise are very important but don’t wait for them to kick in before controlling the blood sugars with medications.  Diabetes may have some relationship with “metabolic syndrome” (some think it is the same disease) so early control may bode well for future control.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/02/03/aggressive_treatment_of_diabetes_is_urged/?rss_id=Boston%20Globe%20--%20National%20News

 3) “Half of Bankruptcy” triggered by health problems.

Average out of pocket health expenses were under $12,000.  This says a lot about how much people borrow for other items to bring themselves that close. Author inflates the actual number of bankruptcy filings by talking about the number of dependents affected. A thinly veiled push for national health insurance if you ask me…. (but then again it‘s just my opinion….I could be wrong!.... wait I’m not…..The authors of the original research identify their bias for Universal Health Insurance….. for their honesty I salute them.)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=7509851&src=eDialog/GetContent&section=news

4) Three New FDA approvals this week….

Cyanocobalamin Nasal Spray (Nascobal) for Vitamin B12 Deficiency once per week replaces an injection once per month. People who have had absorption problems or parts of their stomaches removed do not absorb enough vitamin B12 (no you can’t just take twice as much B6!) Expect the price to determine if the nursing home patients get this or not. It could be used at home by the elderly to avoid a monthly trip to the doctor for a shot.

The other two are orphan drugs: very specialized uses…one for bladder cancer and one for muscular dystrophy.

.http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/498694?src=mp

5) Banned!

Bextra banned in Kaiser plan. COX II’s don’t work any better than inexpensive generic NSAIDS and are not “safer” but they have a place in rational therapy of SOME patients. “When someone tells you “It’s not the money…it’s the principle of the thing!’…..it is the money. “-- Anonymous

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-kaiser30jan30,1,763715.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true

6) NIH and ethical standards

Move to halt even the “appearance of impropriety” for NIH staff. Unfortunately, you will see a brain drain as well. Rules limit the amount of pharmaceutical stock employees can hold. No more consulting or awards for more that $200.They will allow an exception for anyone who wins a Nobel Prize (like THAT is going to happen to those who remain).

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56308-2005Feb2.html

 7) Medicare Part-ED?

Medicare Part-D (the new drug benefit portion) might be too generous in that it is being interpreted as having to cover drugs for erectile dysfunction. May not be Viagra but it could be Cialis or Levitra. This affliction does hit a large percentage of men. About 40% of men are affected at age 40 and 1% more for every year thereafter. 50% at age 50; 60% at age 60 etc.. Doesn’t bode well for Centurions does it?  Some members of Congress don’t feel that this is a good use of scare Medicare drug funds .... it is probably a covered benefit under the Congressional health plan. Expect this to be stripped before 1/1/06.

http://www.newsday.com/news/health/wire/sns-ap-medicare-viagra,0,2386147.story?coll=sns-ap-health-headlines

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