Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD): a medical condition or a pharmaceutical firms invention ?

The race to create orgasm enhancing drugs to women has just begun.

Orgasm Inc – pix 08 (Photo credit: k-ideas)

Orgasm Inc – pix 10 (Photo credit: k-ideas)

An interesting article in Plos written by a Leonore Tiefer, a Professor of psychiatry, shed the light on how could be interacting the disease mongering in one hand and the sexual functions issues of women in a another hand. But the pitfall of such a position of suspecting systematically the pharmaceutical industry of being greedy could be to let those dysfunctions in the same uncomfortable situation as orphan diseases which as we know suffer from a lack of response (be they pharmaceutical responses or psychological responses, or technological response).

An article of press in the International Herald Tribune by Abby Ellin, in the July 4 edition takes a more balanced point a few when it reports in response to Dr Tiefer the words of Dr Marcus saying: “to say that women complains about their sex life because the pharmaceutical companies told them to is really insulting to women”

More content and references:

Plos site
Full text version of Pr Tiefer essay

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• More Women Seek Over-the-Counter Sexual Remedies (nytimes.com)
• Sexual Dysfunction and Medications: Exploring the Link (everydayhealth.com)
• Pharma reviving Boehringer’s female sexual dysfunction drug gets $17.6M (medcitynews.com)
• Libido Supplements and Vitamins for Sex – Do They Work? (everydayhealth.com)
• Low Testosterone and Your Sex Life (everydayhealth.com)
• GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Fined $3 Billion for Criminal and Civil Misconduct (investorguide.com)

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The gene sequencing start up is not for sale (even for $5.7 billion)

Molecular medicine.

BioCamp participants getting insights into the pharmaceutical industry (Photo credit: Novartis AG)

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Roche implements a strategy to treat the chronic diseases at a molecular level. To do so it has to acquire the start-us that possesses the relevant knowledge. Molecular engineering, including the DNA molecule, is far from the usual chemistry to which the traditional drugs makers are accustomed. In order to complete this goal the Swiss Drug maker leads a policy of takeover bid for American High Tech Companies settled in California (e.g. San Diego, for Illumina, Inc. or San Francisco for Genentech, Inc.) or Arizona ( Tucson for Ventana Medical Systems, Inc.). For now, Illumina has not yet been bought by Roche but it would be only a matter of time according to financial analysts. From a medical point of view Genentech makes human antibodies which are human molecules targeting the antigens located on the cell membrane. The action of such antibodies results in various therapeutic effects in chronic diseases. But unfortunately, as soon as the treatment is stopped the symptoms reappears. Ventana makes also antibodies, but for diagnosis purpose. The molecular diagnostic tests it produces aims to classified cancer cells in order to refine the individual prognosis of the disease (and to indicate the targeted treatment that is needed). More deeper in the molecular level, clerly in the heart of the cell and the identity of the person, Illumina discovered the method to sequence the genotype of the patient. It’s of the greatest importance for Roche to buy this start-up because in the future, treatment will be prescribed not only with regard of the condition diagnosed by the Doctors but also relatively to the genome of the patient.

Related articles

• Roche takes £3.7bn tilt at US gene firm Illumina (independent.co.uk)
• Roche plans a tender offer for DNA co Illumina (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Roche plans a tender offer for Illumina (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Roche plans a tender offer for Illumina (seattlepi.com)
• Weighing Roche’s Alternatives to an Illumina Deal (dealbook.nytimes.com)
• Roche $5.7 Billion Illumina Bid Exected to Rise (thestreet.com)
• Five Reasons Illumina Should Fight Roche’s Insulting Low-Ball Bid (xconomy.com)
• Roche Goes Hostile For Gene Sequencer Illumina (blogs.wsj.com)
• Illumina urges investors to shun $5.7B Roche bid (fiercebiotech.com)
• Roche Goes Hostile For Illumina: A Timeline & Chart (blogs.wsj.com)

The psychiatrist, venlafaxine and the Wyeth rep

Dr Carlat is a psychiatrist who was searching for redemption. What was his sin?

Image by mr lynch via Flickr

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

He compromised himself with sales reps in exchange of money by participating in a so-called continuous medical education targeted on antidepressants. Venlafaxine {effexor®) is a powerful short half-life antidepressant whose sides effects and adverse events are withdrawal syndrome, libido lowering and suicide risk if not carefully prescribed. In the New York Time’s paper, Dr Carlat simply describes how step by step he became aware of loosing his free will and his objective professional medical assessment. In as sort of punishment as well as rehabilitation he decided to create a blog and an organisation of drug industry free continuous medical education.
You are forgiven Dr Carlat!

read more here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/magazine/25memoir-t.html?pagewanted=all

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09letters-t-004.html?ref=magazine

 

http://carlatpsychiatry.blogspot.com/2007/11/dr-drug-rep.html

Related articles

• Research repeatedly shows that antidepressants give little benefit – but have many side effects (seroxatsecrets.wordpress.com)
• What if the drugs don’t work? (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)

healthcare companies vs countries

Country	Gross Domestic Product (GDP) US$ billions	Company	total annual  revenues US$ billions
Croatia	60,83	Johnson & Johnson	61,90
Dominican Republic	51,62	Pfizer	50,01
Slovenia	47,73	Roche	47,35
Burma	45,42	GlaxoSmithKline	45,83
Tunisia	44,27	Novartis	44,27
Guatemala	41,17	Sanofi	41,99
Ghana	32,32	AstraZeneca	32,81
Ethiopia	29,71	Abbott Laboratories	30,76
Panama	26,808	Merck & Co.	27,43
Cameroon	22,522	Bayer HealthCare	22,30
El Salvador	21,215	Eli Lilly	21,84
Paraguay	18,427	Bristol-Myers Squibb	18,81

Two days ago I participated to a medical congress where an interesting pharmacy professor listed to the impressed congress participants the incomes of pharmaceutical companies. Listening to the colossal amount of yearly incomes generated by the treatments of the inhabitants of the richest countries of the planet (poor countries can’t afford to pay for medics so the companies don’t develop their markets with them) I suddenly asked to myself if the gross income product of developing countries wouldn’t be overrated by the yearly incomes of the pharmaceutical companies. Back home I gathered the data to construct the table you can read above. Each drug company has the same economic power as at least one country.

 

Related articles:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pharmaceutical_companies
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

Lawsuit against a sales rep

For the first time a lawsuit charges not only the drug-maker but also a sales rep for not having accurately describe the adverse effects of a drug when visiting the provider. That’s America!