Articles By Marcus Johnson

  1. Missouri Legislators Want Prescription Drug Database 2/26/2014

    In response to abuse of prescription drugs, 49 states in the US already have, or are planning to implement, an online database in order to allow doctors, pharmacists, and law enforcement to find individuals who visit multiple doctors in an effort to get prescribed the same drug multiple times.

  2. New COXEN Model Chooses Best Ovarian Cancer Drug 2/21/2014

    Currently, doctors use three drugs for treating ovarian cancer. Those drugs are paclitaxel, cyclophosphamide, and topotecan. Doctors usually didn’t know how a patient with ovarian cancer will respond to any of the drugs until treatment is started. A wrong choice could result in a treatment failure with negative effects.

  3. National Institute For Health And Care Excellence Rejects Aged-based Proposal 2/21/2014

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) in the UK has rejected a plan from health ministers that would provide drugs to citizens based on a tiered system, where individuals who contribute the most to the economy have the first priority on drugs and access to medical treatments. Sir Andrew Dillion, who is currently the head of the institution, stated that he believes the plan would keep drugs and healthcare from elderly citizens who need medical treatment. Instead, healthcare would be provided to younger citizens under the plan who would be deemed bigger contributors, or bigger potential contributors, to the economy.

  4. Breast Cancer Drug Improves Women's' Survival Outlook 2/21/2014

    A new breast cancer drug produced by Roche has improved the outlook for women with the disease. The drug is called T-DM1 and is marketed under the name Kadcyla. Studies have shown that Kadcyla can extend the lives of women with advanced stages of breast cancer, as many as six months. It works as a combination of both chemotherapy and the drug Herceptin. Kadcyla is currently extremely expensive, costing as much as 44,000 pounds per patient. It is scheduled to be made available by the NHS through a fund. There is growing concern, however, because the fund is only scheduled to run until 2016.

  5. Health Experts Trying To Ease Restrictions On Prostate Cancer Drugs 2/21/2014

    In the UK, cancer experts are hoping that their pleas to the NHS will result in the easing of restrictions on prostate cancer drugs. The NHS decides how to ration medicines in the UK, and the regulatory body has decided that they won’t provide certain prostate cancer drugs to men with advanced forms of the disease. Although the drug xtandi had success in extending the lives of prostate cancer patients an average of five months in clinical trials, it is not always available to patients. The NHS restrictions only allow the drug to be funded and provided to patients if they haven’t already been treated with another prostate cancer drug, abiraterone.

  6. Side Effects Of Weight Loss Drugs' Called Into Question 2/20/2014

    Belviq and Qysmia are weight loss drugs that were approved by the FDA in 2012. Both drugs have had their fair share of issues, and neither has had tremendous financial success. For either drug, it can cost between $160-$200 per month for a prescription. The cost is high for the majority of American patients, and some insurance companies don’t provide coverage. Now, two Dartmouth medical researchers are asking questions about the drugs’ health risks. The researchers wrote a column in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal warning doctors, researchers, and patients about the drugs and their potential negative side effects.

  7. Medidata Solutions Is Saving The Drug Industry Valuable Money 2/13/2014

    Medidata Solutions has over 1,000 employees is currently worth $277 million, although researchers believe that it could potentially be worth much more. The company, founded by Tarek Sherif and Glen de Vries in 1999, specializes in creating software that allows pharmaceutical companies to enter data and monitor clinical trials and other vital processes from cloud services. Many industry analysts believe that cloud services are ripe for expansion and growth.

  8. European Union Regulations Prevent “Lifesaving” Drugs From Getting To Children 2/11/2014

    Regulation in the European Union allows pharmaceutical companies producing cancer drugs the ability to opt out of pediatric trials when testing new drug products. This has resulted in cancer patients in Europe being denied access to drugs that could possibly save their lives.

  9. Vyvanse Fails Clinical Trials For Depression 2/10/2014

    Shire has indicated that it will no longer continue developing Vyvanse as a drug to treat depression. Vyvanse was previously in clinical trials, but after unsuccessful results, the company has decided to move in a different direction. During the clinical trials, the drug did not have a positive impact on patients suffering from depression. Shire also had a dry-eye drug produce limited results in clinical trials in December of 2013.

  10. India Drug Trials Lag 1/30/2014

    One of the reasons that many drug companies set up operations in India is the cheap cost of drug trials. Some reports say that developing and testing a drug in India can cost as low as 1/20 the cost of running the same drug trials in advanced economies such as the United States or European Union.