Filed under: General Problems | 5 Comments »
When an adult buys a “Percocet” from a friend of a friend, should anyone be surprised when they die from a lethal overdose ?
Posted on December 5, 2021 by Pharmaciststeve
https://youtu.be/G7Gjd4kQT1E?t=1135
This is a very interesting episode of Judge Jeanine on her weekly Saturday night show. Considering that Jeanine is an attorney and former judge… she is bringing on a woman who mid-20’s daughter got some “Percocet” from a friend of a friend because the Daughter had hurt back and the Daughter died, because the “Percocet” contained illegal fentanyl. Judge Jeanine’s entire episode was about the availability of illegal fentanyl… Nothing about the Daughter or the friend of a friend was violating the controlled substance act… was the friend of a friend a “drug dealer” ? That was 2015 and now this Mother has a non profit with some 23,000 members wanting illegal fentanyl to not get into the country.
In this episode, they seem to be using the word “poisoning” instead of the word “over dose” I guess that a pt that ends his pain via prescriber induced suicide is of no interest to Fox cable … even when the local Fox TV in Louisville,KY… the only station – out of FOUR – in Louisville did a story when the case was filed and when the case was settled. Prescriber induced suicide- jury awards a SEVEN MILLION JUDGEMENT
Nor when a CHILD is forced to endure debridement from 3rd degree burns for SIX WEEKS WITHOUT ANY PAIN MANAGEMENT Vanderbilt Burn Center (Nashville) refused to provide the young patient sufficient pain medication for SIX WEEKS
Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »
Ire over pharmacy middlemen fuels lobbying blitz
Posted on December 4, 2021 by Pharmaciststeve
Ire over pharmacy middlemen fuels lobbying blitz
The effort to paint pharmacy benefit managers as villains has sparked a multimillion-dollar campaign to influence Democrats.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/04/pharmacy-lobbyists-social-spending-bill-523749
Lobbyists for drugmakers, pharmacists and large employers are blanketing Congress with calls, emails and advertisements, pressing lawmakers to rein in pharmaceutical middlemen, who they say are behind soaring drug costs.
The effort to paint pharmacy benefit managers as villains has sparked a multimillion-dollar campaign to influence Democrats, who are racing to finish their massive social spending bill and eager to show they are taking on the powerful drug industry and lowering out-of-pocket costs for Americans.
“Pretty much everyone in the supply chain is pointing at the PBMs right now,” said Karry La Violette, the senior vice president of government affairs at the National Community Pharmacists Association.
While there is little agreement among PBM opponents about what actions Congress should take, industry lobbyists are offering a menu of options for Democrats to consider, such as requiring PBMs to pass on more of the rebates they negotiate with drugmakers to consumers or employers. They could also ban a common practice called spread pricing in which PBMs charge health plans more than they pay to the pharmacy dispensing a drug, and pocket the difference.
PBMs have responded with their own lobbying and advertising blitz, and insist they’re being scapegoated. JC Scott, who leads the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the trade group for PBMs, said targeting his members might be good politics and take the focus off drugmakers during a critical moment in the debate, but it would not lower drug costs.
Although dozens of PBMs exist, the industry is consolidated, with three of them — CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx — controlling nearly 80 percent of the prescription market. Health insurers, employers and government hire PBMs to manage prescription benefits for their health plans — putting them at the center of a supply chain consisting of drugmakers, insurers and pharmacies.
Critics allege that PBMs’ role in negotiating rebates from pharmaceutical manufacturers and developing lists of prescription drugs that health insurers will cover encourages them to prioritize higher-cost medicines where they can reap larger rebates rather than focusing on drugs with lower costs.
“Democrats are focused on lowering costs for patients — and that absolutely includes making sure pharmacy benefit managers are getting the best deal for patients not for themselves,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wa.) said in a statement.
The $1.7 trillion spending bill, which the House passed last month, includes provisions that require PBMs to disclose certain information to employer-based plans, aiming to help them negotiate better prices for drugs, but other industry lobbyists want Democrats to go much further, which could make Senate passage that much more complicated.
Independent pharmacists and their patients have sent Congress thousands of letters at the behest of the National Community Pharmacists Association, which in the coming days will unleash its own television ad campaign urging senators to rein in PBMs.
On Friday, the pharmaceutical industry launched a seven-figure national ad campaign urging lawmakers to compel PBMs to pass rebates directly to consumers at the pharmacy counter. Called point-of-sale rebates, PBMs and others argue that this would ultimately raise premiums.
“There is recognition on both sides of the aisle that PBMs play a significant role in a broken insurance system, but somehow a bill meant to lower drug costs does nothing to address the part these middlemen play in determining what patients pay out of pocket for medicines,” said Sarah Sutton, a spokesperson for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which is running ads on television, radio and the Internet.
She would not reveal the price tag of the new ad spending, but PhRMA spent more than $2.5 million in its television ad buys during the summer opposing liberal efforts to have Medicare negotiate the price of drugs, according to AdAnalytics data analyzed by POLITICO. And the group spent upwards of $22 million on lobbying in the first nine months of 2021, a 10 percent increase from the same period in 2020.
While pharmaceutical companies were the main target of Democrats’ efforts to reduce the cost of drugs, PBMs, which spent $5.9 million on lobbying in the first nine months of this year, a 20 percent increase over the same period in 2020, emerged largely unscathed in the House version.
Although the PBM industry still has concerns about transparency provisions, it successfully stopped Democrats from including a ban on spread pricing. The industry also supported a repeal of the Trump administration’s so-called rebate rule, which made it into the House’s version of the bill.
That’s forced lobbyists for drugmakers, pharmacies and employer groups to take their case to the Senate, where Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has already expressed interest in more closely scrutinizing the role PBMs play in the reconciliation package.
“Chairman Wyden is the champion on this issue,” said James Gelfand, the executive vice president of public affairs at the ERISA Industry Committee, which represents the employee benefits interests of the nation’s largest employers. “So it’d be crazy to think that he’s not right now considering, ‘What else can I do in this space?’”
“It’s the legislative opportunity of the century,” he added. “You don’t just give that up, right?”
In a statement to POLITICO, Wyden said that pharmacy benefit managers “are taking advantage of this dysfunctional system while families and local pharmacies foot the bill,” adding, “the status quo when it comes to PBMs needs to change as much as it does for Big Pharma.”
Scott, the PCMA leader, says his industry is being unfairly maligned for two reasons: an attempt to get long-desired policies enacted through the massive spending bill that have nothing to do with drug costs, and misplaced anger at the industry.
“There is this sentiment around some stakeholders that they believe, ‘Well, gee, if one part of the drug supply chain is going to be impacted by this legislation, then the PBM industry needs to give its pound of flesh as well,’” he said. “And I don’t know that that’s a very thoughtful consideration to put into policy decisions.”
The group launched its own ad campaign last week, accusing its rivals of trying to shift the blame for rising drug prices.
“Ironically, the industry that controls the list price of prescription drugs has attempted to point the finger at those focused on reducing the cost of prescription drugs for patients and payers,” reads text from the digital campaign, which is targeted within the Beltway.
But Gelfand, of the employer group, said that continuing with the status quo is untenable for patients.
“Everybody involved in all this knows that the current system is completely unsustainable,” Gelfand said. “There are those trying to change it and then there are those trying to essentially get what they can out of it while they can.”
Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »
DEA: causing 100 pts/day to be intentionally thrown into cold turkey withdrawal
Posted on December 3, 2021 by Pharmaciststeve
Crestview Hills , KY had a estimate population of 3300, but on the map it appears that it could be one of several bedroom communities to Cincinnati, Ohio, so it would appear not unexpected that this clinic had 3000 pts. Ohio has never been known as a chronic pain friendly state, but the state has been a part of the “so called” opiate crisis. Just imagine, in the greater Cincinnati Ohio, 100 pts a day going into cold turkey withdrawal. At the hand of the DEA … we all saw what Prosecutorial Misconduct looked like in Kyle Rittenhouse Trial. https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2021/11/09/prosecutorial-misconduct-in-kyle-rittenhouse-trial-exposed/
Who would not believe that federal prosecutors are capable of doing similar things to get fabricated charges against prescribers.
Typical process for the DEA raiding a prescriber’s office is to confiscate the pts’ medical records and ignore requests by the pts to get copies of their medical records. Thus no other prescriber will take them into their practice because they have no medical history and/or many prescribers will just REFUSE to accept any pt from a “RAIDED PRACTICE”… because they MAY BE a “troublesome pt.”
How many suicides can we expect, if these two pain prescribers lose their DEA license ? Could it be labeled as a “bureaucratic genocide” or “bureaucratic induced suicide” ? I am sure that the DEA will label any/all bad pt outcomes as “collateral damage”
3,000 NKY patients could be forced to find new care due to federal opioid accusations
CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. — More than 3,000 patients could be forced to find new medical care after two well-known doctors in Northern Kentucky face federal charges, accused of writing illegitimate prescriptions for controlled substances.
On Nov. 18, a federal grand jury indicted Dr. Kendall Hansen and Dr. Michael Fletcher in two separate cases. The pair are listed as practicing at Interventional Pain Specialists in Crestview Hills, Ky.
Federal agents accuse Hansen of getting other doctors to prescribe him high doses of opioids. Those agents claim Hansen would write prescriptions for employees and instruct them to bring him the pills.
The indictment against Hansen lists 480 tramadol doses and 30 phentermine doses.
In a separate filing, federal agents accuse Fletcher of writing oxycodone hydrochloride prescriptions that were not for legitimate medical use.
The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure restricted both Fletcher and Hansen’s licenses Nov. 23, prohibiting them from prescribing controlled substances.
Each doctor had federal arraignments Dec. 1 in which they pleaded not guilty. Hansen wrote a statement to WCPO 9 saying the federal court decided he could continue to prescribe controlled medications pending the result of his case.
“We are worried about public safety and welfare if over 100 patients a day……are forced to go into withdrawal
… and then feel the full effect of their pain and lose the ability to function because of their medically necessary pain diagnosis,” Hansen said in the statement. “We have over 3,000 patients, so this could result in a medical emergency and national news.”
Hansen said there are a few other local pain practices, but not enough to take on all of their patients. Hansen says Interventional Pain Specialists has been under investigation for about three years, and no charges have been filed against the business.
Outside the practice, one of Hansen’s patients, Jacqueline Fritsch, said, “When I came here, I could hardly walk, and that man has helped me tremendously. I can walk now.”
One of Fletcher’s patients, Jackie Carter, cried as she described the pain she is enduring since the federal indictment.
“On top of all the pain, I’m having withdrawal symptoms,” said Carter. “This is not right. There’s people that’s in extreme pain, myself included, and what he’s done is just not acceptable.”
Carter said she has had trouble finding other care.
“I have tried, but I have been told by eight doctors this morning doctor’s offices say they will not touch Dr. Fletcher’s patients.
They will not see them. They said to check with your primary physician,” said Carter.
She said her primary doctor does not prescribe controlled substances, an issue Hansen raised in his statement.
“IPS and the Specialty of Pain Management was asked to increase prescribing of opioids after primary care physicians were told to limit chronic prescribing,” Hansen said. “I have been in discussions with heads of St. Elizabeth Hospitals asking for help during our recent issue.”
Hansen filed a complaint in federal court in August against CVS Pharmacy. In it, he accuses pharmacists of refusing to fill his patients’ prescriptions.
WCPO 9 is still waiting for a response from Fletcher.
He faces three counts of Distribution of a Controlled Substance. Hansen faces one count of Conspiracy to Distribute Controlled Substance and two counts of Distribution of a Controlled Substance.
They are each scheduled to be back in court for pretrial conferences Jan. 26.
Filed under: General Problems | 1 Comment »
Trump And The GE Parses Kolodny’s Opioid Hoax December 2nd At 7PM
Posted on December 1, 2021 by Pharmaciststeve
Trump And The GE Parses Kolodny’s Opioid Hoax December 2nd At 7PM
The opioid epidemic has dominated the 24-hour news cycle for the past four years. Drug overdose deaths have surpassed car accidents pursuant to accidental deaths. Drug overdose deaths were exacerbated by a spike in opioid-relate drug overdoses. Fentanyl has been so prevalent in overdose deaths that the CDC started tracking fentanyl-related drug overdoses separately. The prevailing theory was (1) the spike in opioid prescriptions coincided with runaway overdose deaths so (2) cutting prescriptions would sharply reduce drug overdose deaths.
That said, Andrew Kolodny has made a big name for himself, fueling the flames against prescription opioids. Mr. Kolodny appeared on HBO’s The Crime of the Century pursuant to Purdue Pharma’s role in the opioid crisis. I was initially impressed with Kolodny. He seemed extremely passionate and convincing. However, as more data on drug overdose deaths emerged and after I spoke with people familiar with drug users, Kolodny’s narrative began to crack. Below is a 2020 tweet quoting Kolodny, and implying the opioid epidemic was driven by the masses becoming addicted to prescription opioids.
Recent data suggests something totally different. Drug overdose deaths for the trailing 12 months through April 2021 exceeded 100,000, a Y/Y rise of nearly 29%. About two-thirds (64%) of all drug overdose deaths was related to synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl), up from 49% in the year-earlier period. This implies drug overdoses deaths related to synthetic opioid rose about 68% Y/Y. This is despite the fact that prescription opioid volume is expected to drop for the ninth consecutive year — a decline of 60% from its peak in 2011. If opioid prescriptions are declining then why do drug overdose deaths (and opioid-related drug overdose deaths) continue to rise? The data suggests that (1) illicit fentanyl and (2) drug addicts who use heroin or heroin laced with fentanyl are driving the spike in drug overdose deaths.
Kolodny recently spoke with Axios about the record drug overdose deaths. Below is an excerpt from part of that video. The interview was so patently absurd that it bordered on make-believe:
Niala Boodhoo: How much of this is about opioid overdoses specifically?
Kolodny: The vast majority of these drug overdose deaths are opioid. In particular, they involve an illicitly synthesized opioid called fentanyl.
Niala Boodhoo: Were you expecting the numbers to be so high at this point?
Kolodny: Opioid overdose deaths have been skyrocketing for the past few years, and actually for more than past 25 years, each year we’ve been setting a record for death from drug overdoses, and then the next year we break that record. But the last few years have been the worst. I expected the numbers to continue to get worse, but not this bad.
Niala Boodhoo: How much did the pandemic exacerbate this?
Kolodny: It’s difficult to say, but there are reasons to believe that COVID did make the problem worse.
The problem is that Kolodny, state attorneys general (who are suing opioid manufacturers), trial lawyers (who are earning billions in legal fees), Dopesick (Hulu), The Pharmacist (Netflix) and the fake news have been driving the narrative. I understand that Kolodny served as a consultant to some of the plaintiffs pursuant to fake opioid lawsuits. Judges in California and Oklahoma recently “called cap,” and ruled that opioid manufacturers were not liable for the opioid crisis. It is time for those in the know to set the record straight about what is really driving drug overdose deaths.
On Thursday December 2nd at 7PM (NYC time), Trump And The GE will parse through Kolodny’s interview with facts and real-world data. We are asking doctors, drug users, pain patients, researchers and concerned citizens to participate. There is a groundswell of activists and patients interested in this issue. Trump And The GE would like to provide a forum for each person’s voice to be heard.
Access The Show
You are more than welcome to participate as an audience member and ask questions during the event. The platform is similar to Zoom. The audience can access the show via Google Chrome by clicking the following link —> https://riverside.fm/studio/trump-and-the-ge-parse-kolodnys-opioid-hoax
Filed under: General Problems | 7 Comments »
The FDA has narrowly backed Merck’s covid pill—but it’s not that effective
Posted on December 1, 2021 by Pharmaciststeve
The FDA has narrowly backed Merck’s covid pill—but it’s not that effective
The news: A US Food and Drug Administration panel has voted by 13 to 10 to recommend that the government authorize Merck’s antiviral pill for patients with early covid-19 who are at high risk for severe infection. The drug, called molnupiravir, has been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death, although by less than previously thought. Initial results in October found it cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 50% when given to 755 unvaccinated volunteers who were mildly to moderately ill with covid-19 and had at least one risk factor for severe illness. Last week, with updated data from 1,433 patients, that figure was cut to 30%. “The efficacy of this product is not overwhelmingly good,” said panel member David Hardy.
Lacking consensus: The closeness of the vote was due to concerns over the change in the drug’s efficacy data, but also over its safety. James Hildreth, CEO of Meharry Medical College and one of the panel members, said he voted no because he worried that the use of molnupiravir could, theoretically, lead to new covid-19 variants. Other panelists, though, argued that the overall risk was small enough to vote it through.
Who can take it: If it’s authorized, the drug will be prescribed to high-risk people who have begun experiencing symptoms to take twice a day at home for five days. Tens of millions of Americans who are older or have underlying medical conditions would qualify, and they’d need to begin taking it within five days of symptoms appearing. The committee recommended tight restrictions on molnupiravir’s use in pregnant women, given concerns about the potential side effects.
What’s next: In the coming weeks, the FDA will assess a similar pill from Pfizer that seems to be significantly more effective than Merck’s, reducing the risk of hospitalization or death within the same patient groups by 89%. The hope is that these drugs could provide promising new weapons in our arsenal against covid, especially because they are easily stored and can be taken at home. The US government has already spent billions of dollars to secure large supplies of both new pills.
Filed under: General Problems | 1 Comment »
Pfizer COVID Vaccine Antibodies May Disappear in 7 Months, Study Says
Posted on November 30, 2021 by Pharmaciststeve
Pfizer COVID Vaccine Antibodies May Disappear in 7 Months, Study Says
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/960214
Antibody levels may wane after 7 months for people who got the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to a new study published on the bioRxiv preprint server.
In the study, which hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed or formally published in a medical journal, researchers analyzed blood samples from 46 healthy young or middle-aged adults after receiving two doses, and then 6 months after the second dose.
“Our study shows vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine induces high levels of neutralizing antibodies against the original vaccine strain, but these levels drop by nearly 10-fold by 7 months,” the researchers told Reuters.
In about half of the adults, neutralizing antibodies were undetectable at 6 months after the second dose, particularly against coronavirus variants such as Delta, Beta, and Mu.
Neutralizing antibodies only make up part of the body’s immune defense against the virus, Reuters noted, but they are still “critically important” in protecting against coronavirus infections.
“These findings suggest that administering a booster dose at around 6 to 7 months following the initial immunization will likely enhance protection,” the study authors wrote.
BioNTech said a new vaccine formula will likely be needed by mid-2022 to protect against future mutations of the virus, according to the Financial Times.
“This year, [a different vaccine] is completely unneeded, but by mid-next year, it could be a different situation,” Ugur Sahin, MD, co-founder and CEO of BioNTech, told the news outlet.
Current variants, namely the Delta variant, are more contagious than the original coronavirus strain but not different enough to evade current vaccines, he said. But new strains may be able to evade boosters.
“This virus will stay, and the virus will further adapt,” Sahin said. “This is a continuous evolution, and that evolution has just started.”
Filed under: General Problems | 1 Comment »
If you want to share your #PatientStory please send to NationalPainCouncil.org.
Posted on November 30, 2021 by Pharmaciststeve
Vanderbilt Burn Center (Nashville) refused to provide the young patient sufficient pain medication for SIX WEEKS
Posted on November 29, 2021 by Pharmaciststeve
Vanderbilt Burn Center (Nashville) refused to provide the young patient sufficient pain medication for SIX WEEKS
A Davidson County Court in Nashville Tennessee ruled in favor of a family whose minor child was denied proper treatment in January 2020. The ten-year-old victim had suffered severe burns in a tragic mishap. Staff at Vanderbilt Burn Center refused to provide the young patient sufficient pain medication while performing a procedure that requires cleaning and dressing burn wounds.
At the time of treatment, Bob Sheerin, a Chronic/Intractable Pain Advocate and Vice President of Operations with the American Pain and Disability Foundation, was himself receiving burn treatment in an adjoining room. He heard the agonizing screams of the victim and was compelled to help.
Sheerin, 52, Hopkinsville, Kentucky, stepped in to assist the 10-year-old patient at the burn unit of Vanderbilt Medical Center, Nashville. Sheerin was responsible for obtaining an attorney and securing funds to help the minor child and her mother navigate a system that is rigged against the poor and the uninsured.
“I have accomplished a lot advocating; not more than others, just my fair share.” said, Sheerin outside of the Tennessee courthouse. “This is something any of our great Chronic/Intractable pain advocates would have taken on.”
Mr. Sheerin has been advocating for chronic pain patients for nearly a decade and says this is his greatest accomplishment.
The family was awarded a settlement in court and money paid to the attorney was donated back to the family to establish a college fund.
Mr. Sheerin goes on to say, ”People in this country need to start opening their eyes to what the government is doing to people in need of life-saving pain medications. The way we can help children in the future is to get rid of this false narrative put forth by the CDC 2016 guidelines.”
HENRY TAYLOR/THE LEAF-CHRONICLE
Bob Sheerin VP
Filed under: General Problems | 3 Comments »
Opioid Crackdown Leaves Pain Patients in Limbo
Posted on November 29, 2021 by Pharmaciststeve
Opioid Crackdown Leaves Pain Patients in Limbo
https://doctorsofcourage.org/opioid-crackdown-leaves-pain-patients-in-limbo/
An article on Thehill.com by Mark Rothstein, J.D. and Julia Irzyk, J.D was published today. The Opioid Crackdown Leaves Chronic Pain Patients in Limbo includes some truths, but it’s a real shame they ended it with worthless recommendations. They need to be informed of where the problem actually lies.
Interesting that Julia’s birth name is Rothstein. I wonder if they are related. Also, the name Rothstein is of German Jewish ethnicity. So they should especially be informed, if they haven’t recognized it already, of the Hitlerist attacks on doctors, minorities, and the expendable populations of citizens.
In the beginning of their article they point out that prescription writing has been reduced by almost half since 2012, while overdose deaths have more than doubled and pain patients have been abandoned. But notwithstanding the impact of those truths, they then move into continuing the misinformation that won’t help bring pain management back.
The umbrella untruth that they still spread is that opioids are the basic cause of addiction, with phrases like “dangerous overprescribing of opioids” by doctors that are not pain management specialists. Folks, you don’t have to be specialized in pain management to know how to prescribe opioids.
Then the coup de grace is that they then start talking CDC guidelines. Folks, the CDC guidelines are not the culprit, nor is changing them the solution. We have the solution here on DoC. They need to be informed and use their abilities to spread what WILL change the situation, not just chase the rabbit.
The REAL Solution
The elephant in the room is the Controlled Substance Act. This MUST be repealed. And the truth is that NO DRUG CAUSES ADDICTION!! Drugs have been the target simply for racist, monetary, government motives. I would hope that, with the right information at their fingertips, that these two prominent people in the media would take this and run with it. So get your emails and tweets going to these two people, and point them to Doctorsofcourage.org
Here’s a quick example:
Dr. ___,
I appreciate your recognizing the problem with the current government attacks on opioids. But your conclusion and solution are not the answer. Opioids are simply the current government drug target, as cannabis was in 1970. Your pointing to the CDC guidelines is a rabbit chase that will get us nowhere. The answer is on www.doctorsofcourage.org. Drugs themselves do not cause addiction. And until we recognize the REAL cause, the rate of addiction will continue to climb exponentially. I suggest to you that you recognize the elephant in the room—the Controlled Substance Act—and get on board with Doctors (and Patients) of Courage to get the real solution out to the public. Thank you.
Contact Information:
Mark Rothstein, J.D.: mark.rothstein@louisville.edu
Dr. Rothstein is the Herbert F. Boehl Chair of Law and Medicine and Director of the Institute for Bioethics, Health Policy and Law at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
Julia Irzyk, J.D.: https://twitter.com/juliairzyk
Dr. Irzyk, is an advocate for individuals with disabilities and coauthor of “Disabilities and the Law”
Filed under: General Problems | 1 Comment »