Diabetes Day held last Friday had its priorities all wrong. Rather than calling for more innovative drug treatments its goal should have been to explore why diabetics continue to be treated by a system that ignores patients’ wishes and allows ineffective and dangerous treatments to proliferate, while safe and effective ones languish for lack of […]
Drug problems: what plays in America stays in America
May 20, 2014 by 5 Comments
Over the years I have found the ability of the Atlantic to have dulling effect on the sensibilities of doctors and the media remarkable. It’s a phenomenon that only affects prescription drugs.While we in the UK eagerly follow every twist and turn in American cultural life, illegal pharmaceutical activities that may have serious implications for […]
Hidden dangers of diabetic drugs exposed – yet again
June 10, 2013 by 3 Comments
Incretins are the newest and most expensive class of blockbuster diabetes drug but according to a remarkably through investigation just published by the BMJ (British Medical Journal) the risk that they could cause pancreatic cancer is much greater than patients and doctors have been told. The biggest sellers in the UK are Byetta (exenatide), Victoza […]
We know how to cut diabetes deaths. So why aren’t we doing it?
April 10, 2013 by 6 Comments
Who’s responsible for our diabetes/obesity epidemic? Is it those fat lazy bastards who eat crap food and sit on the couch all day or is it the drug companies that spend billions researching and marketing drugs of limited effectiveness or dubious safety or is the government that allows commercial interest to create a food supply […]
Silver Bullet Awards: the winners
March 31, 2013 by 7 Comments
OK the judges have finished their deliberations, all the votes are in and it is time to roll out the blushing red carpet of shame and announce the worthy winner of this year’s Silver Bullet for the most egregious medical quackery. Many thanks to all of you who took time out from your busy on-line […]
Big oil and big pharma: brothers in harms
January 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I got to thinking about big pharma’s similarities with big oil reading Fred Pearce’s article in New Scientist this week. It was about plans for a massive pipeline – Keystone XL – to deliver Canadian tar sands to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. There were the obvious and familiar dangers – the large carbon […]
The link between hurricane Sandy and junk food
November 12, 2012 by 2 Comments
The bitterness of US the election and the damage wrought by hurricane Sandy don’t have an obvious connection. But in the Guardian last week author and activist Naomi Klein argued that one thread linking them was the ability of large corporations to avoid paying for their mistakes. It’s an analysis that also provides a useful […]
You can’t even trust Lucozade and that matters
July 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Did you register the huge 3 billion dollar fine recently slapped on GlaxoSmithKline, Britain’s biggest drug company and manufacturer of Lucozade ? And if so, did you briefly wonder whether it was enough? After all, hiding data that your product can kill people and making unsupported claims about safety would normally be enough to put […]
Evidence based medicine. Blind but not in a good way
July 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Imagine you had bought a new house but after a few months the flow of water from the taps began to slow and within a few weeks it was down to a trickle. So you call the builders and they say, no worries, Evidence Based Plumbing Services will be with you within the hour. A […]
Can diabetes societies prevent diabetes?
June 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
As you enter the vast conference centre – half a mile or more end to end – hosting the 79th Scientific Session of the American Diabetes Association in Philadelphia, your first sight on the left is a Dunkin’ Donuts store. Up the escalator brings you to the ADA’s mission statement which reads in part: “to […]
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