On May 11, President Obama stated at a news conference, “I will not rest until the dream of healthcare reform is achieved in the United States of America.” A Wall Street Journal article opined that “the Obama administration . . . is convinced it is smart enough to engineer more efficient medical practices out of […]
He is the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leaving behind the post of New York City’s top health official. The New York Post called him “Dr. Buttinsky” because of his policy to ban smoking and trans fats in New York City. He is physician Thomas Frieden. Does he want the […]
The federal Trial to Assess Chelation (TACT) study is once again enrolling heart attack survivors. The study’s leader, Dr. Gervasio Lamas of the Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Miami, voluntarily suspended enrollment last fall after allegations were published in Medscape critical of the consent form given to patients and of the safety of the trial.The […]
The FDA has established a Transparency Task Force, and has called for public comment. We certainly applaud this as a hopeful sign. Openness in government is imperative, and prompt disclosure to the public of government activity ensures legitimacy and accountability.
In 2005, an up-and-coming pharmaceutical company made a big mistake: they invested millions of dollars into developing a drug only to discover that the only active ingredient of the drug, pyridoxamine, was really a common, naturally occurring substance that has been sold for decades at low cost to consumers in the form of a dietary […]
Dr. Abram Hoffer died this week at the age of 91. A renowned Canadian psychiatrist, Dr. Hoffer was instrumental in discovering the importance of megadoses of vitamins in the treatment of psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and was a pioneer in the field of orthomolecular medicine.
Scientists say the naturally occurring antioxidant lycopene, found in abundance in tomatoes, helps block the body from absorbing “bad” LDL cholesterol. This bad cholesterol is primarily responsible for clogging arteries.
The proposed budget of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is worrying the Democrats. They are concerned that FDA’s annual increases in industry user fees—$828 million from manufacturers of medical and food products, including hundreds of millions drug manufacturers pay annually to help speed the review of new medicines—might compromise the agency’s independence.
A bipartisan letter authored by Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA) and Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), and co-signed by congresswomen and men from twelve states, has been sent to the FDA urging them to require clear warnings about mercury toxicity to every dental patient, and to establish specific protections for children and young women.
Under a new Vermont law, drug and device manufacturers will have to publicly disclose all gifts (in direct payments, speaking and consulting fees, grants, food, lodging and transportation, and books) they make to healthcare providers. The law will require specific disclosure of doctors’ names, dollar amounts, and the medical products to which the spending is […]