Category Archives: pharmacy

Did your doctor, nurse or pharmacist get paid to give talks for Merck?

October 21, 2009 – 9:19 am

If you lived in the US, you’d know.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Merck has just released its list of payments to doctors for giving talks at promotional events. The list also includes some nurses, pharmacists and scientists.
The payments range from $150 to more than $20,000.
The paper reports that many drug companies are moving to [...]

By Croakey | Also posted in Media-related issues, health & medical marketing, nurses and nursing, pharmaceutical industry | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Menadue writes pharmacy sector a script for change

October 20, 2009 – 12:26 pm

The conversations must have been lively at the Pharmacy Australia Congress in Sydney over the weekend. Health reform advocate John Menadue really socked it to the audience, judging by his 3,500-word speech.
For the sake of time-pressed Croakey readers, I’ve compressed the speech into several dot points. But it is worth reading in full, and you [...]

By Croakey | Also posted in health reform, prevention | Comments (1)

Why aren’t we making better use of pharmacy?

October 15, 2009 – 7:33 pm

Why isn’t Australia making better use of its pharmacy resources?
That’s the question on health consultant Simon Burrow’s mind as he jetsets across the world. He’s picked up a few ideas from South Africa and the United States that he suggests might be useful/relevant for health reform in Oz.
He writes:
“The recent primary healthcare debate and [...]

By Croakey | Also posted in health reform | Tagged , | Comments (0)

TGA faces some questions over Sigma cruise

July 8, 2009 – 5:54 pm

Sue Dunlevy did this story about Sigma, a generic drug manufacturer, wanting to take GPs and pharmacists on a luxury cruise visiting Italy, Malta, Corsica and Monte Carlo.  Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett is billed as the keynote speaker at the conference advertised in the Australian Doctor magazine. The story was also picked up here.
Dr [...]

By Croakey | Also posted in Media-related issues, health & medical marketing, pharmaceutical industry | Tagged , , , , | Comments (1)

A who’s who of lobbyists in health

June 3, 2009 – 7:02 pm

There’s an interesting analysis at Crikey today about the implications of Dr Andrew Pesce’s election as AMA president.
I wish I’d read it before giving a talk to health policy students at the ANU yesterday about lobby groups in health. Of course, you always end up preparing for these things at the last moment, generally late [...]

By Croakey | Also posted in Australian Medical Association, private health insurance, public health | Tagged , , | Comments (5)

Some more thoughts on the Baker/Sanofi deal

May 6, 2009 – 12:19 pm

A pharmacy researcher who wishes to remain anonymous has sent in this comment regarding the funding deal between the Baker and Sanofi Aventis (for more background info, see here, and here and here):
“Agreements between not for profit research institutes and the pharmaceutical industry can be fraught with conflict, even if an iron clad contract is [...]

By Croakey | Also posted in Crikey register of influence, conflicts of interest, health & medical marketing, health and medical research, health ethics, quality and safety of health care | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Some critical issues for clinical practice guidelines

April 27, 2009 – 10:08 am

Agnes Vitry, Senior Research Fellow, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, has sent in this detailed, thoughtful response to the recent Croakey survey on the issues surrounding the controversial, commercially-funded Australian and NZ guidelines for blood clot prevention (for more background, see previous Croakey posts).
Vitry’s comments are well worth a read:
1. [...]

By Croakey | Also posted in Hospitals, Journal articles, conflicts of interest, evidence-based issues, health & medical marketing, prevention, surgery | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Have you heard the one about pharmacists, a wall, and a bag of money?

April 16, 2009 – 9:04 am

Simon Burrow has sent in this comment on the recent Crikey article by CHOICE’S Michael Johnston calling for the community’s interests to be factored into forthcoming Government-Guild negotiations:
“It’s a well known fact that if you want to break a wall down quickly, place
a pharmacist on one side and a bag of money on another. Demolition [...]

By Croakey | Also posted in adverse events, consumer health information, health reform, public health, quality and safety of health care | Tagged | Comments (0)