'Generic' biologic drugs appear comparable to brand-name counterparts

New analysis suggests common and costly medications made from living cells can be equivalent even when manufactured by different company. Generic forms of a biologic drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis appear to be as safe and effective as their brand-name counterparts, a new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health analysis suggests.

http://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2016/generic-biologic-drugs-appear-comparable-to-brand-name-counterparts.html

Tweeting for Trials

A new Twitter application by TrialX allows patients to use do-it-yourself social media to find clinical studies that match their health and disease profile. TrialX also lets patients with electronic personal health records like Microsoft HealthVault or Google Health import their information instead of filling out online pre-screening forms to be matched for trials. Clinical trials are an import mechanism for patients to gain access to experimental therapies particularly for diseases with few treatment options.

“Eighty percent of consumers who are online are searching for health information,” says Sharib Khan, co-founder of the new TrialX platform. As many as two million of them are looking specifically for clinical trials or new disease treatments. They frequently discover sites like ClinicalTrials.gov, the massive registry of the NIH, but can quickly get overwhelmed trying to sort through the listings to find a few potentially suitable trials. >Full Story: eCliniqua

. . .only 3% of cancer patients participate in trials but surveys have shown that many more would like to participate if only they were aware of trials and had a simple way to access trial information. >Full Story: TrialX Blog

As an alternative patients can now send a "Tweet" to TrialX (@trialx) with the keyword "CT" for clinical trial followed by pertinent health information as in the following examples:

@trialx CT find studies for my father, 62 with pancreatic cancer in Raleigh area

@trialx CT 55 yo female with multiple sclerosis in Chicago, Illinois

After sending the Tweet the TrialX application will send a reply Tweet in about 1-2 minutes with a link to the TrialX page listing matching clinical trials. If patients prefer not to divulge their health profile for privacy reasons they can simply "Follow" the @trialx on Twitter and send the Tweet as a direct message. They will then receive a private reply with their matching trials.

. . .this new Twitter-based TrialX [application]. . .provides consumers another simple and yet effective tool to find information that may give them access to a new life-saving treatment and an avenue for them to help further medical research. >Full Story: TrialX Blog

Patients Who Don't Take Their Medications Pay a Price

Patients who don't take their medications as prescribed have more frequent hospitalizations, and a higher risk of death.

"One study cited in the report found that the death rate among diabetic and heart patients was 7 percent among patients who took their medications diligently, but 12 percent among patients who did not. Hospitalization rates showed similar gaps. . .Doing more to educate patients about their disease and their medications, especially as they leave the hospital, also appears to work. . .Case managers and pharmacists can also play a role, some studies say. Lowering costs also can improve adherence." >Full Story: Boston.com

Keeping patients on their medicines is a pressing healthcare problem.

Tylenol Liver Toxicity – What You Need to Know

Unintentional overdose with acetaminophen, found in Tylenol and over 200 over-the-counter and prescription medicines, is the leading cause of acute liver failure in the U.S. and United Kingdom. Acetaminophen liver toxicity is an active area of public health concern by the FDA and a number of initiatives are planned or under consideration to reduce this risk. These initiatives include stronger warnings on over-the-counter acetaminophen-containing products, eliminating acetaminophen from certain combination prescription pain products, and reducing the maximum daily and individual dose recommendations. Acetaminophen liver toxicity is influenced by a number of factors including maximum daily dose, alcohol intake, nutritional status, and co-administration with certain other drugs. Here is what you need to know:

1. The maximum daily recommended dose in adults is currently 4 g per day. Take no more than 1 g per individual dose. To be safe adults should take less than this, but never more than directed. Consult your pediatrician for appropriate dosing information in infants and children.

2. Look for the generic name acetaminophen (not the brand name Tylenol) on labels of all medicines you take. Toxicity can easily occur by unknowingly combining multiple acetaminophen-containing prescription and over-the-counter medicines. Acetaminophen is found in hundreds of medicines including many prescription pain products (like Vicodan and Percocet) and over-the-counter (OTC) cold and flu medicines (like NyQuil, DayQuil, and Therflu). Acetaminophen is known as paracetamol in European countries.

3. Chronic alcohol ingestion, prolonged fasting, and poor nutritional status can greatly reduce the daily amount of acetaminophen needed to cause significant liver injury in patients.

4. Consult your pharmacist about whether any of the prescription drugs you take might interact negatively with acetaminophen.

The importance of reading the labels of all OTC products you take cannot be over emphasized.

Mom Always Said to Eat your Broccoli!

An article in the online Cancer Research journal reminds us to eat our broccoli -- Mom is always right. . .

A concentrated extract of freeze dried broccoli sprouts cut development of bladder tumors in an animal model by more than half. . . This finding reinforces human epidemiologic studies that have suggested that eating cruciferous vegetables like broccoli is associated with reduced risk for bladder cancer. . .

There is strong evidence that the protective action of cruciferous vegetables derives at least in part from isothyiocyanates (ITCs), a group of phytochemicals with well-known cancer preventive activities. >Full Story: ScienceDaily

The animals were given amounts of ITCs that are much higher than typically consumed daily by humans, however, the authors postulate that humans may require much lower amounts of ITCs to protect against bladder cancer. Other cruciferous vegetables containing ITCs include kale, collard greens, cabbage, and others.

Sweetener Worse than Sugar for Dieters?

Some recent animal data reported in the journal Behavioral Sciences suggests that consumption of artificial sweeteners may promote increased caloric intake by interfering with the body's normal response to sweet taste. . .

. . . rats [were given] set amounts of yogurt sweetened with either sucrose or saccharin, plus an unrestricted supply of ordinary rat food and water. Five weeks later, the saccharin-fed rats had eaten more food, gained more weight and put on more body fat than the others. The researchers also found that giving the sucrose-fed rats a high-calorie chocolate pudding treat made them eat less afterwards, whereas the saccharin-trained rats showed less restraint in what they ate next. >Full Story: NewScientist

Americans consuming foods containing sugar-free sweeteners increased from 70 million to 160 million between 1987 and 2000. Although these data don't prove a cause and effect relationship, obesity in the U.S. has increased from 15% to 30% over the same time period. Surgar-free food for thought. . .

Ginkgo Biloba -- Help or Harm

From the current online journal of Neurology comes a study of the impact of ginko biloba on memory in 118 men and women aged 85 and older. . .

. . .Ginkgo biloba, the popular herbal supplement widely promoted as a memory enhancer, offered no clear-cut protection against memory loss. . . and a small but disturbing pattern showed up in those who took the herb extract during the three-year study. . ."Seven had TIAs (transient ischemic attacks, or mini-strokes) or stroke," said study author Dr. Hiroko Dodge, an assistant professor of public health at Oregon State University. Exactly why this happened requires further study, she added. >Full Story: HealthDay News

Although the study is probably too small to be considered conclusive, it is a reminder that treatment with drugs, herbals, or other alternative medicines is always a risk-benefit decision. . .

. . . Experts are awaiting the results of a much larger, multi-center trial based at the University of Pittsburgh. That trial compared the effects of the herb [ginkgo biloba] with a placebo in 3,000 people to see if ginkgo biloba helped prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. >Full Story: HealthDay News

We'll be waiting.

Herbal Treatment of Little Use in Hot Flashes

Here is a great example of what Orac, Notes from Dr.RW, and others on the blogosphere classify as "woo" (unproven complementary alternative medicine) put to the test of evidence-based medicine published in the latest issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. . .

. . . Black cohosh — an herb that is a member of the buttercup family and is commonly given to ease menopause symptoms — is available in pill or liquid form and is sold over the counter in many health food stores and over the Internet. . .

. . . [a] yearlong study of 351 women suffering from hot flashes and night sweats found that those given black cohosh got about the same amount of relief as those who took a placebo. And those groups saw nothing close to the improvement in women on hormones. >Full Story: Yahoo!News

Let the data speak for themselves.