It is said that 57 percent of U.S. doctors receive drugmaker/industry funding and 66 percent of U.S. adults are now on prescription drugs. Any correlation? Drug ads now cast such a wide “symptom net,” comedian Chris Rock said he expected to…
Category: Meds
The food-drug interaction risks your doctor may be missing
As a health care professional, I’ve often observed how one critical aspect of medication safety and efficacy gets overlooked: food-drug interactions. Every day, we prescribe and dispense powerful medications — but what patients eat alongside thos…
Why retail pharmacies are the future of diverse clinical trials
The importance of diversity in clinical trials is well-documented, yet unfortunately the lack of diversity still occurs at an alarming rate. As a result, we continue to have less effective treatments, poorer health outcomes, one-size-fits-all medicine …
Why does rifaximin cost 95 percent more in the U.S. than in Asia?
Rifaximin, a minimally absorbed antibiotic, has become a cornerstone therapy for several gastrointestinal disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D) and hepatic encephalopathy. Despite its established use, access to rifaximin v…
A world without antidepressants: What could possibly go wrong?
Imagine waking up one morning to a bold headline screaming: “New Global Law: All Antidepressants Abolished!” Just like that, no more Prozac, no more Zoloft—no more of those little pills that have helped millions keep their balance while nav…
The truth about GLP-1 medications for weight loss: What every patient should know
For years, weight loss has been sold as a simple math problem: eat less, move more, and the pounds will melt away. But if that were true, we wouldn’t have an obesity epidemic affecting over 40 percent of adults in the U.S. Now, a new class of med…
The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain
As a health care writer and data analyst, I hear frequently from patients who are being denied safe and effective pain care due to unscientific bias on the part of U.S. health care agencies—and sometimes on the part of otherwise once-reputable medical …
Biologics are not small molecules: the case for pre-allergy testing in an era of immune-based therapies
“Once it’s in your body, there’s no taking it back.” That’s what the infusion nurse told a friend of mine after administering the injection. She had just started a biologic medication for an autoimmune condition. Immediate…
The anesthesia spectrum: Guiding patients through comfort options in oral surgery
“Will I be asleep or awake during my procedure?” This is the first question many patients ask before oral surgery. It reveals a common misconception: That anesthesia works like a light switch. It doesn’t. Anesthesia exists on a spectr…
Functional precision oncology: a game changer in cancer therapy
Functional precision oncology is taking precision medicine to the next level. It is changing the way we fight cancer by testing a patient’s live tumor outside the body to determine the treatments most likely to work. This approach promises to dou…
