Category: Medications

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 …

Biosimilars have saved patients billions of dollars and are changing the treatment landscape. Here’s how.

This article is sponsored by Sandoz, a Novartis division, and global leader in generic pharmaceuticals and biosimilars. When I started working in the health care industry over 25 years ago, I was compelled by a passion to make a difference and improve …

Why North American medical cannabis can’t compete globally

The United States and Canada started a movement that began as medical cannabis and quickly exploded into adult-use cannabis markets. However, the North American operators failed to properly regulate the processes from growing to manufacturing to compet…

Pain management beyond prescription pills [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! In this episode, we welcome Cindy Perlin, a licensed clinical social worker and chronic pain survivor, to discuss the ongoing issue of prescription painkiller abuse and the dangers of relyi…

The dark side of cannabis: increased risk of psychosis

Psychosis is a broad term that describes a change in the perception of reality. It can be caused by various conditions, including metabolic, psychiatric, neurologic, genetic, and other medical conditions, as well as licit and illicit substances, partic…

Timely treatment decisions: the promise of surrogate markers

Driving around, searching for children’s Tylenol and a pharmacy that had the antibiotics my son needed, was not how I wanted to spend the holidays. I am not alone – shelves are bare, and antibiotics are in short supply as we head into the n…

The promise of patient-centered biotechnology

An excerpt from Inside The Orphan Drug Revolution: The Promise of Patient-Centered Biotechnology. Pre-revolutionary stirrings Every revolution rises up against an order in need of reform. For the orphan drug revolution, that order was the pharmaceutica…

A rush to judgment on acetaminophen?

Less than a year ago, a position paper/meta-analysis was published whose authors concluded that the pain reliever acetaminophen, and products containing this compound, were contraindicated in pregnancy as they could result in premature or stillborn bir…

Think twice before prescribing opioids as a first-line treatment for pain

Everyone knows the terrible toll the opioid epidemic takes on our society. It doesn’t matter where you live and how wealthy or educated you are, no one is immune. I watched as a colleague tried to help a child struggling with addiction, spending …