September 28, 2009 – 3:38 pm
The medical magazines, Australian Doctor and Medical Observer, have been carrying bright red, full-page advertisements from Pfizer, advising doctors that “patients will soon be asking about their suitability for combination heart medications”.
The advertisement includes a sample from a consumer advertising campaign that advises readers to talk to their doctor about a combination heart pill if [...]
September 22, 2009 – 8:46 pm
The announcement last Friday that the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has approved CSL’s vaccine against swine flu and that a national vaccination campaign will be rolled out in the next few weeks means two things:
• a lot of people must be working pretty hard and wondering how on earth they’re going to pull it all [...]
September 22, 2009 – 3:14 pm
The organisers of a forum on pharmaceutical regulation, to be held in Adelaide on Thursday, are promising a “robust discussion”. I hope there are plans for a podcast as I’m sure there will be plenty of interest in the debate.
Healthy Skepticism is hosting the panel discussion, at the Women and Children’s Hospital, to examine questions [...]
September 11, 2009 – 12:54 pm
Following on from previous posts, here is another letter to Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Mark Butler, from Ken Harvey today (and copied to Graeme Samuel at the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission).
Will he get a response this time?
**
Dear Mr Butler,
Re: Media release, 8 September 2008, “Ethical Promotion of Therapeutic Goods”
I have written [...]
September 11, 2009 – 9:51 am
The Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Mark Butler, is coming under pressure over a meeting scheduled between the Therapeutics Goods Administration and industry, which he mentioned in this release.
Dr Ken Harvey, a tireless campaigner for ethical marketing, outlined his concerns about the bilateral meeting in this recent Croakey post.
Now, Health Action International, “an independent, global [...]
September 9, 2009 – 3:30 pm
The Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Mark Butler, issued this release yesterday, clearly intending to allay concerns raised by the Sydney Morning Herald’s stories sounding the alarm about the marketing and use of medical devices.
Instead, he seems to have added fuel to the fire – at least, according to Dr Ken Harvey, who argues that the [...]
September 3, 2009 – 9:10 pm
News that Pfizer is paying $2.3 billion in the US to settle a marketing case has prompted a call for changes in the way Australia does business from Dr Ken Harvey, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in the School of Public Health at La Trobe University.
He writes:
The New York Times report says: “Prosecutors said that [...]
August 7, 2009 – 12:04 pm
Ray Moynihan wrote this Crikey piece about two new trials, published in the latest New England Journal of Medicine, that raise serious questions about the ongoing use of a controversial procedure called vertebroplasty, where bone cement is injected into a person’s vertebrae to try and fix painful spinal fractures.
Writing from Washington, health policy analyst Dr [...]
Health reform efforts in the US are not only attempting to improve access, efficiency and quality of care. They are also seeking to inject greater transparency into the relationships between industry and health care providers, reports Dr Lesley Russell from Washington. It seems that sunshine may be the best disinfectant, she says. She writes:
The 1000 [...]
Professor Garry Jennings, Director of the Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute, has responded to recent Croakey posts raising concerns about his organisation’s close ties with industry. It seems there will be no more Baker staff appearing in pharmaceutical advertorials. He writes:
“The Croakey posting on Conflict of Interest points to both the diversity of views [...]
