GLG News by Diovan Prescribers: Cardiologists

The  potential market for treatment of lipids(cholesterol)continues to grow. Recent recommendations regarding potential for treatment of children as young as 8 are controversial, primarily because of the lack of data to demonstrate efficacy in terms of "hard" endpoints(i.e. mortality/MI)vs. morbidity...

Over the past 15 years there have been several long-term trials which have provided evidence that reduction of systolic pressure in an elderly population prevents the cognitive decline associated with ageing. The most recent studies have demonstrated the prevention of Alzheimer's-like symptoms. These...

Many times, nursing homes will call doctors practically demanding some sort of medicne for delusional or combative patients.  They will even suggest medicines by name.  Often, these phone calls occur at 3:00 AM, and the doctor gives a quick yes to give them an answer and get back to sleep....

Third party payers benefit the most from EHRs because it makes charts easier to audit   The cost of implementing an EHR is excessive for a small practice of 2-5 physicians.

The info that tekturna HCT works twice as well as HCTZ alone is not earth shattering.  Of course it's better.  That can be said of any HCT/medicine combination

Novartis was able to show that combining tekturna with HCTZ provided significant improvement in blood pressure and did so safely.  They also showed that it provides better 24 hour coverage and coverage if patients miss a dose or take it late, this is a significant improvement over its competitors...

Patients with rare malignancies, especially those with already metastatic diseases, are being treated with novel oncologic agents.  However, as is being seen with many drugs, the hemodynamic consequences of these agents, in many cases a rise in blood pressure, may lead to cardiovascular consequences. ...

The Supreme Court has rejected the use of experimental drugs by the dying patients on the grounds that "The framers (of the US constitution) understood that the pursuit of life is an inalienable right that should not be abridged without due process of law." Over the years our patients with terminal...

Challenges to pharmaceutical patents prior to the "official" expiration of the patent are proliferating; if they are allowed to stand, that is, if the "original" patent is successfully voided one of the crucial financial incentives to novel pharmaceutical research will be abridged and the "profit" motive...

The meta-analysis of the rimonabant trials points to an increase in psychiatric diagnoses. What is missing in this report is the numberical and statistical significance of the findings.  This debate needs more rigor; the type of rigor that is applied to cardiac endpoints, needs to be applied here. ...