Patients with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) experience on average double the risk of developing malignant lymphoma when compared with the general population. With the major changes in RA treatment taking place over the past decade, has there been a reduction in the risk of lymphoma in this population? Researchers from the Karolinska Institute…
BOSTON (Reuters)—U.S. prosecutors have identified Insys Therapeutics Inc’s billionaire founder as an unindicted co-conspirator in a case accusing six former executives and managers of participating in a scheme that involved bribing doctors to prescribe a fentanyl-based drug, according to a court document. John Kapoor, who stepped down as chief executive of Insys in January, was…
(Reuters Health)—Some cancer doctors use Twitter to promote drugs manufactured by companies that pay them, but they almost never disclose their conflicts of interest on the social media platform, a new study shows. “This is a big problem,” says senior author Dr. Vinay Prasad, a professor at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. “Doctors…
BOSTON (Reuters)—Insys Therapeutics Inc sought to manipulate insurance payment approval for an opioid cancer pain drug called Subsys even if for inappropriate uses, according to a U.S. Senate report on the opioid crisis released on Wednesday. The report, released by Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, said those efforts led to an Insys employee making misleading statements…
(Reuters)—Arizona’s attorney general sued Insys Therapeutics Inc on Thursday, accusing the drugmaker of engaging in a fraudulent marketing scheme aimed at increasing sales of a fentanyl-based cancer pain medicine. The lawsuit by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix comes during a series of federal and state investigations centered on…
Elderly patients have unique requirements with regard to treatment for pain, rheumatic disease and other ailments. Collaboration between rheumatologists, geriatricians and primary care physicians is essential to avoid unnecessary interventions and improve care for this patient population…
I read with interest the articles in the June issue of The Rheumatologist pertaining to high drug costs. Simon Helfgott rheuminated on it, and Susan Bernstein, a medical journalist, wrote a two-page article titled “Concerns About Cost.” Both articles were thoughtful summaries of a complex issue, putting large question marks over both initial prices and…
“Man may be the captain of his fate, but he is also the victim of his blood sugar.” —Wilfrid Oakley, MB BChir, an early pioneer in diabetes care Perusing the list of the most notable medical achievements in the 20th century, a reader may conclude that the discovery of insulin should rank in a category…
Despite the innovations of new biologics and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, a large unmet need remains for patients with rheumatic autoimmune disease. Treatment remains limited for many conditions, including for conditions with a dim prognosis, such as systemic sclerosis.1 One promising treatment avenue is hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT). Here, we provide background on HSCT for severe…
The patient was a 48-year-old woman who saw her primary care physician for a flu-like illness three months prior to admission. Her symptoms initially improved, but recurred one month later; she was treated symptomatically, and again symptoms resolved. Two months later, she presented to an outside facility’s emergency department with fever to 103ºF, with associated…