The Latest Headlines About Pharma Companies And Their Products
The Defender’s Big Pharma Watch delivers the latest headlines related to pharmaceutical companies and their products, including vaccines, drugs, and medical devices and treatments
The views expressed in the below excerpts from other news sources do not necessarily reflect the views of The Defender. Our goal is to provide readers with breaking news that affects human health and the environment.
As Measles Cases Rise, Views of MMR Vaccine Safety and Effectiveness — and Willingness to Recommend It — Drop
The U.S. is experiencing the worst year for measles cases in more than three decades, with nearly 2,000 cases confirmed by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 49 outbreaks spanning 44 states, with major outbreaks in Texas, along the Utah-Arizona border, and most recently, in South Carolina, where hundreds of people who were exposed to the virus have been quarantined.
As U.S. cases rise, a new nationally representative panel survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania finds a small but significant drop in the proportion of the public that would recommend that someone in their household get the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella.
The survey of 1,637 U.S. adults, which was conducted Nov. 17 through Dec. 1, finds drops in both the perceived safety and effectiveness of the MMR vaccine, as well as for two other vaccines, for seasonal flu and COVID-19.
With FDA Approval of Wegovy Pill, New Era of Oral GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs Begins
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday approved a daily pill version of Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drug Wegovy, introducing a new option for how patients can take medicines in a class of drugs that has revolutionized obesity treatment.
The drug, which Novo Nordisk calls simply the Wegovy pill, uses the same active ingredient — semaglutide — that powers the original Wegovy, along with its sister drug for diabetes, Ozempic. Both Wegovy and Ozempic, which mimic the hormone GLP-1, are given as weekly injections, as are rival drugs from Eli Lilly, called Zepbound and Mounjaro.
Altogether, about 1 in 8 U.S. adults say they’re currently taking one of the medicines, according to data from health policy research group KFF. The Wegovy pill showed roughly similar weight loss and side effects in clinical trials as the Wegovy shot, and will be available by prescription in the U.S. in January, according to Novo Nordisk.
The FDA Often Doesn’t Test Generic Drugs for Quality Concerns, so ProPublica Did
It’s a fundamental tenet of health care in America: Generic drugs are just as safe and effective as brand-name ones. The only difference is the price. “The same high quality, strength, purity and stability,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration assured the public years ago as factories started to flood the market with their own, cheaper versions of commonly used drugs, from antibiotics to cancer treatments. But the agency stakes that promise on a risky gamble.
It doesn’t routinely test generics for quality concerns or to see if they’re working as effectively as brand-name medications. Instead, the agency heavily relies on drug companies, often in countries as far away as India and China, to do their own testing and to report any problems.
In recent years, independent labs, universities and the U.S. Department of Defense have raised alarms about contaminants and other quality failures in a number of generic medications. So have doctors, who in some cases have gone on to create their own ad hoc lists of drugs they trust and those they learned to avoid.
Popular Heartburn Drugs Linked to Kidney Damage
Heartburn is one of the most common digestive complaints in the world — yet the pills millions take to relieve it typically do more harm than good. Proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs, are marketed as safe, convenient fixes for reflux and indigestion. But these drugs were designed for short-term use, not as daily maintenance. When taken long term, they interfere with essential digestive and metabolic processes that ripple throughout your body.
Many people faithfully take their PPI each morning, convinced it’s protecting their stomach, when in reality it’s slowly eroding another vital system — their kidneys. Few realize that the discomfort they’re treating with acid suppression stems not from too much acid, but often from too little. By shutting down acid production, PPIs mask the symptom while worsening the underlying problem, leaving your body dependent and depleted over time.
What’s more, research continues to expose deeper consequences of chronic PPI use — from nutrient deficiencies and mitochondrial dysfunction to organ damage. These findings challenge the long-held assumption that heartburn is a simple acid issue.
A comprehensive review published in Cureus analyzed 28 studies published between 2013 and 2023 to understand how PPIs affect kidney function.
These drugs — prescribed for acid reflux, ulcers, and indigestion — were found to cause both sudden and long-term damage to the kidneys. The review revealed that PPIs are not only overprescribed but also misused for longer than necessary, often without proper medical supervision.
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Tom
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The horrors and torture of common medicine continue.
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