As a health care writer and policy analyst, I frequently encounter the term “risk” in discussions of medical issues. I also frequently see the term grossly misused in both the popular press and medical literature. Nowhere is this more evide…
Category: Medications
Is FDA-approved Veozah a game-changer in menopause hot flash treatment?
The medical world is buzzing following the FDA’s green light for Veozah. This is a one-of-a-kind, non-hormonal drug designed to tackle hot flashes in menopausal women. It brings fresh hope to countless women in the U.S. who’ve been grapplin…
The real story of Xylazine contamination in street fentanyl and how we can manage it
Have you heard the news? “Flesh-eating ‘zombie’ drug ‘kills you from the inside out,’” headlines a CNN article. “Tacoma market busted for selling ‘zombie’ drug,” barks out a Seattle-area news affili…
Not treating addiction in criminal justice settings violates the 4 ethical principles in medicine
As physicians, we are bound by four ethical principles. Beneficence (acting for the benefit of the patient), nonmaleficence (avoiding the harm of the patient), autonomy (respecting patients’ right to make their own decisions), and justice (fair a…
The rise and dark side of fungi: Exploring health benefits and pathogenic threats
Fungi have a well-deserved surge in popularity. More mushroom varieties have found their way to grocery store shelves, shopping lists, and food blogs. Mushroom foraging is a trending activity as people endeavor to connect to nature. There is a growing …
Advocacy and collaboration lead to major patient safety benefits on sterile pharmaceutical compounding: a review of USP’s revisions to Chapter
In November 2022, revisions to the United States Pharmacopeia’s (USP) General Chapter <797>, a standard for sterile pharmaceutical compounding – defined as the process of “combining, admixing, diluting, pooling, reconstituting, repa…
Is personalized medicine worth the cost? [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! In this episode, we discuss personalized medicine with guest Ketan Desai, a physician-executive. We explore how Henry Ford’s mass production method influenced the pharmaceutical indus…
Counterfeit drugs: a hidden danger lurking in your medicine cabinet
The timing of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration’s One Pill Can Kill campaign is crucial, considering the recent Carrollton teen tragedy in which Fentanyl-laced pills posing as oxycodone were distributed through a “juvenile d…
Telemedicine in the opioid crisis: a game-changer threatened by DEA regulations
In March 2020, I was directing a federally qualified health center in rural New Mexico when the first flashover of COVID ripped through the state. In two days, the clinics transitioned from an entirely in-person model to a near-total remote model. The …
An inside look at the orphan drug revolution [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! Join us as we explore the history and evolution of the orphan drug revolution with James Geraghty, a health care executive. Discover how the pharmaceutical industry of the 1970s, driven by …
