More DENIAL OF CARE on the WEST COAST

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Woman denied pain meds, new regulations to blame

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/investigations/Pharmacy-trouble-303686261.html?tab=video&c=y

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) – Jessica Barr loved gymnastics. But the sport didn’t always love her back.

“It’s like football, great sport when you’re not injured,” she said.

So, like many childhood gymnasts, Barr is paying for her time in the gym as an adult. She needed a knee replacement. And after shopping around for a surgeon, she chose one in the L.A. area.

The surgery went well, but pain is to be expected.

“When I got home, pain-wise it was about a 7 to an 8,” she said.

So Barr’s physician prescribed drugs for her pain – hydrocodone.  

“Once I took the pain medication it dropped down to like a one,” Barr recalled.

But getting the pills wasn’t easy.

“We went to Northwest Pharmacy first,” she said. “Then we went to Rite Aid. Then I called Hina’s and then I called CVS… everybody said their store policy is they do not fill out-of-town prescriptions.”

Frustrated, she called the Eyewitness News Tip Line.  

“People go out of Bakersfield all the time to have surgeries done,” she said. “I started thinking about all the people that might be encountering the same situation I was encountering and it made me angry.”

Why

Hydocodone was recently reclassified by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Controlled substances are assigned a schedule which determines what sort of regulations the government places on them. This year, hydrocodone is considered schedule two – similar to cocaine and Adderall in terms of its risk of abuse or dependency. 

“The state board and the DEA have cracked down,” said Pat Person, the pharmacist at Ming & H Drugs. “There are more hoops that a patient needs to jump through in order to get the prescription.”

“It becomes more stringent,” said Ty Stout, of El Tejon Pharmacy. “Not only on the patient, but also on the pharmacies and even the wholesalers and manufacturers.”

Both Person and Stout agree. The regulatory burden is heavy. The system isn’t perfect, but it’s necessary. Abuse is rampant.

“It’s not just a local problem,” Stout said. “It’s kind of like an epidemic problem. We see that nationwide.”

In an effort to get control of the problem, California has implemented an online database populated with information from doctors and pharmacists that allows prescribers and pharmacies to view all controlled substances residents have received in the last year.  

“The expectation is that California should be able to get ahead of these kinds of problems,” Person said. “It allows us to do a patient check.”

The database is supposed to stop addicts by giving dispensers a head’s up about their history.

“There are patients out there that we see that have gone from doctor A to pharmacy A to doctor B to pharmacy B to doctor C to pharmacy C, all within a 30 day window,” Stout said.

And if one such patient makes it out the door with drugs, the pharmacy could be on the hook.

“The state Board of Pharmacy has developed a plan called corresponding responsibility where pharmacies are now liable for the prescriptions that they fill for controlled substances more so than we used to be in the past,” Person said.

So when you walk into a pharmacy looking for hydrocodone, the state expects pharmacists to also give you a healthy dose of skepticism.

They’re advised to watch for a number of red flags: out-of-town doctors, out-of-town patients, people paying cash, doses that seem a bit too large, nervous patient demeanor, etc. Too many unknown variables will end the transaction for the pharmacist.

“If there’s any thought that there’s abuse or diversion going on there, we’re legally obligated to say ‘sorry, I can’t fill this for you,” Stout said.

The initial results of the crack down?

“We’ve seen a decrease in the number of deaths and the numbers of ER visits, accidental overdoses and deaths since the prescription drug monitoring programs have been put into place,” Stout said.

But the gains have come at a cost.

“Who does it hurt the most? Ultimately, it hurts the patient,” Stout added.

Help the pharmacist help you

If you go out of town for a procedure, get your prescriptions filled in the same city as your procedure – at a pharmacy likely to have a working relationship with your doctor.

Secondly, know your pharmacist. If at all possible, get all of your family’s medications from one pharmacist who knows you and your medical history. Let them know in advance of any procedures you will be having. That will eliminate some of the unknown variables when they’re weighing the decision to dispense the drugs.

And if your pharmacy shopping is really just about cost, speak up.

“A lot of pharmacies are willing to match prices or do something to help you financially,” Person said.

The other advantage to sticking to one pharmacy is that they might just save your life.

If you get several prescriptions from different specialties, it’s wise to have one pharmacist aware of all the drugs you’re taking. They may be able to prevent complications stemming from drug interactions the doctors couldn’t have anticipated if they didn’t know everything you were taking.

While our experts couldn’t speak directly to specific chain pharmacies, they said independent pharmacies will generally have more flexibility. Some corporations have standard policies governing schedule two drugs they won’t be able to compromise on.

One final suggestion, regardless whether you prefer corporate or independent pharmacies, is to be patient. The new rules for hydrocodone mean you likely won’t be in and out of the pharmacy in just a few minutes regardless of where you go.

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Denial of care has now reached the WEST COAST

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Miguel Perez gives a thumbs up while listening to live music with brother Juan, sitting at left in the wheelchair, as guitarist singer Don Lawson plays at right.

Modesto man with severe chronic pain can’t get prescriptions filled

http://www.modbee.com/news/local/article20907534.html

Miguel Perez, who has severe multiple sclerosis, lives with an unbearable pain few people ever experience.

The 42-year-old Modesto man is prescribed four pain medications for trigeminal neuralgia, a rare condition causing such searing facial pain it is sometimes called the suicide disease.

In recent months, Perez has been able to fill only one prescription for painkillers because of restrictions on hydrocodone products that went into effect in October. In addition, pharmacies are more careful about filling prescriptions for multiple pain medications because of the epidemic of painkiller misuse.

Perez, who is homebound and severely disabled, is given various combinations of dilauded, Norco, oxycodone and methadone, the latter to lengthen the effect of the pain treatment, his mother said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration reclassified hydrocodone products, such as Norco or Vicodin, as Schedule II drugs under federal law to reduce addiction and fatal overdoses.

Patients are no longer allowed refills for hydrocodone drugs but need a new prescription each time.

Doctors cannot fax or call in prescriptions to pharmacies. Some people with prescriptions for the painkillers said pharmacies ran out of supplies late last year as manufacturers repackaged the reclassified pills with appropriate labels.

Terri Perez, who is Miguel Perez’s mother and caregiver, said pharmacists who dispensed her son’s medications before only refilled the oxycodone last month.

“The pain is horrendous to the point he wants to die,” she said. “I understand there are a lot of people who misuse these drugs, but they should not take them away from people who really need them.”

The DEA says the restrictions are warranted by the scourge of fatal overdoses and widespread addiction to prescription painkillers. Consumer groups have criticized the new rules for hydrocodone, and the pharmacy industry is calling for various players in health care to be involved with addressing misuse of pain medications while ensuring access for patients with medical need.

Terri Perez said pharmacists have sent faxes to her son’s primary care doctor saying they won’t fill the prescriptions due to poor pain management.

Dr. Priti Modi, his primary care doctor, said Perez and some other patients with a legitimate need for pain medications have run into roadblocks. She said pharmacies are not interested in seeing the patient’s medical history.

“The pharmacies are taking over as physicians,” Modi said. “This guy is in so much pain, I don’t know what to do.”

Miguel Perez underwent procedures at Stanford Hospital and University of California, San Francisco, to treat trigeminal neuralgia without drugs, including a radiation treatment and a surgery to deaden the nerve. But nothing has prevented the excruciating attacks. A pain management doctor in Modesto gives him a nerve block that provides a little relief, Terri Perez said.

Modi said her patient needs a fast-acting painkiller to help him bear the attacks of burning and stabbing pain from the trigeminal nerve in his head. The other strong drugs are needed to manage his pain.

Refills are not permitted for Schedule II drugs such as hydrocodone.

Terri Perez said she was denied medication for her son six to eight times at different drugstores, some of them saying they simply were not comfortable dispensing the narcotic drugs. Tuesday, she planned to see if a pharmacy in Turlock would fill the prescriptions.

Besides the DEA restrictions, Perez believes the arrests in January of four people suspected of running a prescription drug ring in Modesto has put a chill into local pharmacists. The defendants are charged with stealing prescription pads from a pain management clinic, having forged prescriptions filled at a CVS Pharmacy and then selling the addictive painkillers on the streets.

CVS spokesman Michael DeAngelis said prescriptions for multiple painkillers will raise a red flag with pharmacists, especially if written by more than one physician. He said changing hydrocodone from a Schedule III to Schedule II drug does restrict access for patients because they are no longer eligible for refills.

The spokesman doubted the recent arrests are making Modesto-area pharmacists extra careful. Rather, pharmacists have a legal obligation to ensure prescription drugs are dispensed for legitimate medical needs.

“We certainly recognize the issue of ensuring legitimate patient access, while preventing prescription drug abuse, and it is something our pharmacists are dealing with every day,” DeAngelis said.

Jose Carranza, who owns independent drugstores in Modesto and Hughson, said pharmacies are now required to place separate orders for hydrocodone products with suppliers and report prescription sales, including the names of patients and doctors, to the DEA.

Physicians cannot fax or call in prescriptions but can use a DEA-approved electronic system for sending prescriptions to pharmacies, he said. “The wholesalers restrict the amount we can buy based on our purchase history,” Carranza added.

He said patients who use the same pharmacy on a regular basis should have easier access because the pharmacist knows the patient and the prescribing physician. The pharmacist said he’s reluctant to tell callers if he has painkillers in stock for fear of theft or burglaries.

DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said the agency supported stricter controls on hydrocodone for more than 20 years and finally received Food and Drug Administration concurrence. He said the DEA does not track individual prescriptions. The restrictions shouldn’t stop a person with a legitimate medical need from getting their medication, he said.

Payne noted the rules permit a doctor to write three prescriptions for 30-day supplies of hydrocodone, thus giving the patient a 90-day supply.

“We are not hiding in the bushes and monitoring individual prescriptions,” Payne said. “We look at bigger picture things like sales by wholesalers.”

“We look for red flags along the chain.”

DEA spokesman Rusty Payne

A pharmacy trade association is endorsing federal legislation that would require health-care stakeholders and the FDA and DEA to work together to ensure legitimate access to painkillers while preventing abuse.

Walgreens released a statement this week suggesting that more parties need to be involved with formulating regulations for painkillers.

“We firmly believe that addressing prescription drug abuse will require all parties – including leaders in the community, physicians, distributors and regulators – to play a role in finding solutions to combating abuse while balancing patient access to critical care,” Walgreens said.

Perez said the Turlock pharmacy indicated Tuesday it did not have the medications needed by her son.

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When they try to protect the few and harm the many ?

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

New measures of opioid utilization

https://drugstorenewsce.com/editorial-news-item/9/5942

Jagoda Misniakiewicz
05/12/2015

The author is a PharmD, PGY-1 Pharmacy Practice Resident with the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System 

Prescription drug overdoses have increased dramatically over the past two decades and are contributing to significant mortality and morbidity. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention targets opioids as one of the three primary drug classes implicated in adverse drug events as they account for the greatest number of principally preventable harms.1 In 2013, over 50% of drug overdose deaths were the result of prescription medications.2 According to the National Vital Statistics System, the number of deaths per year attributed to prescription opioid medications reached 16,651 in 2010.2

Last year, the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) identified opioid abuse as a high priority area for measure development. PQA’s measures entitled “Use of Opioids from Multiple Providers or at High Dosage in Persons Without Cancer” focus on opioid overutilization and target opioid overdose death prevention. Research has demonstrated that patients who take high dosages of opioid medications or obtain prescriptions from multiple providers may be at an increased risk of overdose. 3-6 The PQA opioid measures are intended for health plans to “examine the quality of use related to the dose of the medications over time, access to the medications, and the combination of both of these criteria.”7 The denominator for all three measures includes individuals with two or more prescription claims for opioids filled on at least two separate days in a twelve month period with a total equal to or greater than a fifteen day supply. The numerators of these measures correlate to inappropriate medication use, poor care-coordination, or doctor shopping.

According to the 2016 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Call Letter released in April, these PQA measures may be adopted as future display measures in the Medicare Star Rating System or used in the Overutilization Monitoring System (OMS).8

References

1. HHS. National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. 2014. http://www.health.gov/hcq/ade.asp. Accessed April 30, 2015.

2. National Vital Statistics System. Multiple cause of death file. Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2012. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/Record_Layout_2012.pdf. Accessed April 30, 2015.

3. CDC. Medicaid Patient Review and Restriction (PRR) Expert Panel Meeting. 2012. http://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/pdf/pdo_patient_review_meeting-a.pdf. Accessed April 30, 2015.

4. Dunn KM, Saunders KW, Rutter CM, et al. Opioid prescriptions for chronic pain and overdose – A cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2010; 152:85-92.

5. Paulozzi LJ, Kilbourne EM, Shah NG, et al. A history of being prescribed controlled substances and risk of drug overdose death. Pain Medicine. 2012 Jan;13(1):87-95.

6. Agency Medical Directors Group (AMDG). Interagency guideline on opioid dosing for chronic non-cancer pain: An educational aid to improve care and safety with opioid therapy. 2010 Update. www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Poisoning/brief.htm. Accessed April 30, 2015.

7. PQA performance measures. Pharmacy Quality Alliance website. http://pqaalliance.org/measures/default.asp. Updated April 2015. Accessed April 30, 2015.

8. CMS. Announcement of Calendar Year (CY) 2016 Medicare Advantage Capitation Rates and Medicare Advantage and Part D Payment Policies and Final Call Letter. 2015.

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Sometimes… you get more than you bargained for

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

When a pill is poison instead of a cure

http://www.whio.com/news/news/when-pill-poison-instead-cure/nmFPx/

Ali Schroer’s fight against illegal online pharmacies began in 2007, a year she seemed to have symptoms of a disease without actually having a disease. 

There were intense headaches and stomach pains so severe that she eventually underwent a colonoscopy but doctors had no diagnosis to offer. 

Schroer wondered if something was wrong with her allergy medicine that she bought online.

“I stopped taking them and within six to eight weeks, all my symptoms subsided,” said Schroer.

Today she is convinced those pills, which she ordered through an online pharmacy, were fraudulent and not actually Allegra.

“It’s hard to connect the dots,” Schroer said. “You think you’re taking something that’s legitimate.”

“International criminals making millions of dollars on these websites are going to be able to dupe you,” Baney said.

The counterfeit pills even bear the same logos as the real thing. Baney said they can be made with toxins like rat poison, arsenic, lead and paint thinner. Pills often made with toxins to look real.
The FBI arrested a man accused of running an illegal online pharmacy out of a shopping center in Washington D.C. He is accused of distributing fraudulent drugs to 38,000 customers and making more than $8 million. 

Many dealers are overseas and out of reach of U.S. law. Experts said brick-and-mortar pharmacies protect patients in a way the web cannot.

“We check the medications before they go out to the patient,” said Donney John, a pharmacist at NOVA ScriptsCentral in Falls Church, Va. “We do the best we can to verify that it’s the right drug for the right patient.”

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What goes behind the closed door ?

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

closeddoor

This showed up in my inbox today… according to their website.. they are a 10 yr old organization whose membership seems to be a lot of major players in the healthcare arena  http://pqaalliance.org/membership/organizations.asp  It appears that they are in the middle of a annual convention in Arlington, VA and voting on the following tomorrow…  I have not been able to find out any more on this “endorsement” but.. it seems like another group that is caving to fear of the DEA and having been partaking too much of the DEA’s Kool-Aid and brownies ?

Each PQA member organization will have the opportunity to vote on the endorsement of three new performance measures on May 14th at the PQA Annual Meeting.
The related measures recommended to the PQA membership for endorsement consideration are:
1. Use of Opioids at High Dosage in Persons Without Cancer
2. Use of Opioids from Multiple Providers in Persons Without Cancer
3. Use of Opioids at High Dosage and from Multiple Providers in Persons Without Cancer

Three Performance Measures on Opioids to be Voted on at the PQA 10th Annual Meeting     http://pqaalliance.org/

PQA’s Mission
To improve the quality of medication management and use across healthcare settings with the goal of improving patients’ health through a collaborative process to develop and implement performance measures and recognize examples of exceptional pharmacy quality.
PQA’s Strategic Objectives
Established in 2006, the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) is a 501(c)3 designated non-profit alliance with over 100  member organizations.  We are a  multi-stakeholder, consensus-based membership organization that collaboratively promotes appropriate medication use and develops strategies for measuring and reporting performance information related to medications. Click here to read PQA’s Strategic Plan.

 

 

 

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prescription drugs from illegal and unlicensed sources to various wholesalers and pharmacies throughout the United States.

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Minn. Corporation Indicted in Nationwide Prescription Drug Scheme

http://www.kaaltv.com/article/stories/S3793103.shtml?cat=10151

An Eagan-based corporation was charged in an indictment Monday in the Southern District of Ohio for its role in a nationwide prescription drug diversion scheme.

The indictment alleges that 50-year-old David Miller of Santa Ana, California; and 38-year-old Artur Stepanyan and 29-year-old Mihran Stepanyan—both of Encino, California—participated in a conspiracy with Minnesota Independent Cooperative, Inc. (MIC) to sell prescription drugs from illegal and unlicensed sources to various wholesalers and pharmacies throughout the United States.

Additionally, the 12-count indictment charges the individuals with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, multiple counts of mail fraud, and conspiracy to distribute prescription drugs without a license and to make false statements.

Miller and his company, MIC, paid the Stepanyans roughly $160 million for the prescription drugs that they sourced from a network of unlicensed vendors, according to the indictment.

Throughout the course of the conspiracy charged in the indictment, using falsified pedigree documents, Miller and MIC sold approximately $393 million worth of prescription drugs throughout the U.S.

According to U.S. Attorney Carter Stewart, the unregulated nature of the prescription drugs sold in this diversion scheme presents a danger to the consumer.

“Once a prescription drug is diverted outside of the regulated distribution channels, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, for regulators, law enforcement and end-users to know whether the prescription drug package actually contains the correct drug or the correct dose,” Stewart said in a statement.

According to the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy’s Executive Director Cody Wiberg, MIC was disciplined in 2012 after allegations were made that the corporation was buying from a Puerto Rico-based wholesaler, B&Y Wholesalers. B&Y Wholesalers was not licensed at the time. MIC was reprimanded and given a $10,000 civil penalty.

Wiberg said that around the time of the 2012 reprimand, the state of Minnesota became aware of the federal investigation. The Minnesota Board of Pharmacy, which had followed the investigation for roughly three years, differed to federal agents due to the criminal nature of the investigation.

The Food and Drug Administration and the United States Postal Inspection Service are currently investigating the case.

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Ad For New DEA Chief Shows What It Takes To Be A ‘Real’ Drug Warrior

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

keystonecop

dea ad

Mock Ad For New DEA Chief Shows What It Takes To Be A ‘Real’ Drug Warrior

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/12/mock-ad-seeking-new-dea-chief_n_7265814.html

A leading drug policy reform group has created a satirical ad seeking a new Drug Enforcement Administration chief that skewers the DEA in the wake of scandals and the announcement that its current administrator plans to resign.

The ad, which was produced by Drug Policy Alliance and is slated to appear in Wednesday’s edition of congressional newspaper Roll Call, lists the new DEA chief’s primary responsibilities — including mass incarceration, police state tactics, obstruction of science, subverting democracy and undermining human rights.

The mock advertisement is part of a campaign to influence President Barack Obama’s selection for the next administrator, end the agency’s opposition to changing national and state marijuana laws and ultimately reform the agency or abolish it altogether, the DPA said.

“The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is seeking a new chief to prolong the failed war on drugs,” the ad begins. “The ideal candidate should have at least 10 years’ experience turning a blind eye to scandal and corruption, be adept at undermining the Bill of Rights, and have a firm and unwavering commitment to the status quo. You must also be a self-starter, as this position comes with little congressional oversight.”

The ad from DPA follows the organization’s April release of “The Scandal-Ridden DEA: Everything You Need To Know,” which outlines a number of recent scandals involving the DEA. These include the alleged DEA-linked killings in Honduras in 2012, the use of NSA resources to spy on U.S. citizens and its alleged cover-up, the secret and warrantless tracking of billions of Americans’ international phone calls for decades and the controversial use of confidential informants.

The Department of Justice announced in April that current DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart would be stepping down this month. Leonhart is resigning following criticism of how she disciplined DEA agents who participated in cartel-funded “sex parties” with prostitutes in Colombia.

In March, the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General released a startling report on how several federal law enforcement agencies have handled allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct. The report said seven DEA agents had admitted to attending parties with prostitutes dating back to 2001.

Most of the implicated agents were disciplined for their actions, but only with suspensions of up to 10 days. None of the agents was fired, and some had even been promoted between the time the incidents occurred and the time they were fully investigated.

In a strong rebuke to her leadership, a bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers declared in April that they have “no confidence” in Leonhart.

With just days before Leonhart is scheduled to step down, it remains unclear who her successor will be. Both lawmakers and drug policy reformers have campaigned the Obama administration to select a more progressive head this time around.

Leonhart came to head the DEA as acting administrator in 2007, under former President George W. Bush. She was made administrator in 2010 during Obama’s first term, but has long seemed out of step on drug policy, clashing with the administration over the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington and with its efforts to lower the mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of federal drug crimes.

“Drug prohibition, like alcohol Prohibition, breeds crime, corruption, and violence — and creates a situation where law enforcement officers must risk their lives in a fight that can’t be won,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of DPA, in a statement about the ad. “It’s time to reform not just the DEA but broader U.S. and global drug policy. The optimal drug policy would reduce the role of criminalization and the criminal justice system in drug control to the greatest extent possible, while protecting public safety and health.”

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In its lawsuit, the city of Chicago alleged the drug makers used deceptive marketing of opiates

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

J&J and Other Drug Makers Tossed From Lawsuit Over Opioid Marketing

http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2015/05/11/jj-and-other-drug-makers-tossed-from-lawsuit-over-opioid-marketing/

A federal judge handed four drug makers a victory by dismissing them from a closely watched lawsuit that alleged the companies deceived Chicago doctors and consumers about the risks of their opioid painkillers. However, Purdue Pharma will continue to face some allegations raised by the city.

The judge ruled city officials failed to provide enough specific information to demonstrate that Johnson & Johnson JNJ -0.43%, Teva Pharmaceutical TEVA +1.17%, Actavis and Endo International made misrepresentations to doctors and patients. The lawsuit continues against Purdue Pharma, which is accused of violating consumer fraud laws.

In its lawsuit, the city of Chicago alleged the drug makers used deceptive marketing to downplay risks of their painkillers and improperly encouraged physicians prescribing that caused some patients to become addicts. In the process, the city alleges it paid for prescriptions inappropriately.

Despite the setback, the city of Chicago has an opportunity to file an amended lawsuit, which means the drug makers could again face the allegations. “We are evaluating the court’s opinion and its option as to other defendants,” a city spokesman writes us.

A Purdue spokesman tells us the drug maker is “pleased that the bulk of the claims against Purdue have been dismissed.” The judge ruled that alleged misrepresentations on Purdue web sites were sufficient to allow the lawsuit to proceed against the drug maker, which is best known for selling OxyContin.

The decision comes amid ongoing debate over prescription painkillers. The medicines, which have been widely used and abused, have increasingly been blamed for fueling addiction and crime, and serving as a bridge to a growing heroin trade.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that nearly 2 million Americans either abused or were depending on opioids in 2013. A CDC report also found that 74% of the nearly 23,000 U.S. deaths from painkillers in 2011 were due to overdose.

In response, two California counties – Santa Clara and Orange – also filed lawsuits, which alleged the drug makers used a variety of tactics to persuade doctors to prescribe their painkillers, while also minimizing risks. These included editorial control over medical journal articles, paying influential doctors as speakers and funding patient advocacy groups, among other things.

The lawsuits followed a failed bid by an advocacy group that petitioned the FDA to tighten labeling on opioid painkillers. Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing argued the drugs lacked sufficient safety and effectiveness evidence for long-term use to manage non-cancer chronic pain, such as low back pain.

Chicago, however, failed to convince U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Alonso that the drug makers made any alleged misrepresentations to specific doctors or consumers, or when or how misrepresentations may have been made.

And so, he dismissed the consumer fraud claims against Teva, Endo, Actavis and J&J. Teva spokeswoman declined to comment. We also asked Actavis and Endo for comment and will update you accordingly. A spokeswoman for J&J’s Janssen unit, said the drug maker is “pleased” with the decision and always acted appropriately and responsibly in marketing it drugs.

“I’m not happy to hear this, but I’m hopeful we’ll ultimately see these companies held accountable for the public health crisis they created,” says Andrew Kolodny, chief medical officer at Phoenix House, a non-profit that runs alcohol and drug abuse treatment and prevention programs, and head of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing. “But the legal cases against big tobacco many years before they were successful. This may also take a long time.”

In 2007, Purdue and three of its current and former executives pleaded guilty to misleading the public about the risk of addiction of OxyContin. A total of $634.5 million in fines was paid for claiming the drug was less addictive and less subject to abuse than other pain medications.

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Give Pain a Voice – pained lives matter

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Stamps can be bought at : www.zazzle.com/givepainavoice

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Death rate UP 23 % since 2000 !

Posted on May 10, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

U.S. Deaths Due to High Blood Pressure Keep Rising: CDC

http://consumer.healthday.com/circulatory-system-information-7/blood-pressure-news-70/u-s-death-rate-due-to-high-blood-pressure-keeps-rising-cdc-697763.html

U.S. Deaths Due to High Blood Pressure Keep Rising: CDC

Most marked increases seen in those aged 45 to 64 and those over 85

U.S. Deaths Due to High Blood Pressure Keep Rising: CDC

THURSDAY, March 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The overall death rate from high blood pressure in the United States has increased 23 percent since 2000, even as the death rate from all other causes has dropped 21 percent, health officials reported Thursday.

That spike was seen in both genders and was most marked among those aged 45 to 64 and those over 85, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The age-adjusted deaths from high blood pressure went up, while the other causes of death went down,” said report author Hsiang-Ching Kung, a statistician with CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

From 2000 through 2013, the death rate from high blood pressure rose just over 58 percent for men aged 45 to 64 and increased almost 37 percent for women aged 45 to 64.

Those aged 85 and older were also not spared, with men seeing a 27.5 percent increase in the death rate from high blood pressure between 2000 and 2005, while women saw an increase of 23 percent in that same period. Between 2005 and 2013, those rates continued to increase, but more slowly, the researchers found.

Kung said this report cannot answer why these trends are occurring.

Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said, “High blood pressure is a leading cause of heart attack, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure and premature heart-related death.”

Despite decades of efforts to improve awareness, treatment and control of high blood pressure, there are gaps, variations and disparities that still exist, and large numbers of men and women are having fatal and nonfatal strokes and heart attacks that could have been prevented, Fonarow added.

“High-quality blood pressure management is complex and requires the engagement of patients, families, doctors, the health care systems and communities,” Fonarow noted.

This effort includes expanding patient and health care provider awareness, appropriate lifestyle changes, access to care, workplace wellness programs, evidence-based treatment, a high level of adherence to taking medication, and adequate doctor follow-up, he said.

“There is a critical need to facilitate and incentivize improvement in blood pressure control and heart health, as well provide optimal patient care,” Fonarow said.

Kung and co-author Dr. Jiaquan Xu, a CDC epidemiologist, also found that deaths related to high blood pressure varied by race. The death rate increased among Hispanics between 2000 and 2005. Since then, the death rate increased for whites but decreased among blacks, the researchers found.

Although the overall number of deaths related to high blood pressure was still higher among blacks than among whites and Hispanics, the gap between them narrowed, according to the report.

“The disparity is narrowing, but more studies are needed to see why that’s the case,” Kung said.

More information

Visit the American Heart Association for more on high blood pressure.

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