Quote of the day:

But in this world nothing can be said to be certain,  except death and taxes.   Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790),    Letter to Jean Baptiste Le Roy (1789)

Good morning!

April 15^th approaches… The Ides of April.  Ides means the middle day of the month… not the 15^th.   The Ides of March (besides a Dinosaur Rock band) is the 15^th, The Ides of February is the 13^th.

… but I digress…..(as usual). 

Tax time! Aren’t taxes wonderful? No I haven’t been in the cooking sherry again…taxes are a wonderful thing. I have roads to drive on that I couldn’t afford to be on if not for everyone sharing in their construction. I have police and fire protection. I know that there is a social safety net for those who have fallen on hard times.  Paying taxes can sometimes feel less than pleasent….. but only those without work and, often times, without hope pay no taxes.  The more I pay in taxes means the more I have earned. Wouldn’t it be nice to have to pay a million dollars a year in taxes! (Think about how much you’d have!)  As Ben said so long ago, taxes are a fact of life. You may do some things to reduce your taxes (such as charitable giving) but you will owe taxes.  Your attitude toward taxes is what you can control.  Instead of thinking about all of the stuff you could have purchased you should look at what it does purchase... better to look at all of the good that the money does. I like living in a free and open country that would be very different if not for taxes. I’ll now exercise some of that freedom and  Prattle on about drugs….

1)  Drugs for nothing!

New website connects those in need with drug company sponsored help.

I tried this site and within 5 minutes I had completed most of the “paper” work and had an answer “I qualified for assistance”. Of course I had to pretend to be a 25 year old pregnant women with 3 children and a minimum wage job…. This is definitely somewhere to go for medications if you need them but can’t pay for them. You should gather some information before starting. Participants are asked which drugs they are taking in a very easy entry format. Once the list is compiled then several more questions are asked about the household income and number of household members. Besides going directly to the appropriate applications the site offers links to other assistance programs for which the patient may be eligible. (State, local, Federal etc). There is a pharmacist mode as well as a physician mode for inquiries.

CLICK HERE for story about free drugs

 I will make this link a permanent feature at PHARMWORKS...!

  Click HERE to connect to www.helpingpatients.org

2) This group is not likely depressed about taxes…..they are too young!

Kids may appear depressed and are thus treated with antidepressants. One study shows the increasing numbers (think of this as a warning barometer that shows the trends before the storm hits). The French study says that the drugs are not more effective that placebos but exposes the kids to potential side effects.  This is all in the aftermath of the recent press about supposed links between antidepressant use in adolescents and suicides.

 CLICK HERE for Study

 Click here for study story from nytimes

3) A pretty Penney?

JC Penney sold off Eckerd to CVS and to Jean Coutu Group of Toronto for about $4.5 billion. This should prove to be an interesting situation…American’s are buying Canadian drugs while Canadians are buying American pharmacies. CVS will have to chew and swallow quickly if they want to beat Walgreens to their customers. Let’s hope that yet another Heimlich Maneuver is not needed to keep the acquirer from choking.

 http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040405/retail_drugstorelandscape_1.html

(hint... if you haven't refinanced yet NOW may be the time)

4) Aventis frothing at the mouth over rabies vaccine recall.?

Actually they can take calm comfort from the knowledge that the safety systems that they developed are working. Rabies vaccine contained live rabies virus but that batch was never released for sale.. As a precaution, and a smart one at that, they recalled U.S. lots (X0667-2, X0667-3, W1419-2, and W1419-3). The testing done and the safeguards in place are not inexpensive and speak to the efforts of the manufacturers to provide safe and effective medications and the FDA oversight (paid for by your taxes…. Feel any better yet?).

 CLICK HERE for Rabies link.....

<then click on the recall notice>

     5) A pill to replace booze and exercise…..

NEJM study shows promise from a drug that raises the HIGH DENSITY LIPOPROTEINS (the good ones that act like boxcars to remove the bad LOW DENSITY LIPOPROTEINS.) The two other things that I know that increase HDL are alcohol (about 2 drinks a day) and exercise. I’m sure Americans will continue to drink but may be just one more reason to NOT exercise.

 http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/350/15/1505 (the abstart of the paper itself)

 http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?.../cholesterol_drug

 (more for the layman….gives some interpretation and perspective)

     6) Getting a rise out of Pfizer.

They may have the rights to the drug in the previous article but the Viagra people responded to the research that implicated Viagra as impairing male fertility. They have had a rough enough time competing with Cialis and Levitra but offer no scientific evidence to rebut what little scientific evidence was presented.. Sounds like they better start doing some studies…. This is not likely to go away. (See story from ppp 04-05-2004)

 http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040402/health_viagra_fertility_1.html

7) Federal appeals court rules that state formularies are ok.

States have learned that PBM tactics work to reduce drug expenditures and have had a taste of rebates. This will eventually pave the way for FEDERAL FORMULARIES and federal rebates (but I could be wrong!)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/06/politics/06DRUG.html?pagewanted=print&position=