Comments on: Off-Label Pharmaceutical Promotion

By: Off-Label Cosmetic Prescriptions

Off-Label Cosmetic Prescriptions — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:11:23 +0000

[...] month we brought you news (and humble perspective) on the pharmaceutical industry’s off-label marketing practices. Just a couple weeks after the [...]

By: Off-Label Cosmetic Prescriptions | Mark's Daily Apple

Off-Label Cosmetic Prescriptions | Mark's Daily Apple — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 15:43:37 +0000

[...] month we brought you news (and humble perspective) on the pharmaceutical industry’s off-label marketing practices. Just a couple weeks after the [...]

By: Half-@$$ing it « No Magic Pill

Half-@$$ing it « No Magic Pill — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:01:48 +0000

[...] don’t know much about them *rolls eyes*), more bad news for plastics, beware those off-label pills, President-elect as fitness role model, more evidence for a link between waist size and death risk, [...]

By: Donna

Donna — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:20:29 +0000

Hi Henry,
I do know what “off label” means. I also know what generic means. I know a Dr. has the right to prescribe something that is not FDA Approved, but approved by the Drug Co. When i say it’s cheaper, what i mean is that it’s cheaper for the Drug Co. not to pay the FDA to spend money for them to approve it and “label” it that’s it’s good for this or that. That’s the Dr.s right to approve “off label”(not labeled…not approved by the FDA)But EVEN THOUGH it’s NOT labeled, the Dr. knows “what” he “can” prescribe. Generic means it’s the cheaper other than name brand with same ingredients, i know that, too.

By: Henry Miller

Henry Miller — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:03:51 +0000

Donna,

You are confusing off-label with generitc.

Off-label means the drug is known good for something other than what you are taking it for. Generics are drugs that are cheaper because they are not name brand.

For example if you take Asprin for aches and pains you are taking a generic, Bayer makes the brand name. If you take Bayer asprin cancer, you are taking it for an off-label use as Asprin isn’t approved for cancer (I picked a bogus example here – Asprin is not useful for cancer – but your doctor could tell you to try)

By: Donna

Donna — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:42:27 +0000

Isn’t off labels cheaper? I wander if insurance companies would rather Dr.’s prescribe name brand prescriptions which is more expensive.

By: Andrew R

Andrew R — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:02:32 +0000

Mark,

I see your point. The part you mentioned that I really agree with is for people to “take full responsibility” for what happens. But is that too much to ask of people on a large scale?

I’m really interested in picking your brain on this one. If you’ve got a second, walk me through what you think would be an effective change made by the FDA that would help bring back that feeling of trusts between doctors and patients. Or better yet, maybe a future post? I would love to read a post on that!

Thanks for the feedback

All the Best,

Andrew R

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:25:51 +0000

Mark,

You must be joking man. Big Pharma has a long a torrid history of distorting clinical studies (the statin push being the most recent), lying to consumers, threatening critics, burying negative evidence and all the while heavily promoting the drug to physicians and consumers. These companies are knowingly harming patients just so they can keep selling dangerous drugs to a population that’s generally too uninformed to know any better. And most conventional physicians just kept on prescribing the drug, oblivious to the true causes of disease or health. The drug industry, taken as a whole, hurts 10 times as many patients as they help. Hows that sit with you?

By: primalman

primalman — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:19:03 +0000

Mark,

You are on fire right now. That was another great post and a topic that is not discussed nearly enough. I will do my very best not to get on my soap box and go on a rant. Just suffice it to say that I work in health care and think all the “off label” practicing went off the deep end quite some time ago.

By: Mark Sisson

Mark Sisson — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:49:29 +0000

Andrew, of course I agree that business is self-serving and profit-motivated. But when businesses lie in matters concerning life and death, and when government health regulations are put into place on the basis of special interests or lobbying efforts, the system fails. I’m actually all for people using whatever drugs they want…as long as they take full responsiblity for whatever goes wrong. The problem, of course, is that they can’t possibly know what can go wrong. Furthermore, they have come to trust the docs and the FDA as looking out for them, but neither one can effectively do that under the current system.