Pharma Archives - The Painful Truth

Can Francis Collins Help Solve the Opioid Crisis?

The problem of opioid addiction is more complex than lawmakers, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the media would have us believe.

Pressuring doctors who treat pain patients to prescribe fewer opioids may reduce the amount of opioids prescribed. While that doesn’t decrease the need for opioids, it may drive people who need pain medication to the streets to find relief.

Today, opioids are the only effective, affordable treatment for some chronic pain conditions. They certainly are an imperfect medication associated with significant risks for some patients. But they are the best tools doctors have for delivering compassionate treatment to many people with intractable pain.

Response to Stat News Article

Open Letter to Stat News

In Stat News, David Armstrong’s article on March 24, “TV documentary on pain treatment funded by doctor with industry ties,” misrepresented the purpose of the film, “The Painful Truth“; ignored several of my detailed answers to his questions; and unfairly criticized my professional associations.

Armstrong suggested that the TV documentary downplayed the role of pharma’s contribution to the opioid problem. It didn’t, nor did it advocate for the use of any drugs, including opioids, because that was not the purpose of the film. Rather, it focused on the lack of compassion and treatment for people in pain, and it shed light on the largest public health problem in America: chronic pain.

Because of Pharma, We Take Aspirin for Headaches Instead of Chewing Bark

A July 8, 2016 Baltimore Sun article was titled, “Painkiller panel drops experts linked to pharma industry.” This story described how Dr. Mary Lynn McPherson, who teaches in the School of Pharmacy and specializes in hospice and end-of-life care, was removed from an FDA medical advisory panel. Three other doctors were similarly dismissed from the advisory panel that was organized by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Solving the Opioid Crisis Won’t Be “Cheap, Quick, or Easy”

“Last Week Tonight” is a late-night television show that satirizes the news. Therefore, you probably wouldn’t expect the show’s host, John Oliver, to make the news. Yet he did (see Rolling Stone, Time, Newsweek, Slate, and more) when he did a segment about the opioid crisis.

Using Humor to Discuss the Opioid Crisis

Oliver tackled a difficult topic. He used humor to discuss the controversy of opioids, addiction, and overdoses. Of course, Oliver is not a physician or a scientist, so fact-checkers might have expected to find errors in his broadcast. However, in my opinion, his content was largely accurate and, therefore, I believe that every American should see the video.

Preparing for an FDA Advisory Committee Meeting: What You Need to Know

Mark Twain is quoted as saying: “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”

What Is an FDA ADCOM?

Pharma and device companies seeking approval for their products are often required to present their data to an FDA advisory committee meeting (ADCOM). They have a limited time in which to tell their story. Therefore, Pharma must know how to “write the short letter.” This requires them to condense years of research into messages that can convey the most salient, and most pertinent, data to a jury of scientists.

This is the Reason Harvard Business Review Got Opioids Wrong

When a publication of Harvard Business Review’s caliber prints something, it stands as fact unless an authoritative voice corrects it. Therefore, I feel obligated to comment on Christopher Bowe’s recent HBR article, “Fixing Pharma’s Incentives Problem in the Wake of the U.S. Opioid Crisis.”

I’m disappointed in (although hardly surprised by) the misleading content of the HBR article. If we’re going to solve the opioid crisis, then we have to get our facts straight. So let’s begin.

When to Say No

An article called “7 Words That Could Have Biotech and Big Pharma Very Worried,” written by Sean Williams and recently posted on The Motley Fool, tells both sides of the story.

Pressure on price for pharmaceuticals is a real concern. Affordability is important. A drug can only work if patients can afford to pay for it.

So, on the one hand, the price of drugs must be kept in check.

Biotech and pharma can’t just raise the price of a lifesaving drug by 5,500% overnight. That isn’t reasonable, and that isn’t a good decision for anybody.

Shame on an Intolerant Firefighter

I was flabbergasted to read the comment made on Facebook by the firefighter in Weymouth, Massachuestts who said “we should just let heroin addicts die from overdose rather than give them the rescue antidote, naloxone.”

This would be like saying the obese diabetic should not be treated because they ate too much, or the disease of AIDS should not be treated because it was a self-inflected disease unworthy of treatment.

The stigma associated with addictions is almost as deadly as the disease itself because it is the reason for the firefighter’s intolerance. It’s also why we have punitive laws aimed at people who have a disease.

Is Pharma the Death Star? by @LynnRWebsterMD

Author’s Note: This blog contains references to “Star Wars,” but you will find no spoilers here.

In my world, a physician working with Pharma is perceived to be serving the Death Star. It doesn’t matter that thousands of drugs have been developed to save millions of lives, and have enabled millions more to live longer with fewer infirmaries. According to the critics, Pharma is totally evil, intent on destroying lives, and profiting from their destruction. This, they say, is especially true for the opioid manufacturers.