Fines Heavy for “Off Label” Promotion

Monday, July 2nd saw the largest recorded fine for health care fraud in the United States.

In an article by ProPublica, it is reported that GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay a $3 billion fine for promoting some drugs for their “off label” uses. GSK is not the first company to be charged with off label fraud (see more in the original article) but this most recent fine is making headlines. A statement by the US Department of Justice reads as follows:

“Global health care giant GlaxoSmithKline LLC (GSK) agreed to plead guilty and to pay $3 billion to resolve its criminal and civil liability arising from the company’s unlawful promotion of certain prescription drugs, its failure to report certain safety data, and its civil liability for alleged false price reporting practices, the Justice Department announced today.”

The fine is a result of marketing the drugs Paxil, Wellbutrin, and Avandia for uses unapproved by the FDA.

Have you been prescribed or told about alternate uses for common medications?

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Doughnut Hole Patients 57% More Likely to Stop Taking Heart Meds

A new study by the the Harvard Medical School, Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and CVS Caremark shows disconcerting results about the Medicare “Doughnut Hole.”

The study focused on senior citizens with prescriptions for heart medicine. It found that those who reach the gap in their coverage and are then required to pay full price for their medicines are 57% more likely to stop taking their prescriptions. These medicines are used for high-risk ailments such as high blood pressure and heart disease.

A new blog post by NPR quotes the study as saying, “Researchers have observed increased rates of drug discontinuation and adherence across both essential and potentially unnecessary drugs but have not observed higher rates of switching to generic drugs during the coverage gap.”

Switching to the generic version of a medication once coverage for the brand name stops could be a low cost option for many patients.

Have you had to stop medications because you reached your Medicare limit?

Cost of Brand Name Drugs Rises, As Generic Remains Same

In a new report by AARP, it was found that “even with substantial decreases in the prices of generic drugs, the average annual cost of drug therapy continued to rise.” The latest article detailing these findings reports that cost of brand name drugs is continuing to rise despite the general inflation rate of -0.3 percent.

Over 500 medications were evaluated and the majority of them are most used by Medicare beneficiaries. AARP reports that from 2004 through 2009 the retail cost of brand name prescription drugs rose by 25.6 percent, while the generic versions of the same medicine only rose 13.3 percent.

Have you seen an increase in your prescription costs? Have you considered moving to the generic alternative?

Check out AARP’s latest Rx Price Watch Report

How Health Literate Are You?

A recent blog post by Chris Flemming is drawing attention to how little most Americans understand about their health conditions. The federal government is behind a new push to rectify the problem. The Health and Human Services (HHS) Department has launched three new initiatives to make gaining access to this information easier for the general public. The Affordable Care Act, National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy, and the Plain Writing Act of 2010 are all designed to do just that.

Flemming points out that if a patient does not understand their condition, prescription, or care instructions they can fall victim to unnecessary hospital or emergency room visits, as well as inadequate  “overall health status.”

To find out more about these initiatives please see Howard Koh’s original article.

How often do  you lave the doctor’s office without fully understanding what the outcome was? Do you find it is easy to get the answers you need?

Pfizer Birth Control Recall

An error in the packaging of birth control has led to  a major recall by Pfizer. CNN reports that over 1 million packets may not prevent pregnancies because the order of the pills is not correct. The recall list states that the problem is with  its Lo/Ovral-28 brand tablets, and generic-brands Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol tablets distributed under the Akrimax Rx Products name.

To see a complete list of the packets recalled please visit Pfizer’s website.

15 Ways To Improve Your Cholesterol

Prevention Magazine released a new list of easy ways one can reduce their LDL cholesterol level. 15 simple and healthy habits are listed below, but please keep in mind, speak to your physician before making any drastic life changes!

See the full article for more information.

1. Eat more nuts
2. Work on building your endurance! Excercise is always a good practice
3. Focusing exercise on your lower body helps build your HDL (the good cholesterol). Your legs will thank you!
4. Take a daily calcium supplement
5. Eat more white fish
6. Look into policosanol  tablets
7. Drink more cranberry juice
8. Add grapefruits to your diet
9. Eat more frequent small meals rather than spaced out large meals
10. Try oatmeal cookies
11. Choose margarine (fat-free) over butter
12. Find concord grapes and add them to any meal you can
13. Ask your pharmacist about phytosterols and phytosanols
14. Skip the meat (every now and then substitute greens, fruits, or beans for your main meat course)
15. Pick dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate

Think you already know everything about cholesterol? Test yourself

Taking Your Medications as Prescribed Not Only Saves Your Health, But Your Wallet Too

A new article appeared today in the Chicago Tribune to help remind patients  that taking their medicines as scheduled will not only help with the illnesses they are prescribed for, but can also help keep money in your wallet.

In a study referenced in the article, it is believed $290 billion was spent by the US in healthcare that could have been prevented had medicines been taken on schedule. Missing doses or stopping medications can have serious unintended effects. Aside from unnecessary hospital stays other problems can include: viruses and bacteria becoming resistant to anti-biotics, unintended pregnancies for patients on birth control, and those who skip blood pressure or diabetes medications can even suffer a stroke or death.

The National Consumer’s League has started the Script Your Future campaign which encourages everyone to sign an online petition making their pledge to maintain their prescriptions.

Use these tips to help remember your medications:

• Set a daily alarm to remind you
• Look into low cost or generic alternatives if cost is a problem
• Don’t be afraid to ask your doctor or pharmacist questions if side-effects are a concern
• Get a pillbox and fill it with your daily prescriptions so you know if you have taken your daily dose

What do you find is the biggest obstacle to taking your medications as prescribed?

Progressive Rx Offering Free Pre-Natal Vitamins

ProgressiveRx has announced Bright Start, a program that will provide free prenatal vitamins to pregnant women in the 20 lowest-income counties in America.

“It’s abundantly clear from the daily news that millions of Americans are going through incredibly hard times right now,” said Hayden Hamilton, founder of ProgressiveRx. “Our goal has always been to help those who can’t afford the medications they need, but given the current economic climate, we wanted to do something more. We feel that helping pregnant women give their newborns a healthy start in life is the best way to do that.”

Bright Start will be available in counties in Alaska, Arizona, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas. If successful, the company hopes to expand into additional counties in the near future.

While Bright Start will only be available to pregnant women with zip codes in the 20 counties, the rest of the eligibility criteria will be based on an honor system. The company requests that only mothers who cannot afford prenatal vitamins, and don’t have access to them through Medicaid, use the program.

Eligible mothers can request a coupon code by calling 1-800-400-0707 or by emailing brightstart@progressiverx.com and then ordering them through the website www.progressiverx.com . The coupon provides a free 90-day supply of prenatal vitamins plus free shipping. The company hopes to work with clinics and hospitals to have free vitamins locally available before the end of the year.

Bright Start begins November 14 in the following counties: Wade Hampton, Alaska; Apache, Arizona; Clay, Kentucky; East Carroll Parish, Louisiana; Jefferson, Mississippi; Sioux, North Dakota, McKinley, New Mexico; Buffalo, Corson, Dewey, Shannon, Todd and Zieback, South Dakota; Dimmit, Hudspeth, La Salle, Maverick, Presidio, Starr, and Willacy, Texas.

GlaxoSmithKline Accuse of Selling Tainted Product; Settles for $750 Million

The big news in the pharmaceutical world this week is GlaxoSmithKline’s $750 million settlement for selling tainted products.  I first heard about it from the New York Times.  It especially touched a nerve for me, because working in the customer service department of ProgressiveRX, I talk with a lot of people who are nervous about ordering medications that were manufactured in India.

It’s kind of scary when we see these stories in the news.  Most media outlets spend a lot of time trying to convince consumers that the only way to obtain safe medications is through purchasing brand names or approved generics via your local pharmacy.  On the other hand, we’ll get the occasional stories about a brand-name manufacturer having to pay millions of dollars in fines to the FDA for some violation or another (check out the NY Time’s side graphic of the largest settlements between drug makers and the government).

What do stories like this bring up for you?  Do they make you more distrustful of the message that only brand names are safe to consume, or do they make you more nervous about purchasing medications in general, from any source?