Aurra | Health News Aggregator

Currently, individual health insurance typically has less generous benefits than employment-related insurance. However, under the Affordable Care Act, individual insurance will probably become more generous and more like employment-related insurance. For a Health Affairs May 16 Web First study, Steven Hill of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality compared out-of-pocket spending on health care [...]

This may shock you, but there are films coming out right now other than The Avengers and Battleship. A handful of this weekend’s new releases—Hysteria, Virginia, Mansome—might even be described as “health related,” though that covers a broad spectrum of health topics (including: male body image, pregnancy, schizophrenia and the mental health possibilities of vibrators). Here’s our quick guide to new health-related movies—we promise, nothing based on comic books or video games (just pregnancy manuals and bizarre history).

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Post from: Blisstree

A few weeks ago, we all learned a valuable lesson from 30 Rock: Murphy Brown lied to us, and women really can’t “have it all” (read: kids and careers). But according to a Gallup poll released this morning, working moms actually seem to have it down–they report the more overall happiness than either employed, childfree women, or stay-at-home moms. The stay-at-home moms, meanwhile, reported the highest levels of depression and anger, and the lowest levels of satisfaction.

This isn’t the first time that research based on self-reporting has indicated that staying at home with young kids can be emotionally difficult and lead to a lack of overall life satisfaction. In 2010, New York Magazine released a featured entitled “Why Parents Hate Parenting,” which ignited the anger of many a mommy-blogger. And earlier this year, Blisstree writer Deborah wrote about a study that found that being a stay-at-home mom is depressing; the stay-at-home moms were not amused. Immediately, a lengthy battle ensued in the comments, as mothers who didn’t work outside the home adamantly defended their choice to stay at home, and refuted the study’s findings.

What’s interesting about this poll, however, is how happy working moms seem to be. Despite the message that is consistently repeated in films, television, and the media, women who continue to work as parents are not only less stressed, when asked how they felt “yesterday,” they report more feelings of enjoyment and fulfillment than either childfree women or stay-at-home moms. Here’s a graph from Gallup:

As you can see, working mothers not only report getting smiled or laughed at more, they also experience the most happiness, and report that the word “thriving” best describes how they feel. And who doesn’t want that? Additionally, in several studies, working moms have also shown to be physically healthier,  and better at managing stress.

Finances, too, seem to have a lot to do with it (don’t they always?). Stay-at-home moms on the tightest budgets report the highest levels of stress and depression, while working moms–even low-income ones–experienced more joy. However, in situations where the median household income was under $36,000 per year, employed women without children were found to be the happiest and most thriving.

It shouldn’t be as surprising as it is that a career, which has long been shown to give women greater feelings of self-efficacy, empowerment, and even enjoyment in their personal relationships, would be part of the mix for a truly fulfilling life–and yet, there are so many societal forces telling women that staying at home is the best way to raise healthy, smart, engaged children. Could it be that working moms are the victims or poor PR, and that they’ve actually got the secret to awesome lives? Or, are they just more likely to report positively about their life choices in the face of scrutiny?

Each mom (or child-free woman, for that matter) has to choose what’s right for her life and her choices–but it seems that, for the most part, working moms really do have the best of both worlds.

Image via Politico

Related posts:

• Score One For Stay-At-Home Moms? Close Relationships With Kids May Prevent Childhood Obesity
• And This Is Why I’m Not A Stay-At-Home Mom; It’s Depressing
• Mary Richardson Kennedy Commits Suicide, Highlighting Dangers Of Depression And Addiction
• My Postpartum Depression: From Feeling Like A Horrible ‘Monster’ To Empowering Women

Post from: Blisstree

A project that maps dopamine circuits in the prefrontal cortex through optogenetic manipulation was given top honors in this year’s annual Addiction Science Awards at the 2012 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) -- the world's largest science competition for high school students. The awards were presented by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, and Friends of NIDA, a coalition that supports NIDA’s mission. The Intel ISEF Addiction Science Awards were presented at a ceremony Thursday night at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

On May 9th, William Nickerson, Senior Judge in the Southern Maryland Federal District Court, issued a 15 page ruling against the six Augusta, GA primary care physician plaintiffs who challenged HHS’ and CMS’ longstanding relationship with the American Medical Association’s Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC). The opinion did not weigh the substance of the [...]

Johnson & Johnson's ($JNJ) McNeil Consumer Healthcare, which has gotten accustomed to recalling products in large quantities, is retrieving a lot of Imodium--nearly 54,000 packages. There is no health threat, just a hole in some packages that, because of exposure, might reduce the diarrhea drug's effectiveness, The Wall Street Journal health blog reports. This is an old hat for the consumer health unit, which since December has had to recall over 12 million products, from children's Tylenol for a stopper problem to Motrin tablets with a dissolution issue. It is a reminder that new CEO Alex Gorsky has got to get manufacturing problems at the company under control or risk his own standing, particularly given that predecessor Bill Weldon was probably asked to retire early in the face of the constant march of recalls. Story | More

Drugmakers are putting together a plan for how to keep medications flowing to Greece if the economy collapses and payments become uncertain.

With the possibility of a financial default escalating there, drugmakers are working with European authorities to avoid a crisis, according to Reuters in an exclusive report. They are said to be studying the 2002 default in Argentina as a blueprint.

Because Greece is a small market, it is believed that most drugmakers can work with the country on delayed payment basis for awhile. But something has to be done, because the country has almost no domestic production, importing nearly everything and also buying mostly branded, not generics. As a result, its drug costs per capita are substantial, Reuters reports.

"There's a moral obligation to continue to supply," said Simon Friend, global pharmaceutical leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers. "Greece is not a big market, so most drug companies can absorb it … the reputational damage would, I think, more than outweigh the economic cost."

Novo Nordisk ($NVO) found that out last year, when it withheld insulin from the market for about a month after the government slashed its payment rate 25%. Still Novo got the government to settle for a smaller reduction. It is reportedly now on c.o.d. with the country's state-run hospitals. Others, like GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK), have not changed payment policies. Roche ($RHHBY), which makes most of the world's cancer drugs, requires payment upfront from slow-pay hospitals but does not require that for drugs like CellCept, or its HIV medication, a spokesman told Reuters.

Still, there have been some drug shortages in the market and drug manufacturers are reportedly owed about €1.21 billion ($1.5 billion), the story says. And in a country where bribery and corruption are prevalent, drugmakers worry that if they keep supplying on credit, drugs might get diverted and sold in markets that can afford full rates.

- read the Reuters exclusive

Related Articles:
Greece adopts more drug budget cuts
Bristol-Myers Squibb confirms it's a target of bribery probe
Drugmakers aim to dampen risks in slow-paying countries

http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2012/05/18/four-ways-to-make-medicine-more-like-facebook/?

This week marks the end of an era for Bristol-Myers Squibb. The big-selling Plavix bloodthinner lost patent protection and the FDA promptly approved several generic versions. Given that the medication generated billions of dollars a year in revenue for the drugmaker and its marketing partner, Sanofi, this was a predictable, if notable, development. However, the patent expiration triggered yet another story that also caused a lot of buzz for the drugmaker.

Three years ago, a former Bristol-Myers Squibb senior vice president named Andrew Bodnar pleaded guilty to lying to federal authorities about a spectacularly botched patent deal involving Plavix. And as part of his punishment, a judge ordered Bodnar to write a book so others might learn from his mistakes. The book (there is link to be found here) was filed in federal court last fall, but only came to light this week. A coincidence?

In any event, these developments meant that more buzz was generated this past week for Bristol-Myers than any other drugmaker on Twitter, Facebook and other venues, according to Semantelli, a market research firm that tracks social media in the pharma world. We should note that – rather than simply list drugmakers garnering the most attention, which would likely yield a few obvious candidates time and again – we sought those with the biggest week-over-week change.

A close second was Gilead Sciences, which scored a pair of wins late last week before FDA advisory panels that voted to recommend approval for its experimental four-in-one HIV pill, as well as use of the Truvada drug for preventing HIV infections. Trailing the biotech was Alkermes, which posted a larger-than-expected quarterly loss.

And as the chart indicates, Hospira generated chatter buzz over a product recall, which came on the heels of still more questions about manufacturing problems. Finally, Eli Lilly caused some buzz by confirming support was being withdrawn for the controversial Heartland Institute, which has openly challenged scientific notions about global warming with a series of provocative position papers and even billboards.

Abbott Laboratories is facing a battle over its Kaletra HIV medication in yet another country. The Malaysian AIDS Council earlier this month requested that the Health Ministry issue a compulsory license so that lower-cost generic versions could be imported. The move comes after the group sought a license from Abbott last November, but apparently without any success.

In seeking a license, the group notes that the monthly cost for Kaletra is approximately $300, which is “prohibitively high for Malaysian patients living with HIV,” they wrote in their letter. “Generics… are available at a fraction of this price on the global market. A government use license for Abbott’s patents would authorize Malaysia to import these generics and provide them to the public through government programs” and offer a “second-line treatment at a low cost.”

The move comes amid growing clashes between AIDS advocates and the drugmaker in several countries over Kaletra pricing. The advocacy groups maintain that prices charged for Kaletra are blocking expansion of AIDS treatment and drug innovation. And so, last fall, a coordinated global effort was begun in several countries in hopes of loosening the grip that drugmaker has on its Kaletra patents.

One effort yielded a mixed result. An administrative judge in Colombia recently ruled that the drugmaker and the government health ministry improperly maintained the Kaletra price above the so-called reference price. At the same time, though, the judge declined to issue a compulsory license for the drug, an issue that prompted advocacy groups to file their lawsuit two years ago. Both sides are appealing (back story).

There is a long-running history at work, by the way. Four years ago, Abbott agreed to settle a lawsuit charging a 400 percent price hike on Norvir – a component in Kaletra – that was undertaken some years earlier violated antitrust laws (see this). The move sparked shareholder resolutions, protests at Abbott headquarters, a boycott by hundreds of docs and attorney general investigations.

And five years ago, Abbott refused to sell new drugs in Thailand after the government issued compulsory licenses for several medicines, including Kaletra. Applications to market seven new drugs were yanked. The Thai government argued that needed meds were priced too high for most of it citizens and it had the right to override patents under provisions of a World Trade Organization agreement. Abbott subsequently relented by allowing a new pediatric version into the country (look here).

Abbott is not the only drugmaker, though, to be engaged in battle over compulsory licensing. Two months ago, India’s Patent Office for the first time granted a generic drugmaker a compulsory license to make a copycat version of a patented medicine. The license was awarded to Natco, which can now make a generic of a Bayer kidney and liver cancer medication called Nexavar, although only for domestic distribution. Bayer is appealing (read this and this).

We asked an Abbott spokesman for comment and hope to hear back shortly. Meanwhile, here is the letter that the Malaysian AIDS Council wrote to Abbott last fall.

[UPDATE: An Abbott spokesman tells us that the drugmaker "doesn’t have a patent for Kaletra in Malaysia. We’ve applied for a patent that has not been granted yet." He adds that Abbott is negotiating a contract with the government to supply the drug and runs programs to make it available to Malaysians but did not immediately have pricing information. Meanwhile, we have asked the Malaysian AIDS Council if it was aware of the the patent situation and will update you accordingly.]

India's plan to again put price controls on the majority of the drugs in the country has become a flash point for companies there as well as Western drugmakers.

The proposal is being debated now and is drawing sharp responses from a spectrum of producers, as well as those who support the plan.

The potential for sales in India has made it a big draw for global companies who are finding emerging markets more attractive than more mature Western markets. Drug spending is projected to hit $17.5 billion by 2014 from $12 billion today, reports The Wall Street Journal. That is a 45% jump in two years.

An estimated 70% of health spending comes directly from the pockets of patients, since about two-thirds of India's 1.2 billion people lack health insurance. That has led to a pervasive idea that Western drug companies owe the country the responsibility of providing lifesaving medications at very low prices. That philosophy has also led to some nasty patent fights. A court recently ordered Germany's Bayer AG to give up its license on its kidney and liver cancer drug Nexavar to an Indian generic drug producer. But some of India's own drugmakers bristle at the plan for price caps.

"The market itself should determine the price," said Ajay Piramal, chairman of Piramal Healthcare. "The customer has the choice to get a cheaper alternative."

Some, like the head of operations in India for Novartis ($NVS), Ranjit Shahani, suggest that instead of artificially depressing drug prices, the government needs to provide better access to healthcare. "Access goes far beyond pricing," Shahani was quoted as saying in the media.

The government has yet to follow through with a promise to increase public healthcare spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product over the next 5 years from 0.9% currently to upgrade decrepit hospitals and educate more doctors.

Thirty years ago, India had price controls on about 350 drugs but reduced that to 74 in the 1990s as it moved toward market reforms. It sets a price for those drugs after calculating a manufacturing cost and putting a maximum markup on them. Those 74 represent about 20% of the drugs in the market. The proposal, which could become law this year, is looking to increase that to about 65% of drugs.

- read the WSJ story

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Employers have drug costs on their minds lately. Balancing the cost of drugs against care has swelled as the key consideration for companies evaluating drug plans in a survey by Express Scripts.

Where 5 years ago only 41% of respondents said "balancing cost with care" was their main concern, now that number is 78%, reports Reuters. Meanwhile, where 57% said "providing the broadest coverage" was the most important measure 5 years ago, now only 14% of respondents think that is the main deal.

How companies and their benefit managers structure prescription drug benefits can have a big impact on the pharmaceutical industry. And they have been taking aggressive steps to keep on top of prices. A coalition of unions and a consumer group recently sued 8 of the largest companies, including Pfizer ($PFE), Merck ($MRK) and GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK), for using coupons to try to lure patients away from generics. 

And companies are thinking hard about things like the cost of specialty drugs, the high-priced medications often used for the most serious conditions like cancer or rheumatoid arthritis. While only 36% of plan managers said specialty drugs are their key concern, the drugs are the primary concern for 58% of companies with more than 25,000 employees.

There is a reason specialty drug costs are on employers' minds, Tim Wentworth, Express Scripts' president of sales and account management, tells Reuters. While they make up less than 30% of what a company is spending on drugs, they are the fastest-growing segment in terms of cost. Last year, spending on medications grew 2.7% while spending on specialty drugs was up 17.1%, he said. It is the fastest-growing segment, "so they want to put things in place now," he says.

One way to do that is with step therapy, requiring plan members to try the low-cost drug before moving to another medication. Most companies expect to institute such a plan within two years, the survey found.

- read the Reuters story

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My good friend, Dr. Ves Dimov, shared a video about what it’s like to study medicine at Cambridge.

In order to show you the similarities and differences between medical schools in Europe, I proudly present the video of the medical school from which I graduated in 2009 and where I also do my PhD now. Here is the University of Debrecen, Medical School and Health Science Center:

Just one month after becoming Johnson & Johnson ceo, Alex Gorsky is presiding over a product recall, the latest in an endless stream of such actions taken by the health care giant over the past two years. This time, the McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit, which has been responsible for the majority of recalls, is yanking 53,892 packages – or one lot – of Immodium, the over-the-counter medicine for diarrhea, gas, bloating and cramps.

Why? A McNeil spokeswoman tells us there was a “packaging issue” that may have allowed “a limited number of blister units” to be exposed to air, potentially robbing consumers of the full benefit of the medicine. Despite the flub, she maintains the Immodium track record is otherwise quite good – more than 2.75 million packages have been made over the past five months without any other difficulties (here is the recall info).

Nonetheless, the recall serves as a reminder of the systemic problems that have caused J&J to withdraw tens of millions of over-the-counter meds, contact lenses, epilepsy drugs and hip replacement devices, among other items. There have also been embarrassing shortages of Tampons and shampoos. Manufacturing gaffes have also led to an FDA probe and a consent decree; highly publicized congressional hearings; a closed plant and accompanying job losses; managerial changes; eroded consumer confidence; various lawsuits and hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales.

The ongoing difficulties have been especially troubling for the McNeil business, which suffered a 2.4 percent drop in sales during the first quarter as every product segment in the unit experienced revenue setbacks. The tumbling financial performance was reported along with the not-so-surprising news that a Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, plant – which is being reborn – will not open until at 2014, more than a year later than J&J execs previously forecast (see this).

The continual setbacks led to regular calls for former ceo Bill Weldon to resign, although he stubbornly clung to a succession timetable that culminated in naming Gorsky, who previously ran the medical device and diagnostics business, to occupy the proverbial corner office. However, the change drew some criticism if only because Gorsky has been part of the same executive team that has presided over the companywide manufacturing and quality failures.

Last month, upon succeeding Weldon, who remains chairman, Gorsky held select media interviews in which he talked up his determination to overcome these problems and that doing so successfully is a key priority. He is now being tested. Meanwhile, perhaps he should be thankful that most Immodium has been manufactured without a glitch. If the number and pace of recalls do not end anytime soon, he may need that Immodium himself.

Hired someone new and exciting? Promoted a rising star? Finally solved that hard-to-fill spot? Share the news with us and we’ll share with it others. That’s right. Send us your announcements and we’ll find a home for them. Don’t be shy. Everyone wants to know who is coming and going, especially with all the layoffs. Despite the downsizing, there is movement. Here are some of the latest changes. Recognize anyone?

And here is our regular feature. Send us a photo and we will spotlight a different person each week. This time around, we note that Promedior hired Suzanne Bruhn as ceo and president. She succeeds Dominick Colangelo who has left Promedior to pursue other unspecified opportunities. Previously, she was previously senior vp of strategic planning and program management for the human genetic therapies division at Shire Pharmaceuticals.

And one more. Roche hired Franck Barrat as a distinguished scientist in the inflammation discovery and translational area. Previously, he was with Dynavax Technologies, where he held several positions, most recently as senior research fellow and project leader of the autoimmunity program. He joined Dynavax in 2001 after completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the DNAX Research Institute in Palo Alto.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals promoted Gautam Shah to exec vp;
Epizyme hired Eric Hedrick as chief medical officer;
Insmed named Donald Hayden Jr. as executive chair;
Insmed added Randall Whitcomb to its board;
Lawlor and Associates hired James McLaughlin as vp of marketing;
Healthcare Institute of NJ hired Doug Berger as communications director;
Medivir hired Henric Juserius as vp commercial;
IntegenX hired David Smith as coo;
Antares Pharma hired LeRoux Jooste as senior vp of sales & marketing;
Syndax Pharmaceuticals added Luke Evnin to its board;
Myrexis hired Richard Brewer as ceo and president;
Myrexis hired David Gryska as coo;
Myrexis says Robert Lollini stepped down as ceo;
F-star says Kevin FitzGerald has resigned as ceo;
F-star hired John Haurum as ceo;
F-star hired Jane Dancer as coo;
F-Star hired Sharon Grimster as vp of development;
Idea Pharma added Graham Walker to its Ideation team;

Ladder shot thx to Robert CB on Flickr Creative Commons

Once again, another working week is about to draw to a close. And as you know, this is our treasured signal to daydream about weekend plans. Our agenda is modest, but varied. We hope to spend some fun time with our short people, enjoy a local watering hole with Mrs. Pharmalot and, perhaps, hunt for assorted goodies at a garage sale or two. And you? Will you promenade in the Great Outdoors? Try something you always wanted to do? Maybe make a new friend? Or take stock of your life? The possibilities are endless, yes? Whatever you do, have a grand time, but be safe. Catch you soon…

Drugmakers Consider Emergency Supply Plan For Greece (Reuters)

Canada Approves First Med Based On Stem Cells (Bloomberg News)

Allergan To Build R&D Plant, Add 400 Jobs In New Jersey (The Star-Ledger)

White House Issues Support For PDUFA Bill (The Hill)

Employers Continue To Worry Over Specialty Drug Costs (Reuters)

One-Third Of Prescriptions Are Now Electronic (Associated Press)

New Hampshire Approves Bill For Tracking Rx Drug Abuse (The Republic)

Counterfeit Meds Thrive In Pakistan (Bloomberg News)

Fewer Girls Took All Three Gardasil Shots In 2009 (Reuters)

Korean Drugmakers Jostle For Generic Viagra Market (Chosunilbo)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Please check this post for updates

pic thx to morristownnps on flickr

In a bit of drug family planning, Warner Chilcott ($WCRX) has sued Watson Pharmaceuticals ($WPI) to prevent it from putting out a generic version of its oral contraceptive Lo Loestrin Fe.

It is a sensitive time for Warner Chilcott, which recently announced that it was exploring alternative strategies for the company, the buzzwords that indicate that it is probably putting itself on the market. It has said it is talking with potential suitors. By going to court, Warner freezes the FDA from approving the generic for 2½ years, reminds Bloomberg.

Warner Chilcott, in its federal court filing, claims that Watson, a large generic player, would violate two patents and seeks to hold it off until they expire in July 2014 and February 2029, reports Bloomberg.

Warner Chilcott had revenue of $2.7 billion last year, led in part by the Loestrin portfolio of drugs, but sales are predicted to fall 15% for the three years ending in 2014 as generics begin to attack the line. Meanwhile, production of its Ovcon 50 mg contraceptive has been interrupted because the plant in Puerto Rico where it is manufactured is laboring under an FDA warning letter. 

- read the Bloomberg story

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Warner Chilcott lowers outlook
Analysts size up Warner Chilcott's merits for sale
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Do you know what happens when you click on send e-mail? Here is the answer:

US-based Osiris Therapeutics has become the world's first company to receive regulatory approval to market a stem cell drug.

US biotechnology company Human Genome Sciences (HGS) has adopted a stockholder rights plan, or poison pill, after rejecting GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK's) bid to take over the company for $2.6bn.