GLG News by Gardasil Prescribers (US)

Finally, a recommendation that an available test and treatment NOT be used, under circumstances where there is little to be gained and much to be lost.

Just like expensive, do-everything end-of-life care, like unlimited imaging studies, like newest drugs, patients want it all. This is one of the attitudes which causes the US to spend far more than other developed countries for far less efficient and cost-effective health care.

There is already a bounty of data to support anti-retroviral (and other) HIV medications in post-exposure prophylaxis, be it in infants born to HIV-positive mothers; intra-partum prophylaxis to HIV-positive women in active labor; and to healthcare workers (and others) exposed to HIV from accidental...

(There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.) Just like the electronic devices which claim to stimulate constant muscle contractions, these pills seem to produce increased muscle metabolic activity, making the muscle "think" that it has been exercising. The animals in the study had increased endurance...

There is not much new here for those involved in clinical care of children, but it is good to have statistical support for what we have always taught about pollution and allergic disorders, especially asthma.

Treatment of atopic dermatitis has always been frustrating. Flare-ups, which are all too common, can be treated with topical steroids, but these cannot be used for prolonged periods without significant downside. And lubrication of the skin, the mainstay of maintenance therapy, is not always effective...

While the need for urgent care does not disappear during tough economic times, patients are far more selective about when they consider themselves sick enough to require medical care. With higher copayments, often $25-50, patients think twice before going to a physician for minor complaints--they might...

As in so many other instances, some potential side effects will only show up once the number of patients has grown far beyond the number studied in pre-marketing studies.

While I am sure that there are a few children with hereditary lipid disorders which should be treated aggressively and early with statins, the data is certainly not available to support routine treatment of every child with elevated lipid values.

If the same drug is available OTC, insurances won't cover the rx form, and patients will (continue to) self-treat with OTC meds, without even needing to see their doctor.