This piece by Daniel O'Sullivan was first posted on Crikey.com. Our interest was stimulated by a query to RxISK from Daniel who had been told by the Australian regulator (the TGA) that they only had one report of this. Looking for gambling in RxISK, gives 1 case in Australia, but 4 cases of pathological gambling - more than from all the rest of the world combined, and 8 cases of impulsive … [Read more...]
Speaking Engagements – updated
September 27, 2012 2 Comments
21 Feb 2013 Washington, DC. Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill Panel at Selling Sickness Conference: Independent Resources for Journalists, Health Professionals and Consumers. Dr. Healy’s talk entitled Scaremongering: How RxISK.org will make Medicine Safer. (Includes discussion and demonstration of RxISK.org, the first free independent website for researching and … [Read more...]
Dance with Python: healthcare in peril
September 24, 2012 7 Comments
This is the last in what was once the BarMittzva Romba series aimed at Bar(ack) & Mitt. These have now been renamed as a series of Dances - Dancing as fast as we can, Dance to the Music of Time, Dancing in the Dark, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, & Shadow Dance . Between them they reprise the plot of Pharmageddon. In Malaysia, Dancing with Pythons is an art form. Women dance … [Read more...]
Shadow Dance: is alcohol safer and more effective than SSRIs?
September 24, 2012 9 Comments
This is the fifth in the Dance series tackling the crisis in healthcare We have dug a deep hole. The regulatory hoops through which a company has to jump are now so minimal that it would be easy for us to get alcohol, nicotine, benzodiazepines or opiates on the market as antidepressants. Opiates in fact have a much better track record than SSRIs for treating severe depression - melancholia. … [Read more...]
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies: how prescription only keeps doctors’ healthy and wealthy but not wise
September 24, 2012 2 Comments
This is the fourth in the Dance series that tackles the crisis in healthcare. In 1962, politicians attempting to put things right in the pharmaceutical sector accidentally created the perfect raw material for drug development, and the basis to transform this raw material into the perfect product. But to complete the perfect market needs one extra element - a perfect consumer. By continuing … [Read more...]
Dancing in the Dark: how patents make drugs the perfect objects of desire
September 24, 2012 2 Comments
This is the third of six posts in what was the BarMittzva Romba series, now a dance series. A further step taken in 1962 made it possible to shape the raw material from clinical trials into the perfect product. This development hinged on the strategy chosen to reward pharmaceutical companies. In 1962, the options were to offer product, or process patents for drugs or some other form of reward … [Read more...]
Dance to the Music of Time: how clinical trials help pharma invent data
September 24, 2012 5 Comments
This is the second post in a 6-part what was the BarMittzva Romba series, now a dance series. Every product is built from a raw material. The raw material puts constraints on a product developer. There may be difficulties fashioning the product from the material, or the material may be costly or scarce. There is the delicate matter of how the mark-up from raw ingredient to product is … [Read more...]
Dancing as fast as we can: the crisis in healthcare
September 24, 2012 24 Comments
This is the first of 6 Dance posts that cover the role of pharmaceuticals in the current healthcare crisis. It is based on Pharmageddon. In succeeding posts the role of clinical trials, patents, and prescription only status will be covered. The first five posts have been renamed from BarMittzva Romba; this combination of Bar(ack) and Mitt seems to have been too clever for its own … [Read more...]
