Pharmaceuticals
Evidence-Based Medicine: Neither Good Evidence nor Good Medicine
by Steve Hickey, PhD and Hilary Roberts, PhD
(OMNS, Dec 7, 2011) Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the practice of treating individual patients based on the outcomes of huge medical trials. It is, currently, the self-proclaimed gold standard for medical decision-making, and yet it is increasingly unpopular with clinicians. Their reservations reflect an intuitive understanding that something is wrong with its methodology. They are right to think this, for EBM breaks the laws of so many disciplines that it should not even be considered scientific. Indeed, from the viewpoint of a rational patient, the whole edifice is crumbling.
FDA Approves Vertex's Hep C Drug
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (TheStreet) --U.S. regulators on Monday approved Incivek, a new hepatitis C drug from Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX).
And now, Vertex's executives and employees can breathe a sigh of relief and get to work marketing Incivek against its main hepatitis C rival Merck.
Not that Incivek's U.S. approval was ever in doubt, but the level of anxiety at Vertex must have been a tad high given that Merck received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for its Hep C drug Victrelis on May 13, followed by a recommendation for European approval last Friday.
Determined To Find help
New Use for Old Drugs in Treating Hepatitis C?
Research led by the University of Leeds has
found drugs such as anti-diabetic drug Metformin and AICAR, used to
combat obesity, can prevent the hepatitis C virus from replicating in
the body. Hepatitis C virus affects
an estimated three per cent of the world’s population and there are four
million carriers of the virus in Europe alone. The virus affects the
liver and recovery rates are low: only around 40 % of hepatitis C
sufferers will fully
recover, with others developing cirrhosis and in many cases, liver cancer.
Hepatitis C 'Breakthrough'?
Scientists in San Antonio, Texas say that they have been able to develop a new milestone drug which can help in the combat against the liver-ravaging Hepatitis C virus. KENS' Wendy Rigby reports.
Hepatitis C (HCV)–Pipeline Assessment and Market Forecasts to 2016
Hepatitis C is Big Business for Pharmaceutical Companies.
GlobalData’s analysis suggests that the global hepatitis C market was worth $4.4 billion in 2009. It is forecast to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.8% for the next seven years to reach $8.5 billion by 2016. The high projected growth rate is primarily attributable to a strong pipeline. The increase in the prevalence of the disease and the availability of new first-in-class therapies with better safety and efficacy profiles are expected to drive the growth of the hepatitis C market.
I am living symptom free and consider myself "cured."
Dear Lloyd,
I have been your loyal "patient" with Hepatitis "disease" and find your "medical" routine highly effective.
In fact, I am living symptom free and consider myself "cured." I am so grateful to have found you - your records may show that I bought a number of products from you years ago. Your lifestyle advice works for a variety of illnesses - including the common cold. It has changed my life and the life of my children. I am an attorney and have four degrees, and I agree with you that the FDA, WHO, etc have an agenda. We have to try to keep rising above it.
