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HEALTH AND MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE LAW AUSTRALIA
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Drugs, Pharmaceuticals - News
22.11.07 NSW: Parents successfully settle drug case: Misoprostol RELIEF gave way to emotion as the parents of a six-year-old boy born with cerebral palsy as the result of a controversial drug trial, settled their cases against Wagga Wagga Base Hospital. Source: SMH 22.11.07 UP TO 12 mothers who had disabled children after a drug trial could sue a hospital for millions of dollars after it agreed to pay more than $750,000 to a woman whose child was born with cerebral palsy. Source: The Age 19.11.07. More than 1,000 women may have taken part in the trial at hospitals across Australia, including 250 women at Wagga Wagga Base Hospital. Source: ABC news 21.11.07.
08.02.07 Doctors to face ban on drug advertising IT IS inappropriate for doctors to appear in advertisements endorsing drugs, the Federal Government has decided, and the contentious practice will be banned. As the financial links between doctors and drug companies remain firmly in the spotlight, Assistant Minister for Health and Ageing Christopher Pyne yesterday announced the days of doctors and other health professionals being paid by drug companies to endorse over-the-counter drugs would be over within a month. 18.10.06 ADHD drug risk for kids
17.10.06 Researcher urges govts to get tough on drug companies
22.09.06 Transparency best safeguard
17.08.06 Drug firms fight move to reveal spending on doctors Drug companies are rebelling against a directive by the competition watchdog that would force them to reveal how they wine and dine doctors. Industry body Medicines Australia has appealed to the Australian Competition Tribunal to overturn a condition under which companies would have to report every six months on the education events hosted for doctors. See full article: Annabel Stafford, Canberra (The Age, 17 August 2006) Pharma defies watchdog
16.08.06 Fears over hand-made hormones THOUSANDS of menopausal women are being prescribed dangerous hormone therapies that have not been approved for use and may contain banned substances.
Women are being urged to avoid so-called natural hormone replacement therapy (NHRT), also known as bio-identical hormones, because of safety fears. Two cases of uterine cancer in women taking NHRT have been referred to the Therapeutic Goods Administration in the past year by Dr John Eden, director of the Sydney Menopause Centre. Dr Eden said the "hand-made hormones" were prepared by pharmacists known as "compounding chemists" without scrutiny. Although the process is legal, it is beyond the regulatory control of the TGA and state-based pharmacy boards. "There's a whole stack of women being treated out there with hand-made hormones. It's untested hormone replacement therapy," he said.
What price our health? Is the pharmaceutical industry blocking government attempts to lower the price of medicines? Annabel Stafford investigates. (The Age, 16 August 2006)
Judge finds sex ads false FORMER TV host Ian Turpie was happy to be part of a deceitful advertisement, in which he claimed he was losing his sexual potency, "provided the price was right", a Federal Court judge said yesterday. Turpie, who spruiked a nasal spray for the Advanced Medical Institute in newspaper advertisements, later became embroiled in legal action launched by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The Federal Court was told that Turpie never used AMI's spray to treat impotence or erectile dysfunction and that the interview, as described in the ad, never took place. Justice Kevin Lindgren found AMI had engaged in deceptive or misleading conduct by publishing the advertisement. (The Age, 16 August 2006)
09.08.06 The true cost of a free lunch Should we be worried about drug company funding of GPs' education? See article by Melissa Fyfe, Carol Nader and Richard Baker. The Age, 9 August 2006. 27.07.06 Freebies: drug firms to tell all Drug firms told to detail lavish events 26.07.06 Doctor treats to be disclosed
25.07.06 The sugar-coated pill Critics such as Peter Mansfield, from the drug marketing watchdog group Healthy Skepticism, are concerned about $200-a-head dinners because of the strong scientific evidence that shows drug company promotion, including wining and dining, can be bad for patients' health. Evidence to support this view can be found on the Healthy Skepticism website (www.healthyskepticism.org), among other places. (Australian, 25 July 2006) 21.07.06 SWISS drug giant Roche has been accused of breaching the pharmaceutical industry's code of conduct by providing lavish meals to doctors at several of Australia's top restaurants. In one case, Roche spent more than $65,000 taking more than 200 top cancer specialists and others to dinner at the exclusive Guillaume at Bennelong, inside the Sydney Opera House. The dinner cost more than $200 a head. Karen McLeod, a former partner of one of those present, has blown the whistle on the lavish wining and dining - a practice that the industry has claimed is a thing of the past. Ms McLeod said the doctors behaved liked naughty schoolboys. During one conversation, she claimed, they joked about how there seemed to be no limit to the price of bottles of wine that the drug company representatives would buy for them. She told The Australian she was "disgusted by the gluttony" and that in her view doctors accepting drug company meals was wrong, particularly public hospital specialists making decisions about expensive cancer therapies. Roche's top-selling cancer drug sells for $10,000 per course of treatment. The Australian Consumers Association said doctors should be held accountable when they were prescribing such high-cost drugs at taxpayers' expense, and should not accept drug company meals. ACA spokeswoman Viola Korczak said the industry's self-regulatory code was clearly ineffective and governments should step in and regulate drug company interaction with doctors. Peter Mansfield, from the global drug marketing watchdog Healthy Skepticism, claimed Roche had breached the industry's code requiring "simple and modest" meals, and yesterday he made a formal complaint to Medicines Australia. After questioning other companies, Dr Mansfield is concerned none may have the capacity to enforce the code, as none have disclosed limits on what they will spend on meals. Ian Kerridge, an ethicist at the University of Sydney, said "the cost of these events ultimately contributes to the costs of drugs, which is borne by patient directly, or indirectly, through government health budgets". Source: Ray Moynihan, The Australian online 21.07.06.
10.07.06 Medical boards asked to investigate Ritalin The Queensland Medical Board has signalled it will consider action against doctors who break manufacturers instructions in any investigation it launches.
08.07.06 Inquiry into Ritalin for preschoolers THE federal Government will order an investigation into whether doctors are placing children at risk by prescribing Ritalin to preschoolers against the advice of ADHD drug manufacturers. Parliamentary secretary for health Christopher Pyne said he was "very concerned" by revelations that some doctors were prescribing Ritalin and other methylphenidate stimulants to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children under six. Doctors should not prescribe Ritalin for children under six as the "safety and efficacy in this age group have not been established", a spokeswoman for pharmaceutical manufacturer Novartis told The Weekend Australian. Source: Roy Eccleston, The Australian online.
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