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Articles

4-24-07: Piero Antuono, M.D., leading Alzheimer's researcher, updates research on that disease and discusses the use of atypical anti-psychotics such as Risperdal in Alzheimer‘s patients (Etopia Medical News #137)

10-6-04: Harvard Medical School researcher George Church wants to lower the cost of individual genomic sequencing and usher in the era of "personalized medicine" (Etopia Medical News #136)

4-15-07: On the trail of Risperdal‘s off-label use (Etopia Medical News #135)

4-10-07: Rudy Rupak, founder and president, PlanetHospital, talks about the origins and operation of this leading “medical outsourcing” company (Etopia Medical News #134)

4-7-07: Is the U.S. Department of Justice investigating abuses of “off-label“ sales of Risperdal by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen, L.P.? (Etopia Medical News #133)

9-3-06: Gardasil®'s re-emergence in the news as possibly more effective than originally claimed recalls earlier interview with Dr. Rick Haupt at Merck talking about Gardasil® as a safe and effective vaccine against genital warts and cervical cancer caused by HPV, the human papillomavirus (Etopia Medical News #132)

8-14-06: Medical Interview Channel launches with conversations about bi-polar research, remote medical presence, and psilocybin research (Etopia Medical News #131)

7-28-06: Dan Bednarz calls for the creation of "Energy & Health Centers" to address effects of peak oil on public health and health care (Etopia Medical News #130)

7-27-06: Dr. Charles Grob at UCLA-Harbor Medical Center talks about his research with psilocybin for "existential anxiety" in seriously-ill cancer patients (Etopia Medical News #129)

7-20-06: Dr. Rick Haupt at Merck talks about Gardasil®, a safe and effective vaccine against genital warts and cervical cancer caused by HPV, the human papillomavirus (Etopia Medical News #128)

7-6-06: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil® on track for inclusion in Vaccine for Children (VFC) program; CDC spokesperson sees no "wave of public sentiment" against this breakthrough treatment for the prevention of cervical cancer (Etopia Medical News #127)

1-20-06: Iatrogen CEO Lee Morse talks about Iatrogen-Dow Chemical Company deal to provide Dow employees with RxWise adverse drug reaction protection system (Etopia Media Medical News Network #126)

1-8-06: Leading stem cell researcher Dr. Evan Snyder, Director of Stem Cell Research at the Burnham Institute, discusses Hwang scandal, calls for unblocking of $3 billion in Proposition 71 stem cell research funding (Etopia Media Medical News Network #125)

12-15-05: Dr. Evan Snyder, Director of Stem Cell Research at the Burnham Institute, says that the controversy swirling around the South Korean lab of Dr. Hwang Woo-Suk "slows us up" and that the race to be the first to successfully produce customized human stem cells may be on again (Etopia Media Medical News Network #124)

12-3-05: A Clostridium difficile (C. difficile, C. diff) retrospective (Etopia Media Medical News Network #123)

11-23-05: Bob Klein responds to yesterday's question about the possible "overselling" of Proposition 71 (Etopia Media Medical News Network #122/California Politics Today #477)

11-21-05: For lower generic drug prices, contact Jim Witt at Borg Drug in Ashby, Minnesota (Etopia Media Medical News Network #121)

11-15-05: Gilead and Roche end Tamiflu® dispute (Etopia Media Medical News Network #120/ Tamiflu® World #14)

11-15-05: Oocytes hit the fan as Schatten ends cooperation with Hwang over alleged unethical "egg recruitment" for cloning research (Etopia Media Medical News Network #119)

11-12-05: Allegations and reports concerning increased rate of dangerous blood clots in users of Ortho-McNeil's Ortho Evra transdermal birth-control patch highlight well-known relationship between estrogen use and such problems (Etopia Media Medical News Network #118)

11-11-05: Jason Mark, attorney at Parker and Waichman, talks about lawsuits against Ortho McNeil and Johnson & Johnson on behalf of clients allegedly injured by the use of the Ortho Evra™ birth control patch (Etopia Media Medical News Network #117)

11-10-05: Big surprise! Giant pharmaceutical company sells allegedly dangerous drug (Ortho Evra®), allegedly ignores risks, women die, belated warning issued. Everyone is "shocked, shocked" (Etopia Media Medical News Network #116)

11-9-05: Los Angeles County Public Health Director Jonathan Fielding talks about avian influenza ("bird flu") preparedness in the largest county in the U.S. (Etopia Media Medical News Network #115)

11-7-05: Vical answers questions about DNA vaccines (Etopia Media Medical News Network #114)

11-7-05: Tim Church, Communications Director for Washington State's Department of Health, talks about avian influenza ("bird flu") preparedness in that jurisdiction (Etopia Media Medical News Network #113)

11-6-05: Bleak prospects if avian influenza arises in Africa, but South Africa is bird flu-free as of mid-September (Etopia Media Medical News Network #112)

11-5-05: Chiron Corporation fouls up multiple times, is rewarded with key role in global response to possible H5N1 bird flu pandemic, and cashes out, while co-founder repeats discredited Proposition 71 economic promises at legislative hearing (Etopia Media Medical News Network #111)

11-3-05: Rick Greenwood, UCLA professor of public health, downplays chances of near-term avian influenza pandemic, while Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says Los Angeles is "taking the necessary precautions that we need to ensure the safety of the public" (Etopia Media Medical News Network #110)

10-30-05: Big circulation MSNBC-Newsweek avian influenza ("bird flu") article tries to be reassuring about anti-H5N1 vaccine development, but smaller circulation "Recombinant Commentaries" are not so upbeat (Etopia Media Medical News Network #109)

10-23-05: "People before profits" mind-set drives multi-faceted onslaught against Roche Pharmaceuticals, patent-holder on Tamiflu® (Etopia Media Medical News Network #108/ Tamiflu® World #10)

10-21-05: Ownership of Tamiflu® in doubt as Senator Schumer forces Roche to license rights to four generic manufacturers, three of which are already at each others' throats (Etopia Media Medical News Network #107/ Tamiflu® World #8)

10-17-05: Gilead Sciences, Inc., inventor of Tamiflu®, is seeking to terminate its 1996 agreement with Roche, which would result in the rights to Tamiflu held by Roche reverting to Gilead (Etopia Media Medical News Network #106/ Tamiflu® World #7)

10-16-05: "Brazilian diet pills" featuring amphetamines, tranquilizers, and generic Prozac® ruin users health while helping them lose weight (Etopia Media Medical News Network #105)

10-16-05: Star anise provides shikimic acid to make Tamiflu®; Roche and Michigan State University have developed a way to make it without the plant (Etopia Media Medical News Network #104/ Tamiflu® World #6)

10-16-05: Flu Wiki, an online "public health experiment," emerges to facilitate and encourage local responses to a global avian flu pandemic (Etopia Media Medical News Network #103/ Tamiflu® World #5)

10-15-05: Latest news about H5N1 resistance to Tamiflu® points to a combined zanamivir/oseltamivir strategy including Relenza (Etopia Media Medical News Network #102/ Tamiflu® World #4)

10-12-05: Some recent articles and blog posts about Tamiflu® (Etopia Media Medical News Network #101)

9-30-05: FDA's "pre-emption" intervention thwarted, Zoloft wrongful death/suicide lawsuit against Pfizer will proceed (Etopia Media Medical News Network #100)

4-7-05: Karen Barth Menzies of Baum Hedlund provides a comprehensive update of SSRI developments (Etopia Media Medical News Network #99

3-17-05: Karen Barth Menzies of Baum Hedlund explains their Paxil addiction case (Etopia Media Medical News Network #98

9-22-05: M. Lee Morse, President and Co-founder of Iatrogen, LLC, talks about RxWise, adverse drug reaction detection and prevention product (Etopia Media Medical News Network #97)

9-21-05: Dr. James Woodburn, Chief Medical Officer at MinuteClinic, talks about the new miniclinic niche for the delivery of health care services (Etopia Media Medical News Network #96)

9-12-05: Yulun Wang, Ph.D., CEO, InTouch Health, talks about the Shawnee Mission Medical Center deployment of the RP-6 "remote presence" medical robot (Etopia Media Medical News Network #95)

9-6-05: Rx Wars, Volume 1 (Etopia Media Medical News Network #94)

8-20-05: As Merck loses first of 4,000 Vioxx lawsuits, six Etopia Media Medical News Network articles from the September 2004-January 2005 period provide extensive details about the issue (Etopia Media Medical News Network #84)

7-4-05: Robin Williams, Ph.D., talks about bipolar disorder and its treatment with valproic acid (Etopia Media Medical News Network #83)

6-13-05: Bernard Siegel, Executive Director, Genetics Policy Institute, reports on the "Stem Cell Policy and Advocacy Summit: Sustaining the Mandate for Cures" in Houston, June 11-12, 2005, and a compendium of recent human embryonic stem cell news (Etopia Media Medical News Network #82)

6-8-05: Mardi Wormhoudt, Santa Cruz County, California, Supervisor, discusses Supreme Court medical marijuana decision, calls federal arrests of medical marijuana patients "the most bizarre and ridiculous priority" (Etopia Media Medical News Network #81)

5-27-05: Allan Zimmerman, President and CEO of PBM Navitus Health Solutions, talks about BadgerRx Gold program, while "Big Three" PBMs face legal challenges on kick-backs (Etopia Media Medical News Network #80)

5-25-05: Dr. Leon Kass, Chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics, discusses current issues in cloning and stem cell research (Etopia Media Medical News Network #79)

5-23-05: Wesley Smith, Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute, discusses the latest developments in embryonic stem cell/cloning research, terminology, and ethics (Etopia Media Medical News Network #78)

5-23-05: Stanford bio-ethicist Mildred Cho says properly-informed and financially-uncompensated "research donors" will still want to donate their eggs for embryonic stem cell/bio-medical research (Etopia Media Medical News Network #77)

5-20-05: Collaboration emerges among the human embryonic stem cell/cloning "Big Three": Hwang Woo-Suk, Gerald Schatten, and Ian Wilmut (Etopia Media Medical News Network #76)

5-20-05: Bernard Siegel, Executive Director, Genetics Policy Institute, previews "Stem Cell Policy and Advocacy Summit: Sustaining the Mandate for Cures" to be held in Houston, June 11-12, 2005, featuring Woo Suk Hwang and Gerald Schatten (Etopia Media Medical News Network #75)

5-20-05: Korean team led by Hwang Woo-suk creates 11 lines of human embryonic stem cells from afflicted patients; team's technical success may heighten debate over the ethics of "therapeutic cloning" (Etopia Media Medical News Network #74)

5-20-05: South Korea and U.K. advance in global hESC competition, while California's efforts are snarled in litigation (Etopia Media Medical News Network #73)

5-20-05: Who is Gerald Schatten? (Etopia Media Medical News Network #72)

5-20-05: Korean team led by Hwang Woo-suk creates 11 lines of human embryonic stem cells from afflicted patients; "egg farming" issues remain (Etopia Media Medical News Network #71)

5-19-05: Korean team led by Hwang Woo-suk creates 11 lines of human embryonic stem cells from afflicted patients; ethical issues remain (Etopia Media Medical News Network #70)

5-13-05: Calling drug company and FDA statements that re-imported drugs are unsafe a "totally illegitimate claim," spokesperson for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich explains how I-SaveRx program saves money for residents of Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas and Vermont (Etopia Media Medical News Network #69)

5-12-05: Bi-coastal dog days for hESC (human embryonic stem cell) research (Etopia Media Medical News Network #68/ California Politics Today #348)

5-11-05: California cannot sell $3 billion in embryonic stem cell research bonds until a lawsuit challenging its right to do so is resolved (Etopia Media Medical News Network #67/ California Politics Today #347)

5-9-05: LA-Rx program sets timetable for implementing bulk purchasing/drug discount card arrangements (Etopia Media Medical News Network #66)

5-4-05: Los Angeles City Council adopts "LA Rx" plan for bulk pharmaceutical purchasing (Etopia Media Medical News Network #65)

5-4-05: Dr. David Adamson, Chairman and CEO of Advanced Reproductive Care, Inc. (ARC), talks about egg donations for embryonic stem cell research (Etopia Media Medical News Network #64)

4-8-05: Neil Martin, MD, talks about the RP-6 robot trial in the Neurosurgery ICU at UCLA Medical Center, including 3 short clips (Etopia Media Medical News Network #63)

4-13-05: Warner C. Greene, MD, PhD, talks about using the A3G "antiviral shield" against HIV (Etopia Media Medical News Network #62)

4-8-05: Neil Martin, MD, talks about the RP-6 robot trial in the Neurosurgery ICU at UCLA Medical Center (Etopia Media Medical News Network #61) (QuickTime videos)

4-8-05: Neil Martin, MD, talks about the RP-6 robot trial in the Neurosurgery ICU at UCLA Medical Center (Etopia Media Medical News Network #60) (Windows Media videos)

4-7-05: Yulun Wang, Ph.D., CEO, InTouch Health, talks about the RP-6 "remote presence" medical robot (Etopia Media Medical News Network #59)

3-25-05: Roche Pharmaceuticals answers some questions about Tamiflu® (Etopia Media Medical News Network #58)

2-25-05: A Chiron retrospective (Etopia Media Medical News Network #57)

2-22-05: An avian flu retrospective (Etopia Media Medical News Network #56)

1-28-05: Researchers at the University of Chicago and Stanford University Medical Schools publish study showing that "increases in COX-2 inhibitor use among patients in whom NSAIDs could be used accounted for more than 63% of the growth in COX-2 inhibitor use during the period examined"

1-26-05: Paramount Pictures Chairman and Independent Citizens' Oversight Committee member Sherry Lansing says that the competition for where to put the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine is "now open to any place in the State of California" that meets all the other requirements specified by the ICOC's Site Search Subcommittee in its Request for Proposals (California Politics Today #284)

11-29-04: Piero Antuono, M.D., leading Alzheimer's researcher, discusses causes and treatment of this disease

12-19-04: COX-2 inhibitor Celebrex® increases "cardiac event" risk just as COX-2 inhibitor VIOXX® does, but Pfizer, unlike Merck, chooses not to recall it

11-18-04: Jim Allison, senior planner with the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA), discusses unwiring Amtrak (Unwired LA™ #6)

11-18-04: Morley Winograd, executive director of the Center for Telecom Management at USC and the chair of the Executive Broadband Panel, discusses the unwiring of Los Angeles (Unwired LA™ #4)

11-10-04: Dr. Eliseo Guallar, at Johns Hopkins University, discusses a new study showing that taking high-dosage Vitamin E supplements increases overall mortality rates

11-8-04: Church-State issues proliferate, while Stanford moves ahead under Proposition 71

11-6-04: The Lancet confirms what Etopia Media Medical News Network reported a month ago, that Merck & Company should have known about the cardiac health risks of VIOXX® as early as 2000

11-3-04: Dr. Dominick Iacuzio, Medical Director at Roche Pharmaceuticals, explains how anti-virals such as Tamiflu® work and how they can provide a more reliable defense against a possible avian influenza pandemic than a strategy relying on vaccination

11-1-04: California State Senator Tom McClintock blasts Proposition 71 as "perhaps the worst ballot measure that we've seen over the past decade"

10-31-04: U.N. plans avian influenza summit in Geneva for November 11th, while U.S. hires trouble-plagued Chiron to cook up test vaccines against deadly avian influenza pandemic

10-30-04: Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (CAG), heavily financed by the proton pump inhibitor industry, issues a "Position Statement" largely exonerating these profitable pharmaceuticals from any blame in increasing the risk of C. difficile infections in Canada or elsewhere

10-29-04: Calling the findings of JAMA-published study linking the use of "proton pump inhibitors," such as Prilosec®, Prilosec OTC®, and Nexium®, and H2-inhibitors, such as Zantac®, to increased risk of pneumonia "hypothesized," "weak at best," and "not news," Procter & Gamble spokesperson says its product will remain on the market without any formulation or marketing changes

10-29-04: Dr. Clifford McDonald, medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, updates the C. difficile story

10-28-04: Patients may be getting burnt, as bio-scientists play with fire

10-27-04: The Public Health Agency of Canada says its "ability to provide [flu vaccine] assistance is limited by US licensing requirements and the requirements of public programs in Canada"

10-27-04: Zapitall, Inc., a Canadian start-up, is now offering a means of fighting Clostridium difficile bacteria and other DNA-based pathogens using ultraviolet light

10-26-04: The FDA replies, showing no one any stinking documents

10-26-04: California Congressmember Henry Waxman attempts to pry crucial "FluGate"™ documents loose from recalcitrant Food and Drug Administration in order to get the true and complete story of Bush Administration culpability in flu shot factory shutdown crisis

10-25-04: Finding new ways to treat C. difficile: As Clostridium difficile bacterium ravages patients in Canadian hospitals, a new antibiotic and a new monoclonal antibody are readied to fight it, while a New Brunswick company offers an ultraviolet means of defending against this dangerous micro-organism

10-20-04: Physician survey shows that 95% of respondents consider the flu vaccine shortage to be a "crisis"; 37% fault Bush Administration's handling of that crisis

10-14-04: During final presidential debate, President Bush gets almost every fact wrong while discussing the current flu vaccine shortage, while forgetting that his Administration had previously blocked the importation of Canadian drugs on account of safety concerns

10-13-04: Santa Cruz County Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt explains its new policy allowing registered users of medical marijuana to possess up to three pounds of this dried plant

10-12-04: De-certified regular flu maker Chiron got a contract with federal agency to make and test H5N1 (bird flu) virus as part of the national response to a possible global avian influenza pandemic and hasn't said if its decertification will interfere with carrying it out

10-11-04: Could the bird flu virus H5N1 cause a 1918-class global influenza pandemic?

10-10-04: Plans for a future "Pharmastate" may be on hold in wake of disaster after disaster for global drug companies, creating an opportunity for re-thinking the relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the users of their products

10-9-04: Flu Vaccine Fiasco, a Federal Board of Best Medical Practices, and a New Voting Assignment for the Already-Swamped Election Assistance Commission

10-6-04: Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Director of Public Health for Los Angeles County, asks low-risk county residents to give their high-risk neighbors priority access to limited supply of flu shots

10-6-04: Harvard Medical School researcher George Church wants to lower the cost of individual genomic sequencing and usher in the era of "personalized medicine"

10-5-04: Harvard Medical School clinical instructor John Abramson discusses his Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine and its relevance to current medical issues

10-5-04: Absent a reprieve from U.K.'s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, Chiron will destroy its inventory of flu vaccine, says its president, Howard Pien, after "Britain's FDA" suspends its license to manufacture Fluvirin®

10-6-04: Black market in flu vaccine emerges, endangering those at risk

10-5-04: Harvard Medical School clinical instructor John Abramson discusses his Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine and its relevance to current medical issues

10-4-04: Hospital antibiotic use allows dangerous C. difficile to cause diarrhea and worse; profligate use encourages emergence of drug-resistant, more toxic versions

10-4-04: The New York Times says that the "reason for the greater risk [of cardiac events in VIOXX® users] is not known; EMMNN offers a possible reason

10-3-04: VIOXX® risks have been known for years, other COX-2 inhibitors may be equally dangerous

9-30-04: Merck spokesperson discusses its recall of VIOXX®

9-17-04: No treatment or vaccine for West Nile Virus yet, but help may be on the way

9-7-04: Dr. Eric Jakobsson talks about the new Center for Quantitative Biology at Princeton University and other topics in computational biology

9-2-04: Dr. David Botstein talks about the new Center for Quantitative Biology at Princeton University, where he will be Principal Investigator

9-2-04: Dr. Terry Smith discusses his research team's recent findings regarding auto-immune disease mechanisms

8-24-04: Dr. Theresa Smith, medical epidemiologist in CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, discusses the West Nile Virus, says it will be a permanent feature of contemporary life, and lists steps that can be taken to minimize its impact

7-23-04: Peter Barton Hutt rebuts Congressman Hinchey's claims that FDA interventions are unprecedented and inappropriate and addresses other drug issues

7-21-04: New York Congressman Hinchey Demands Straight Answers and a Pile of Documents from FDA Regarding their Chief Counsel, Daniel Troy, in Alleged Conflict of Interest Case

7-20-04: South Carolina Reporter Discusses the Christopher Pittman Case and Related Subjects

7-13-04: New York Congressman Accuses FDA Chief Counsel of Conflicts of Interest and Puts the Problem in Context

7-12-04: Australian Government spokesperson responds to "a number of inaccuracies" in New York Times article about pharmaceutical drug provisions in new U.S.-Australian Trade Agreement

6-16-04: Karen Barth Menzies, of Baum Hedlund, Discusses Pending Drug Litigation and Related Matters

6-11-04: Evidence is mounting that the bloom is off the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors and the corporations that make and sell them

6-10-04: 207,000 identities put at risk by thefts of two laptops at UCLA Medical Center

6-7-04: Pfizer settles multi-state Neurontin "off-label" marketing suit for $430 million

5-25-04: Zoloft Widow Explains How She Became One

5-12-04: Pennyslvania's Tom Snedden Discusses His State's "Academic Detailing" Efforts

9-28-03: Platelets of Mass Destruction: Bristol-Myers Squibb's Visual Distortions

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