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Drug Spending Moves Up for Diabetes, Down for Cholesterol - May 15, 2008

In health spending, how many people are being treated for a disease can be a lot less important than how much it costs to treat each person. That's what we took from this report out today from Medco, the pharmacy benefits manager.

Use of diabetes drugs increased only 2.3% last year, but spending rose 12%. The big driver was the introduction of new, expensive medicines that replace or are added to older, cheaper ones.

More Americans are Taking Prescription Medications - May 14, 2008

Experts say the data reflect not just worsening public health but better medicines for chronic conditions and more aggressive treatment by doctors. For example, more people are now taking blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering medicines because they need them, said Dr. Daniel W. Jones, president of the American Heart Association.

In addition, there is the pharmaceutical industry's relentless advertising. With those factors unlikely to change, doctors say the proportion of Americans on chronic medications can only grow.

Alzheimer's rates expected to climb among minority elderly - April 28, 2008

As research findings coalesce around a collection of risk factors for Alzheimer's disease, it is becoming obvious that poor and minority populations -- the ones most likely to harbor risk factors such as hypertension and diabetes --also are more likely than whites to encounter this brain disorder.

Why isn't the richest country in the world the healthiest?  - July 3, 2007

Americans die younger and spend more years disabled than our counterparts in Canada and Europe. Our infant mortality rate is higher, too. And yet, even though the most common objections to nationalized health care from its opponents in the U.S. are that it's too expensive, too restrictive and too inefficient, we spend way more money on health care than they do. Why, if our health care is the best in the world and we spend more money on it than anyone else and the free market is a marvel of efficiency, aren't our results the best in the world?

How to dispose of Rx drugs safely  - July 5, 2007

With the rise in prescription drug abuse, three federal agencies issued guidelines earlier this year for disposing of medications without harming the environment.

Study finds higher drug costs discourage use  - July 4, 2007

Pushing more of the cost of prescription drugs onto consumers causes patients to cut back, sometimes with adverse health consequences, according to a review of two decades worth of studies published on Tuesday.

Vitamin D: Will it fight disease where others have failed?  - June 11, 2007

Calls by scientists to increase vitamin D intake have been getting louder over the last few years, making it the latest in a line of vitamins touted as a cancer preventive.

New study suggests bias in drug trials - June 5, 2007

Researchers reported yesterday that studies claiming one cholesterol-lowering medicine is better than another may have more to do with the pharmaceutical company financing the clinical trial rather than the drug's actual effectiveness.

GUEST VIEW: A matter of health versus corporate power  - May 7, 2007

A bill that would direct the secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate prescription drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies was recently stalled in the U.S. Senate, and although 55 senators voted to end debate, it was not the 60 percent required to overcome a filibuster. The House of Representatives had already passed a similar bill.

US appeals court denies Pfizer request to reconsider Norvasc ruling - May 26, 2007

A US appeals court denied Pfizer's request to reconsider a March 22 ruling that the drug maker's patent on hypertension treatment Norvasc (amlodipine) was invalid, Bloomberg reports.