Category: Meds

How America became overmedicated—and what we can do about it

In a revealing snapshot of American mental health, the CDC recently reported that nearly 1 in 4 adults in the United States may be taking psychotropic medications. This staggering number should both draw attention and raise questions. Are we truly addr…

The FDA’s outdated prescription rules are failing women and opioid users

An excerpt from Your Body, Your Health Care. Tens of millions of American women—more than four out of five women who have had sexual intercourse—have used oral contraceptives, which are crucial for reducing unwanted pregnancies and the incidence of abo…

Big pharma’s grip on health care: time for change

Everyone seems so scared of the word government regulation when it comes to health care. Why? In part, this is because those against regulations (everyone making money off health care) make sure to scare laypeople into equating such action with sociali…

Advancing drug discount programs starts with collaboration and clarity

The 340B drug discount program was enacted more than 30 years ago to lower the cost of medications so providers could deliver more comprehensive services for vulnerable patients. As care delivery has evolved greatly over that time, the program has not …

The untold truth behind our reliance on prescription medications

Recently, while contemplating the AAPA-AMA scope creep debate, I encountered a quote about GLP1-RAs for obesity: “We need to just really think about it as a chronic disease … to make sure that we try to keep that patient in [ongoing] treatm…

Antipsychotic use has been rising in long-term care homes, but we can do something about it

As health care providers working in long-term care (LTC), we’ve seen firsthand how antipsychotic medications are prescribed to residents, and why. Antipsychotics are often used to help manage behaviors such as agitation and aggression in older ad…

Antipsychotic use has been rising in long-term care homes, but we can do something about it

As health care providers working in long-term care (LTC), we’ve seen firsthand how antipsychotic medications are prescribed to residents, and why. Antipsychotics are often used to help manage behaviors such as agitation and aggression in older ad…

The miracle of immune checkpoint inhibitors: a physician’s unforgettable journey

Even a half-century later, a physician cannot forget the first death of a patient under their care. It happened for me during my postgraduate medical training in the 1970s in an academic medical center hospital in the western half of the United States….

The miracle of immune checkpoint inhibitors: a physician’s unforgettable journey

Even a half-century later, a physician cannot forget the first death of a patient under their care. It happened for me during my postgraduate medical training in the 1970s in an academic medical center hospital in the western half of the United States….

You could soon be taking (or prescribing) a drug developed by AI

Across all industries, artificial intelligence is changing our approach to developing new products, including in the life sciences and drug development. While it may seem that an AI-derived treatment is far in the future, the science, biomathematics, a…