Category: Meds

COVID-19 monoclonal antibodies are a bridge to vaccination

Attention-grabbing headlines suggest that our crucial COVID-19 pandemic tools—monoclonal antibodies and vaccines—are incompatible. Beyond the controversy rests an evidence-based reality: monoclonal antibodies and vaccines are complementary aspects of p…

Is Descovy really the better option?

When the FDA approved Gilead’s Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil) for HIV PrEP in 2012, it was a revolutionary step forward. The drug was safe and up to 99 percent effective in preventing HIV infection in at-risk individuals. Then in 20…

How did we let insurers run health care?

How did we Americans allow health insurers to dictate how physicians practice good medicine? The hypocritic oath says, “Do no harm.” We should not allow insurance company profits to prevent proper care for patients. Our insurer is now telli…

The people vs. opioid pharma: Pharma wins again

On Monday, November 1, an Orange County California Superior Court Judge said, in a tentative decision, that the opioid pharmaceutical companies were not responsible for the opioid crisis. This particular case, going by the name of “The People of the St…

The rise of targeted therapies: the era of the patient-focused approach  

There is an urgent need for innovation in cancer treatments. Although we’ve seen significant progress in indications for drugs treating particular diseases, cancer research data shows that 10-year survival statistics for cancers such as esophageal and …

Ivermectin is a Nobel Prize-winning wonder drug

Ivermectin is an over 30-year-old wonder drug that treats life- and sight-threatening parasitic infections. Its lasting influence on global health has been so profound that two of the key researchers in its discovery and development won the Nobel Prize…

Questions about pharma pricing and marketing

In 2017, Allergan CEO Brent Saunders promised to reign in drug price hikes, and other Pharma companies followed suit. In 2021, it looks like all bets are off. In August, Amgen raised the price of its psoriasis med Otezla by 2.4 percent after raising th…

The abundant and colorful world of pharmaceuticals

Creative photography Year after year, new medications find their way into the market, adding to the abundant and colorful world of pharmaceuticals. Medications play a dual role in our lives, as they represent wellness and illness concomitantly. I am pr…

The ritual of taking medications: the pill wheel

Woodworking / Illustration The problem with the act of taking medications is that it’s so mundane that we don’t see any problem with it. This machine-cut, flat, unemotional, same-size-fits-all object that we defencelessly welcome in our very private bo…

Colorful pills don’t paint my world

Pyrography Medicine bottles are mundane objects tightly woven into our daily lives, with the promise of happier moods, better sleep, and lower blood pressure. Nevertheless, nothing on these objects correlates with hope, faith, or a feeling of healthine…