Friday Blog Roundup

Bloggers are bringing us lots of drug news this week:

  • Abel Pharmboy at Terra Sigillata explains why a decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is devastating news for lymphoma patients â and possibly for all cancer patients (here, too).
  • Ed Silverman at Pharmalot considers the drop in new drug approvals by the FDA.
  • Maggie Mahar at Health Beat reports on the lavish inducements drug companies offer to doctors in developing countries.
  • Revere at Effect Measure discusses the pharmaceutical-company maneuverings that threaten to keep doctors from prescribing effective, low cost treatment for macular degeneration.
  • Lynn Harris at Broadsheet advocates for fixing a Deficit Reduction Act glitch that is putting hormonal contraceptives out of financial reach for many college students.
  • Julia Kaye at Womenstake provides some context for the new study that finds that women who are on the birth control pill for long periods of time might have an increased risk of atherosclerosis.
  • Roy M. Poses MD at Health Care Renewal describes astroturfing efforts by the makers of anemia drugs.

In not-so-drug-centric news:

Tara C. Smith at Aetiology has good news and bad news about infectious disease prevention.

Amanda at Enviroblog wonders who was really victorious in plantation workersâ lawsuit against Dole.

Tom Philpott at Gristmill reports on a new study that helps answer the question of whether industrial or organic agriculture is better able to feed the world.

Matt Madia at Reg Watch asks why officials at USDA and FDA are so reluctant to re-examine the safety of using carbon monoxide to make packaged meat appear red for longer periods of time.

Lisa Stiffler at Dateline Earth explains how volunteers are using human hair and mushrooms to clean up the oil spill in the San Francisco Bay.

More like this

In this blog post from Trusted.MD Network Keshav Chander MD asks "Why Do We Hesitate To Use Generic Drugs?" Among the responses he heard are:
Ezra Klein relays Jim Manzi's worry that public funding of drug trials
One thing that drove me nuts during the healthcare reform debate was the scare tactic of claiming that proposed legislation would result in rationing of healthcare.
Over the last year or so, the US FDA has grown tougher on withdrawing prescription and over-the-counter drugs that have not met the modern burden of proof for safety and efficacy that was officially required by the 1962 passage of the Kefauver-Harris amendments to the 1906 Federal Food and Drug A