Soon Big Brother Will Know If You Took Your Medicine

This opens the door to all kinds of scary possibilities. From ABC News: In a groundbreaking decision on Monday, the Food and Drug Administration approved a drug with a “digital ingestion tracking system,” which senses when a pill is swallowed and sends the data to a smartphone. The new drug/device combination product called Abilify MyCite… Continue reading Soon Big Brother Will Know If You Took Your Medicine

Individual Mandate Eliminated?

Lawmakers may still have a go at changing healthcare—through their tax plan. From The New York Times: Senate Republicans have decided to include the repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that most people have health insurance into the sprawling tax rewrite…. They also… revealed late Tuesday they would set all of their tax cuts… Continue reading Individual Mandate Eliminated?

Pharma Companies Sued Over MRI Drug

Will justice be done? From Business Wire: Chuck and Gena Norris announced today that they have filed a lawsuit against eleven drug companies, including McKesson and Bracco, that they claim are responsible for the gadolinium contrast dye used during the MRIs that nearly cost Gena her life. The lawsuit alleges that Gena was poisoned by… Continue reading Pharma Companies Sued Over MRI Drug

More Natural Medicines on FDA’s Chopping Block

The FDA’s Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee (PCAC) is holding another meeting, this time to decide the fate of resveratrol and pregnenolone, among other compounded medicines. Action Alert! For some time now, we’ve been monitoring the FDA’s PCAC as it recommends which substances should be allowed to be compounded. Almost always, PCAC follows the lead of… Continue reading More Natural Medicines on FDA’s Chopping Block

A Bill to Make Your Healthcare Charges Clearer

Will doctors and hospitals finally be required to disclose prices? Action Alert! although an overhaul of Obamacare seems off the table for the time being, a bill has been introduced in the House that includes a much-needed reform. As we’ve noted previously, there are countless horror stories about patients getting stuck with astronomical hospital bills,… Continue reading A Bill to Make Your Healthcare Charges Clearer

Do We Really Want a Future of Synthetic Foods?

Many in Congress do, according to a letter nearly 80 representatives just sent to the FDA, USDA, and EPA. Action Alert! The letter, presumably inspired by big corporate donors, calls for the agencies to provide a “consistent, appropriate” approach to the regulation of biotechnology. On the one hand, the FDA has proposed to regulate any… Continue reading Do We Really Want a Future of Synthetic Foods?

Another Alzheimer Drug Bites the Dust

Another potential blockbuster drug has flopped. Despite this,  the feds still have natural alternative treatments in the crosshairs. From Forbes: Investors poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Axovant and its experimental Alzheimer’s drug, intepirdine. But in the end, the medicine was no different from 99% of medicines tested against the brain-wasting disease since 2002 — it… Continue reading Another Alzheimer Drug Bites the Dust