Now there is proof

I write a new column on health and politics for Sinclair News.  I am pleased to have this venue because it allows me more freedom to write about things that need to be uncensored and where the fear factor is not an issue.

While Larry Sinclair is, and has been, controversial, I have often found myself in that same class for decades.

In my article about Big PhRMA published on 28 January, I mentioned a new drug, Bydureon (exenatide extended release), manufactured by Amylin Pharmaceuticals.  This is their new version of Byetta.

"This long-acting form is a version of their diabetes drug Byetta, that can be used weekly. Byetta is a synthetic exenatide formulation with risk for severe allergic reactions affecting the skin and respiratory system as well as pancreatitis and kidney disease.
Now approved by the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) this newer drug comes with a label warning that the drug caused certain thyroid tumors in rats.
There has been no information provided by the manufacturer whether the drug causes these tumors in people. The warning does state that the drug should not be used by people with history of medullary thyroid carcinoma (cancer). And to think, it was the early pioneers in endocrinology that believed strongly that diabetes was a thyroid disorder.
In 2010 the FDA denied approval of Bydureon and requested additional studies and clinical data.
There is much to be seen from yet another synthetic and potentially risky drug. All drugs in this class have potential interaction issues with other prescriptions you may be taking. Make sure your prescriber and/or your pharmacist provides you with this information, and you clearly understand it." SOURCE

Byetta costs about $250 each month.  Bydureon costs about $600 each month.

A site I follow is Health News Review. This effort tries to educate you about news reports on health topics and how to judge their value.  It also promotes good journalism practices.  Some things they do not like are the press release and advertising reports often relied on in media and by TV news outlets.

Today I was slapped with a real pie in the face example of just this; the Medscape Special Report – February 3, 2012, from Medscape Diabetes.

Bydureon From Medscape Diabetes

Expert Commentary Bydureon: An Easy, Effective New Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes Anne Peters, MD on Diabetes Bydureon vs Victoza: It's On! Matthew Mintz, MD: The Diabetes Beat Latest News Once-Weekly Exenatide Okayed by FDA for T2DM Medscape Medical News 2012 Diabetes Drug Bydureon Gets EU Approval Medscape Medical News 2011 From the Literature Effects of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists on Weight Loss BMJ January 2012 Short-term Exenatide Treatment Leads to Significant Weight Loss Diabetes Care January 2012

With all this media glitz what is someone with diabetes to do to try an determine if this is really the best drug for them, especially with unknown cancer risks?

Continue reading →

Now there is proof

I write a new column on health and politics for Sinclair News.  I am pleased to have this venue because it allows me more freedom to write about things that need to be uncensored and where the fear factor is not an issue.

While Larry Sinclair is, and has been, controversial, I have often found myself in that same class for decades.

In my article about Big PhRMA published on 28 January, I mentioned a new drug, Bydureon (exenatide extended release), manufactured by Amylin Pharmaceuticals.  This is their new version of Byetta.

"This long-acting form is a version of their diabetes drug Byetta, that can be used weekly. Byetta is a synthetic exenatide formulation with risk for severe allergic reactions affecting the skin and respiratory system as well as pancreatitis and kidney disease.
Now approved by the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) this newer drug comes with a label warning that the drug caused certain thyroid tumors in rats.
There has been no information provided by the manufacturer whether the drug causes these tumors in people. The warning does state that the drug should not be used by people with history of medullary thyroid carcinoma (cancer). And to think, it was the early pioneers in endocrinology that believed strongly that diabetes was a thyroid disorder.
In 2010 the FDA denied approval of Bydureon and requested additional studies and clinical data.
There is much to be seen from yet another synthetic and potentially risky drug. All drugs in this class have potential interaction issues with other prescriptions you may be taking. Make sure your prescriber and/or your pharmacist provides you with this information, and you clearly understand it." SOURCE

Byetta costs about $250 each month.  Bydureon costs about $600 each month.

A site I follow is Health News Review. This effort tries to educate you about news reports on health topics and how to judge their value.  It also promotes good journalism practices.  Some things they do not like are the press release and advertising reports often relied on in media and by TV news outlets.

Today I was slapped with a real pie in the face example of just this; the Medscape Special Report – February 3, 2012, from Medscape Diabetes.

Bydureon From Medscape Diabetes

Expert Commentary Bydureon: An Easy, Effective New Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes Anne Peters, MD on Diabetes Bydureon vs Victoza: It's On! Matthew Mintz, MD: The Diabetes Beat Latest News Once-Weekly Exenatide Okayed by FDA for T2DM Medscape Medical News 2012 Diabetes Drug Bydureon Gets EU Approval Medscape Medical News 2011 From the Literature Effects of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists on Weight Loss BMJ January 2012 Short-term Exenatide Treatment Leads to Significant Weight Loss Diabetes Care January 2012

With all this media glitz what is someone with diabetes to do to try an determine if this is really the best drug for them, especially with unknown cancer risks?

Continue reading →

Public Perceptions

In the late 1960s I had just left the West Coast, Haight-Ashbury, and Morningstar Ranch. I ended up in the Chicago area as we lived near my ex’s mother. At the time I was working for the Chicago Tribune and doing proofreading and editing. In those days there were still linotype operators that made and used lead type to make up the plates that the presses used to print your newspaper. No soy ink then.

I suppose this had some real influence on my so that when I began writing my “Health Matters” column in 1991 it wasn’t too long before a Washington Post owned paper in my area began printing my column.

A few years later several Puget Sound print venues published my column and articles. About mid-way to 2000 The Open Line began publishing my articles, and things have continued to grow from there. Today my organization publishes blogs, web sites, and other publications as well as having our work syndicated in more than  100 different locations around the world.

Along the way people have slammed my work but when the facts emerged my articles were accurate. Even an esteemed Everett are professional journalist wrote a recommendation for me stating clearly that my research top notch and my style was very readable and unique.

The internet certainly changed the way we read news. But sometimes it appears to me that too many have their brains glossed over by the quick & dirty approach that so many rely on and claim as fact.

I recall too that in about 2004 a couple of newbies on the net (I started in 1991) found their ways very often in the stats I reviewed of my sites. In 2005 a pattern began to emerge that these newbies were scouring my work to get their ideas and make a fast play to drown me out. So far they have not been successful in drowning me out in spite of some dirty tricks (so much for ethics in their concept of journalism).

These two sites seem to have the Fox New approach. I guess I’d prefer that those who have become their lemmings did take a little more time to be aware of what is being thrown at them.

The same seems to be true for the author of one excellent health journalism site.

I like him because he does what I try to do for my readers, make them think.

This week he has a great article about this topic. I like it so much I felt it is important to share.

I hope you think about it and share it too.

 

Science journalist: unrealistic expectations about science matter


http://www.healthnewsreview.org/blog/2011/08/science-journalist-unrealistic-expectations-about-science-matter.html

from Natural Health News

Natural Health News: Mainstream Health Coverage Unsatisfactory

May 30, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS, May 27 -- Most health coverage in the mainstream media fails to address the costs, harms, and benefits of medical products and procedures, according to the publisher of HealthNewsReview.org, a Web site that ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2008/05/mainstream-health-coverage.html

Continue reading →

Public Perceptions

In the late 1960s I had just left the West Coast, Haight-Ashbury, and Morningstar Ranch. I ended up in the Chicago area as we lived near my ex’s mother. At the time I was working for the Chicago Tribune and doing proofreading and editing. In those days there were still linotype operators that made and used lead type to make up the plates that the presses used to print your newspaper. No soy ink then.

I suppose this had some real influence on my so that when I began writing my “Health Matters” column in 1991 it wasn’t too long before a Washington Post owned paper in my area began printing my column.

A few years later several Puget Sound print venues published my column and articles. About mid-way to 2000 The Open Line began publishing my articles, and things have continued to grow from there. Today my organization publishes blogs, web sites, and other publications as well as having our work syndicated in more than  100 different locations around the world.

Along the way people have slammed my work but when the facts emerged my articles were accurate. Even an esteemed Everett are professional journalist wrote a recommendation for me stating clearly that my research top notch and my style was very readable and unique.

The internet certainly changed the way we read news. But sometimes it appears to me that too many have their brains glossed over by the quick & dirty approach that so many rely on and claim as fact.

I recall too that in about 2004 a couple of newbies on the net (I started in 1991) found their ways very often in the stats I reviewed of my sites. In 2005 a pattern began to emerge that these newbies were scouring my work to get their ideas and make a fast play to drown me out. So far they have not been successful in drowning me out in spite of some dirty tricks (so much for ethics in their concept of journalism).

These two sites seem to have the Fox New approach. I guess I’d prefer that those who have become their lemmings did take a little more time to be aware of what is being thrown at them.

The same seems to be true for the author of one excellent health journalism site.

I like him because he does what I try to do for my readers, make them think.

This week he has a great article about this topic. I like it so much I felt it is important to share.

I hope you think about it and share it too.

 

Science journalist: unrealistic expectations about science matter


http://www.healthnewsreview.org/blog/2011/08/science-journalist-unrealistic-expectations-about-science-matter.html

from Natural Health News

Natural Health News: Mainstream Health Coverage Unsatisfactory

May 30, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS, May 27 -- Most health coverage in the mainstream media fails to address the costs, harms, and benefits of medical products and procedures, according to the publisher of HealthNewsReview.org, a Web site that ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2008/05/mainstream-health-coverage.html

Continue reading →

The Importance of Accuracy in Health Reporting

Over the years I have been in the health professions I have noticed real change in the way health information is reported.  This applies to medical journals, TV and other broadcast media, newspapers, and other venues.

Now too we have now the on-line purveyors of what lay people turned health expert believe to be factual.

I think it has become pretty difficult to wade your way through all that is out there in the info universe to make some sense of it all for your health and that of those for whom you care.

Even though one site I favor is focused on mainstream health, I continue to learn more about the issues that have been important to me for decades from his sites: Integrity and truth in coverage.

Recently this was the focus of some very good information -

SHOULD YOU BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR OR READ ABOUT HEALTH CARE? 

Related articles:

U.S. Scientists Top Research-Fraud List

How indistinguishable...are the political figures and the journalists

Continue reading →

The Importance of Accuracy in Health Reporting

Over the years I have been in the health professions I have noticed real change in the way health information is reported.  This applies to medical journals, TV and other broadcast media, newspapers, and other venues.

Now too we have now the on-line purveyors of what lay people turned health expert believe to be factual.

I think it has become pretty difficult to wade your way through all that is out there in the info universe to make some sense of it all for your health and that of those for whom you care.

Even though one site I favor is focused on mainstream health, I continue to learn more about the issues that have been important to me for decades from his sites: Integrity and truth in coverage.

Recently this was the focus of some very good information -

SHOULD YOU BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR OR READ ABOUT HEALTH CARE? 

Related articles:

U.S. Scientists Top Research-Fraud List

How indistinguishable...are the political figures and the journalists

Continue reading →