Sunday evenings mean a mad rush for drugs in the last hour I am open for business. Sunday mornings are sometimes spent on my ass reading magazines. It's been this way for years, start Sunday drinking coffee looking over paperwork, end Sunday slamming the door in someone's face. If you don't understand why the store doesn't then open and/or close later, then you obviously don't have a degree in business. I don't have a degree in business either, which means I don't get it, but since all I really ask of my employer is that their paychecks don't bounce, I've never sweated it all that much.
Today was no exception to the mad Sunday evening rush rule. About a half hour before closing time, I'm manning the pill room all by myself with 10 prescriptions whose owners have decided to wait anxiously for them to be filled. Sux, but I've been there before. Last Sunday actually. The next guy who comes up to the counter is looking to have a prescription transferred from a pharmacy about 10 minutes away. A prescription that has already been filled, waiting there to be picked up. He had never been to my store before. He didn't have his insurance card with him. You can imagine how much I wanted his business.
I explain to him clearly that there was no way it was physically possible for me to have the prescription filled before closing time. The best that was going to happen was me taking what information I could get from him and leaving it to be done sometime tomorrow. He wants to go ahead with it. The best he can tell me is that the prescription was for some sort of eye drop.
10 minutes away the eyedrops are pleading, "Oh pppplllleeeeeaaassssseeeee come and get me....your insurance has already paid for me......I am so eager to come home with you."
I am not nice to this man by any definition of the word. No smile, no welcoming tone in my voice, not the slightest indication I value him any more than dirt. Turns out the prescription is for Ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic. The moron has an eye infection and is going to wait until sometime tomorrow to begin treatment. The prescription was READY TO BE PICKED UP at that very moment.
Did I mention I wasn't nice to this person? I believe the way I phrased it was "if you insist I'll see what I can do, but if I were you I would go to the other store and pick it up now." I did everything but beat him with a stick and still there he was, digging in his wallet for the non-existent insurance card perfectly willing to let his eye fester overnight.
What on earth makes someone put up with this kind of service? Had he no self respect? Was it the store's buy one get one free special on Corn Nuts that week that attracted him like flypaper, or was it the dollar off large boxes of flypaper? I could only conclude that he was doing this solely to irritate me. It was the only explanation that made any sense. "Sneer at me will you you smart ass pharmacist? Well you can just play insurance card detective then"
Since he had an Arab surname, there was only one rational thing I could do. I called The Department of Homeland Security and claimed he was a terrorist. The last I saw of him he was being led away in leg irons. Perhaps the eye drops will be ready by the time he makes bail, but I wouldn't count on it.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Saturday, August 12, 2006
From The Jihad Watch: A Pep Talk For Those Of Us Who Are Living In Dark Times.
Way back when I decided to give birth to this blog, what I had in mind was something like what you'll find at theangrypharmacist.com. Basically I thought it would be a way to keep my writing skills in shape while sharing a wacky customer story or occasional work rant. You may have noticed I digress from that goal from time to time. If you appreciate the difference between me and my angry colleague, you can thank Lloyd DuPlantis Jr. of Gray, Louisiana. Lloyd is also technically a colleague of mine. He also happens to be a Christian fascist who wants to lie in the name of science to further his hatred of women. I still remember the absolute disbelief one morning as I heard Lloyd on National Public Radio for the better part of an hour try to use the credibility of the lab coat to hide his cross. It was like getting hit in the temple. I knew the Christian fascists were out there, I grew up in the Midwest for chrissakes, but I had no idea they were creeping onto MY turf, that the unraveling of 500 years of enlightenment thought and the undoing of the scientific method was coming right to my front door.
I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what I could do. It seemed like all I had was the "it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness" option. So when I got home I wrote a little rant on blogger.com. Just to be safe though, I also cursed the darkness. It seems I wasn't the only one lighting a candle though. Little fires have been burning all over this country, and their heat is starting to catch fire under the ass of the powerful. The people who were put in office in no small part due to the efforts of people who hold purity balls and worry about sex based cults have now done this:
In Connecticut, the voters have served notice to members of what is supposed to be the left of center political party in this country that they can grow a set of testicles or get out of the way. In Pennsylvania and Kansas, storm troopers in the Christian right's war on science have been shown the door. Do you smell that? It's the pants seat of the powerful starting to burn.
I'm reminded of a story I heard once about a message General Dwight Eisenhower sent out to the hundreds of thousands of GI's getting ready to storm the beaches of Normandy on the eve of D-day in World War II. I'm too lazy to look up the exact details, but it was something to the effect that the Nazi's they were about to face weren't the Nazi's who ran the British off the European continent and crushed Poland a few years before. The Nazi war machine had been weakened and was a shell of it's former self, and the job now was to finish them off. I'm reminded because I want to tell all you candle holders out there the modern day Christian fascists aren't the same group that's been handing us our ass on a platter for the last generation. They've been weakened, and it's up to us to finish them off.
Let's go storm the beach.
I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what I could do. It seemed like all I had was the "it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness" option. So when I got home I wrote a little rant on blogger.com. Just to be safe though, I also cursed the darkness. It seems I wasn't the only one lighting a candle though. Little fires have been burning all over this country, and their heat is starting to catch fire under the ass of the powerful. The people who were put in office in no small part due to the efforts of people who hold purity balls and worry about sex based cults have now done this:
Barr Laboratories, will resubmit its application for over-the-counter sales of the birth control pill, Plan B, within two weeks. A spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration, Susan Bro, said the agency would act quickly on the application.
In Connecticut, the voters have served notice to members of what is supposed to be the left of center political party in this country that they can grow a set of testicles or get out of the way. In Pennsylvania and Kansas, storm troopers in the Christian right's war on science have been shown the door. Do you smell that? It's the pants seat of the powerful starting to burn.
I'm reminded of a story I heard once about a message General Dwight Eisenhower sent out to the hundreds of thousands of GI's getting ready to storm the beaches of Normandy on the eve of D-day in World War II. I'm too lazy to look up the exact details, but it was something to the effect that the Nazi's they were about to face weren't the Nazi's who ran the British off the European continent and crushed Poland a few years before. The Nazi war machine had been weakened and was a shell of it's former self, and the job now was to finish them off. I'm reminded because I want to tell all you candle holders out there the modern day Christian fascists aren't the same group that's been handing us our ass on a platter for the last generation. They've been weakened, and it's up to us to finish them off.
Let's go storm the beach.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
I Bet They Have A Yellow Ribbon Magnet On Their Car Though, Which Is Really What's Important
Them: "Hello, George W. Bush Center For Perpetual War Military Pharmacy"
Me: "Hi this is the Drugnazi calling for a prescription transfer."
Them: "Drugnazi!? What are you, sick?"
Ok, the place isn't named after President monkey-boy (yet) and I didn't say I was the drugnazi. I swear the rest is pretty much a verbatim transcript of a conversation I had with these people though.
Them: "We don't transfer prescriptions to civilian pharmacies sir"
Me: "What?"
Them: "We can only do transfers to other military pharmacies sir"
Me: "Is the Defense Department worried that competition from retail drugstores is going to put them out of business?"
Them: silence.
Me: "The guy said you don't have the med up there, so he's looking for someone who can fill the prescription today."
Them: "We can't do transfers to civilian pharmacies sir"
Me: "You realize he's not going to get anything if you don't transfer"
Them: "I can't help that sir"
(It is kinda cool how they always call you "sir.")
Me: "Is this an example of how we should be supporting the troops?"
Them: click.
You know, I hated this war before it was cool to hate this war. Because of that I'm not too fond of the people who volunteered to fight it. But it was this lefty liberal pinko un-American freak that took his professional responsibilities seriously enough to do an emergency prescription for GI Joe, while his comrades in uniform evidently couldn't care less about him.
Oh the irony.
Me: "Hi this is the Drugnazi calling for a prescription transfer."
Them: "Drugnazi!? What are you, sick?"
Ok, the place isn't named after President monkey-boy (yet) and I didn't say I was the drugnazi. I swear the rest is pretty much a verbatim transcript of a conversation I had with these people though.
Them: "We don't transfer prescriptions to civilian pharmacies sir"
Me: "What?"
Them: "We can only do transfers to other military pharmacies sir"
Me: "Is the Defense Department worried that competition from retail drugstores is going to put them out of business?"
Them: silence.
Me: "The guy said you don't have the med up there, so he's looking for someone who can fill the prescription today."
Them: "We can't do transfers to civilian pharmacies sir"
Me: "You realize he's not going to get anything if you don't transfer"
Them: "I can't help that sir"
(It is kinda cool how they always call you "sir.")
Me: "Is this an example of how we should be supporting the troops?"
Them: click.
You know, I hated this war before it was cool to hate this war. Because of that I'm not too fond of the people who volunteered to fight it. But it was this lefty liberal pinko un-American freak that took his professional responsibilities seriously enough to do an emergency prescription for GI Joe, while his comrades in uniform evidently couldn't care less about him.
Oh the irony.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Dear Addicts, This Is Why You Think I'm Such A Prick.
From The Miami Herald:
So addict, do you see the part where it says the prescriptions were legal? Didn't stop the pharmacy from getting sued. There goes your "how dare you come between me and my doctor" argument. Sign a waiver releasing me from liability and I won't give a shit if you take handfuls of Oxycontin until you drown in your own vomit.
And now he has lawyers shining a flashlight up his ass. That's why you can't have an early refill addict.
If you're looking for an alternative, might I suggest alcohol. As long as you don't drive and don't consume in public, it's perfectly legal. The cardboard box you live in by the dumpster in the park will do just fine to keep you on the right side of the law. Legal means no need to embarrass yourself by trying to start a screaming match when you realize you're not going to get your next fix. Certain formulations are very affordable, and while the hold it puts on you pales in comparison to narcotic withdrawal, rest assured you can both become physically addicted to it and use it to commit that slow suicide your subconscious seems to so desire.
Booze. It's a win-win, and it's in aisle three next to the freezers.
After three years of pretrial wrangling, the Florida Supreme Court has given the green light to a lawsuit against two Broward pharmacies that filled legal prescriptions as written by a doctor.
The lawsuit focuses on whether Your Druggist and The Medicine Shoppe should have stopped filling scripts for addictive pain medication for Gail Powers, a waitress who died of a drug overdose at 46 on Oct. 21, 2002.
So addict, do you see the part where it says the prescriptions were legal? Didn't stop the pharmacy from getting sued. There goes your "how dare you come between me and my doctor" argument. Sign a waiver releasing me from liability and I won't give a shit if you take handfuls of Oxycontin until you drown in your own vomit.
In one instance, Herman alleges, a pharmacist gave Powers a 30-day refill on an addictive pain medication only four days after she received another 30-day supply.
And now he has lawyers shining a flashlight up his ass. That's why you can't have an early refill addict.
If you're looking for an alternative, might I suggest alcohol. As long as you don't drive and don't consume in public, it's perfectly legal. The cardboard box you live in by the dumpster in the park will do just fine to keep you on the right side of the law. Legal means no need to embarrass yourself by trying to start a screaming match when you realize you're not going to get your next fix. Certain formulations are very affordable, and while the hold it puts on you pales in comparison to narcotic withdrawal, rest assured you can both become physically addicted to it and use it to commit that slow suicide your subconscious seems to so desire.
Booze. It's a win-win, and it's in aisle three next to the freezers.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
I Realize Today I've Done You A Disservice
WARNING: This post may be painful for those in the profession to read.
For over a year and a half now, the first thing anyone visiting my little blog garden has seen under the headline at the top of the page is the promise that the question of "why does my prescription take so damn long to fill" will be answered. Tonight I looked over this blogs archives and realized it was a promise not kept. While many topics have been covered here, and you have been provided with ample evidence of how drugstore workday life does indeed warp the mind, the question of why it took 2 hours for you to get 20 Vicodin has remained unanswered. I can't help but to think there may be someone out there who has been logging on every day for the last 18 months hoping in vain for this mystery to be solved. Should such a person exist, I offer my humble apologies. To everyone else, I offer the following prescription scenario:
You come to the counter. I am on the phone with a drunk dude who wants the phone number to the grocery store next door. After I instruct him on the virtues of 411, you tell me your doctor was to phone in your prescription to me. Your doctor hasn't, and you're unwilling to wait until he does. Being in a generous mood, I call your doctors office and am put on hold for 5 minutes, then informed that your prescription was phoned in to my competitor on the other side of town. Phoning the competitor, I am immediately put on hold for 5 minutes before speaking to a clerk, who puts me back on hold to wait for the pharmacist. Your prescription is then transferred to me, and now I have to get the 2 phone calls that have been put on hold while this was being done. Now I return to the counter to ask if we've ever filled prescriptions for you before. For some reason, you think that "for you" means "for your cousin" and you answer my question with a "yes", whereupon I go the computer and see you are not on file.
The phone rings.
You have left to do something very important, such as browse through the monster truck magazines, and do not hear the three PA announcements requesting that you return to the pharmacy. You return eventually, expecting to pick up the finished prescription.....
The phone rings.
......only to find out that I need to ask your address, phone number, date of birth, if you have any allergies and insurance coverage. You tell me you're allergic to codeine. Since the prescription is for Vicodin I ask you what exactly codeine did to you when you took it. You say it made your stomach hurt and I roll my eyes and write down "no known allergies" You tell me......
The phone rings.
.....you have insurance and spend the next 5 minutes looking for your card. You give up and expect me to be able to file your claim anyway. I call my competitor and am immediately put on hold. Upon reaching a human, I ask them what insurance they have on file for you. I get the information and file your claim, which is rejected because you changed jobs 6 months ago. An asshole barges his way to the counter to ask where the bread is.
The phone rings.
I inform you that the insurance the other pharmacy has on file for you isn't working. You produce a card in under 10 seconds that you seemed to be unable to find before. What you were really doing was hoping your old insurance would still work because it had a lower copay. Your new card prominently displays the logo of Nebraska Blue Cross, and although Nebraska Blue cross does in fact handle millions of prescription claims every day, for the group you belong to, the claim should go to a company called Caremark, whose logo is nowhere on the card.
The phone rings.
A lady comes to the counter wanting to know why the cherry flavored antacid works better than the lemon cream flavored antacid. What probably happened is that she had a milder case of heartburn when she took the cherry flavored brand, as they both use the exact same ingredient in the same strength. She will not be satisfied though until I confirm her belief that the cherry flavored brand is the superior product. I file your claim with Caremark, who rejects it because you had a 30 day supply of Vicodin filled 15 days ago at another pharmacy. You swear to me on your mother's'....
The phone rings.
.......life that you did not have a Vicodin prescription filled recently. I call Caremark and am immediately placed on hold. The most beautiful woman on the planet walks buy and notices not a thing. She has never talked to a pharmacist and never will. Upon reaching a human at Caremark, I am informed that the Vicodin prescription was indeed filled at another of my competitors. When I tell you this, you say you got hydrocodone there, not Vicodin. Another little part of me dies.
The phone rings.
It turns out that a few days after your doctor wrote your last prescription, he told you to take it more frequently, meaning that what Caremark thought was a 30-day supply is indeed a 15 day supply with the new instructions. I call your doctor's office to confirm this and am immediately placed on hold. I call Caremark to get an override and am immediately placed on hold. My laser printer has a paper jam. It's time for my pharmacy tech to go to lunch. Caremark issues the override and your claim goes though. Your insurance saves you 85 cents off the regular price of the prescription.
The phone rings.
At the cash register you sign....
The phone rings.
......the acknowledgement that you received a copy of my HIPAA policy and that I offered the required OBRA counseling for new prescriptions. You remark that you're glad that your last pharmacist told you you shouldn't take over the counter Tylenol along with the Vicodin, and that the acetaminophen you're taking instead seems to be working pretty well. I break the news to you that Tylenol is simply a brand name for acetaminophen and you don't believe me. You fumble around for 2 minutes looking for your checkbook and spend another 2 minutes making out a check for four dollars and sixty seven cents. You ask why the tablets look different than those you got at the other pharmacy. I explain that they are from a different manufacturer. Tomorrow you'll be back to tell me they don't work as well.
Now imagine this wasn't you at all, but the person who dropped off their prescription three people ahead of you, and you'll start to have an idea why.....your prescription takes so damn long to fill.
A year and a half late, but a promise kept. I feel better about myself already.
For over a year and a half now, the first thing anyone visiting my little blog garden has seen under the headline at the top of the page is the promise that the question of "why does my prescription take so damn long to fill" will be answered. Tonight I looked over this blogs archives and realized it was a promise not kept. While many topics have been covered here, and you have been provided with ample evidence of how drugstore workday life does indeed warp the mind, the question of why it took 2 hours for you to get 20 Vicodin has remained unanswered. I can't help but to think there may be someone out there who has been logging on every day for the last 18 months hoping in vain for this mystery to be solved. Should such a person exist, I offer my humble apologies. To everyone else, I offer the following prescription scenario:
You come to the counter. I am on the phone with a drunk dude who wants the phone number to the grocery store next door. After I instruct him on the virtues of 411, you tell me your doctor was to phone in your prescription to me. Your doctor hasn't, and you're unwilling to wait until he does. Being in a generous mood, I call your doctors office and am put on hold for 5 minutes, then informed that your prescription was phoned in to my competitor on the other side of town. Phoning the competitor, I am immediately put on hold for 5 minutes before speaking to a clerk, who puts me back on hold to wait for the pharmacist. Your prescription is then transferred to me, and now I have to get the 2 phone calls that have been put on hold while this was being done. Now I return to the counter to ask if we've ever filled prescriptions for you before. For some reason, you think that "for you" means "for your cousin" and you answer my question with a "yes", whereupon I go the computer and see you are not on file.
The phone rings.
You have left to do something very important, such as browse through the monster truck magazines, and do not hear the three PA announcements requesting that you return to the pharmacy. You return eventually, expecting to pick up the finished prescription.....
The phone rings.
......only to find out that I need to ask your address, phone number, date of birth, if you have any allergies and insurance coverage. You tell me you're allergic to codeine. Since the prescription is for Vicodin I ask you what exactly codeine did to you when you took it. You say it made your stomach hurt and I roll my eyes and write down "no known allergies" You tell me......
The phone rings.
.....you have insurance and spend the next 5 minutes looking for your card. You give up and expect me to be able to file your claim anyway. I call my competitor and am immediately put on hold. Upon reaching a human, I ask them what insurance they have on file for you. I get the information and file your claim, which is rejected because you changed jobs 6 months ago. An asshole barges his way to the counter to ask where the bread is.
The phone rings.
I inform you that the insurance the other pharmacy has on file for you isn't working. You produce a card in under 10 seconds that you seemed to be unable to find before. What you were really doing was hoping your old insurance would still work because it had a lower copay. Your new card prominently displays the logo of Nebraska Blue Cross, and although Nebraska Blue cross does in fact handle millions of prescription claims every day, for the group you belong to, the claim should go to a company called Caremark, whose logo is nowhere on the card.
The phone rings.
A lady comes to the counter wanting to know why the cherry flavored antacid works better than the lemon cream flavored antacid. What probably happened is that she had a milder case of heartburn when she took the cherry flavored brand, as they both use the exact same ingredient in the same strength. She will not be satisfied though until I confirm her belief that the cherry flavored brand is the superior product. I file your claim with Caremark, who rejects it because you had a 30 day supply of Vicodin filled 15 days ago at another pharmacy. You swear to me on your mother's'....
The phone rings.
.......life that you did not have a Vicodin prescription filled recently. I call Caremark and am immediately placed on hold. The most beautiful woman on the planet walks buy and notices not a thing. She has never talked to a pharmacist and never will. Upon reaching a human at Caremark, I am informed that the Vicodin prescription was indeed filled at another of my competitors. When I tell you this, you say you got hydrocodone there, not Vicodin. Another little part of me dies.
The phone rings.
It turns out that a few days after your doctor wrote your last prescription, he told you to take it more frequently, meaning that what Caremark thought was a 30-day supply is indeed a 15 day supply with the new instructions. I call your doctor's office to confirm this and am immediately placed on hold. I call Caremark to get an override and am immediately placed on hold. My laser printer has a paper jam. It's time for my pharmacy tech to go to lunch. Caremark issues the override and your claim goes though. Your insurance saves you 85 cents off the regular price of the prescription.
The phone rings.
At the cash register you sign....
The phone rings.
......the acknowledgement that you received a copy of my HIPAA policy and that I offered the required OBRA counseling for new prescriptions. You remark that you're glad that your last pharmacist told you you shouldn't take over the counter Tylenol along with the Vicodin, and that the acetaminophen you're taking instead seems to be working pretty well. I break the news to you that Tylenol is simply a brand name for acetaminophen and you don't believe me. You fumble around for 2 minutes looking for your checkbook and spend another 2 minutes making out a check for four dollars and sixty seven cents. You ask why the tablets look different than those you got at the other pharmacy. I explain that they are from a different manufacturer. Tomorrow you'll be back to tell me they don't work as well.
Now imagine this wasn't you at all, but the person who dropped off their prescription three people ahead of you, and you'll start to have an idea why.....your prescription takes so damn long to fill.
A year and a half late, but a promise kept. I feel better about myself already.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Maybe I Could Use Some Of That Rozerem After All.....
It's 2 in the morning, and I'm listening to the 1812 Overture. If you have more than a passing familiarity with classical music or the Bad News Bears, you know the piece I'm talking about. It has some kick-ass cannons at the end. If I were to have one piece of advice for a modern day classical music composer, it would be, "more cannons." Click here to hear what I'm talking about.
It's 2 in the morning, and the question that won't leave my mind:
Does someone go out and tune the cannons before a concert?
Too much scotch.
It's 2 in the morning, and the question that won't leave my mind:
Does someone go out and tune the cannons before a concert?
Too much scotch.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Worst Sales Rep Ever.
So it's an uneventful day in the happy little pill room, and out of the corner of my eye I see what looks like an average numbnut customer fumbling around for an insurance card or something. Wandering over I see instead a lady cleaning up a mess of brochures she dropped on the counter and all over the floor. Turns out she was trying to set up a promotional display for a new sleep aid, Rozerem, and was having a little trouble. Never asked if she could set up the display or even bothered to say hello, just came in and started to put stuff on my counter.
Letting the breach of basic etiquette slide, I gathered up a few brochures and asked, "Rozerem, is that the new melatonin agonist I've heard about?"
"Yeah", came the unenthusiastic reply "I really don't see why you just can't take melatonin" Then back to reassembling the display.
It won't surprise anyone in the profession to hear that at that moment the phone rang. When I was done with the call, the super saleslady had moved on, leaving behind a display that was almost put together the way it was designed to be. I wonder where in sales school they teach you that:
1) First impressions aren't that big of a deal
2) The only words you should say are those that talk people out of using the product you are trying to sell.
3) Leaving behind something half-ass is the perfect way to make that shitty first impression have a lasting impact.
The brochure that was to convince people that Rozerem was the answer to their sleep related problems featured a groundhog and what appeared to be Abraham Lincoln on the cover. Seriously. I think when I have a groundhog and Abraham Lincoln coming into my life to explain the importance of a good nights sleep, that pretty much eliminates the need for me to ever try LSD.
Sometimes Big Pharma isn't intimidating at all.
Letting the breach of basic etiquette slide, I gathered up a few brochures and asked, "Rozerem, is that the new melatonin agonist I've heard about?"
"Yeah", came the unenthusiastic reply "I really don't see why you just can't take melatonin" Then back to reassembling the display.
It won't surprise anyone in the profession to hear that at that moment the phone rang. When I was done with the call, the super saleslady had moved on, leaving behind a display that was almost put together the way it was designed to be. I wonder where in sales school they teach you that:
1) First impressions aren't that big of a deal
2) The only words you should say are those that talk people out of using the product you are trying to sell.
3) Leaving behind something half-ass is the perfect way to make that shitty first impression have a lasting impact.
The brochure that was to convince people that Rozerem was the answer to their sleep related problems featured a groundhog and what appeared to be Abraham Lincoln on the cover. Seriously. I think when I have a groundhog and Abraham Lincoln coming into my life to explain the importance of a good nights sleep, that pretty much eliminates the need for me to ever try LSD.
Sometimes Big Pharma isn't intimidating at all.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
A Victory For Members of Sex-Based Cults Everywhere
The small but growing number of regular readers of this blog may remember my previous posts about the saga of Plan B, the effective and safe contraceptive that was rejected for over the counter sale by the government agency responsible for regulating drug efficacy and safety not because it wasn't safe or effective, but because, in the words of deputy commissioner for operations at the FDA at the time, Janet Woodcock (huh huh....huh huh...Woodcock....huh huh)out of concern for things like:
I swear she said that.
Today we have news that the FDA may be having a change of heart. According to the New York Times:
Hmmmm....within 3 years we've gone from government officials worrying about teenagers fucking in the streets to wanting to wrap up the OTC approval process in a matter of weeks. Three theories as to what's behind this flip-flop, from most likely to least likely.
1) Acting commissioner Eschenbach is trying to become permanent commissioner Eschenbach, and is saying what he thinks it will take in order to get past the Senate confirmation process.
2) People at the FDA have realized Janet Woodcock was insane.
3) The Bush administration has started to care about women's health.
Assuming it's theory #1 in play here, it'll be interesting to see if the same commitment to "wrap up the process" holds after Dr. Eschenbach gets the permanent job. His predecessor, Dr. Lester Crawford, said during his confirmation that if confirmed he would make a decision on Plan B by September 1, 2005. He either lost his calendar or he lied. Knowing how the Bush administration treats the truth like a seldom seen relative, embracing it only on special occasions, I'm holding off starting my cult until I see the OTC Plan B on my shelf.
Read the whole Times story here.
making the drug available over the counter could lead to "extreme promiscuous behaviors such as the medication taking on an 'urban legend' status that would lead adolescents to form sex-based cults centered around the use of Plan B."
I swear she said that.
Today we have news that the FDA may be having a change of heart. According to the New York Times:
The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it was moving toward endorsing sale of the morning-after pill without a prescription for women 18 and older, signaling what may be the end of one of the most stubborn health policy debates of the Bush administration.
The agency’s acting commissioner, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, asked the drug’s manufacturer, Barr Pharmaceuticals, for a meeting to complete plans that would allow the over-the-counter sale of the emergency contraceptive, called Plan B. In a statement, the F.D.A. said it hoped “the process can be wrapped up in a matter of weeks.”
While the agency’s letter to Barr was not a final approval, both the F.D.A. and the company expressed optimism about the drug’s future.
Hmmmm....within 3 years we've gone from government officials worrying about teenagers fucking in the streets to wanting to wrap up the OTC approval process in a matter of weeks. Three theories as to what's behind this flip-flop, from most likely to least likely.
1) Acting commissioner Eschenbach is trying to become permanent commissioner Eschenbach, and is saying what he thinks it will take in order to get past the Senate confirmation process.
2) People at the FDA have realized Janet Woodcock was insane.
3) The Bush administration has started to care about women's health.
Assuming it's theory #1 in play here, it'll be interesting to see if the same commitment to "wrap up the process" holds after Dr. Eschenbach gets the permanent job. His predecessor, Dr. Lester Crawford, said during his confirmation that if confirmed he would make a decision on Plan B by September 1, 2005. He either lost his calendar or he lied. Knowing how the Bush administration treats the truth like a seldom seen relative, embracing it only on special occasions, I'm holding off starting my cult until I see the OTC Plan B on my shelf.
Read the whole Times story here.
Today, The Drugnazi Tries Something Radically Different; The Delivery of Good News.
“Medicine is for people, not for profits.” -George Merck
At GlaxoSmithKline, our mission is an exciting and important one - to prevent, treat and cure disease, allowing people to live longer, feel better and do more.
OK, you really didn't think that third statement had anything to do with the first two did you? Because both Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, along with the rest of Big Pharma, have had the chance to help millions of people stricken with Black fever "live longer, feel better, and do more" for almost 40 years. That's how long they've known paromomycin to be a promising treatment for the disease, and that's how long they have done nothing about it. Assuming that paromomycin had patent protection for 20 years, that's 10,000,000 people dead while the drug was in the public domain.
"Uh, drugnazi" you might be saying, "that doesn't sound like good news, and you promised us good news in your headline." Yes I did, and here it is.
It seems that there is someone out there who takes the mission statements of Big Pharma seriously, and it's not Big Pharma. According to the New York Times:
The charity is One World Health, founded by Dr. Victoria Hale, a former executive of Genentech. I can only wonder if it was the business practices of her former employer that led her to reclaim her soul. (click here and here to read earlier posts about the evilness of Genentech) I suppose it's not important. What matters is that after a fight with the IRS (The tax man couldn't comprehend the idea of a non-profit drug company, seriously) The world now has a precedent for helping those that don't meet Big Pharma's definition of a person. (that definition being "person with a lot of money")
The next time some right wing gasbag tries to give you a condescending lecture about how do-gooder liberalism just doesn't work in the real world, do me a favor. Print out this article and make them read it. Then punch them in the face and force the paper down their throat. Then dare them to call you a liberal pussy. My thanks in advance.
At GlaxoSmithKline, our mission is an exciting and important one - to prevent, treat and cure disease, allowing people to live longer, feel better and do more.
Black fever, a disease also known as kala azar, kills an estimated half-million people worldwide each year, almost all of them poor, soon, however, all that may change.
OK, you really didn't think that third statement had anything to do with the first two did you? Because both Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, along with the rest of Big Pharma, have had the chance to help millions of people stricken with Black fever "live longer, feel better, and do more" for almost 40 years. That's how long they've known paromomycin to be a promising treatment for the disease, and that's how long they have done nothing about it. Assuming that paromomycin had patent protection for 20 years, that's 10,000,000 people dead while the drug was in the public domain.
"Uh, drugnazi" you might be saying, "that doesn't sound like good news, and you promised us good news in your headline." Yes I did, and here it is.
It seems that there is someone out there who takes the mission statements of Big Pharma seriously, and it's not Big Pharma. According to the New York Times:
A small charity based in San Francisco has conducted the medical trials needed to prove paromomycin is safe and effective. Now it is on the verge of getting final approval from the Indian government. A course of treatment with the drug is expected to cost just $10, and experts say it could virtually eliminate the disease.
The charity is One World Health, founded by Dr. Victoria Hale, a former executive of Genentech. I can only wonder if it was the business practices of her former employer that led her to reclaim her soul. (click here and here to read earlier posts about the evilness of Genentech) I suppose it's not important. What matters is that after a fight with the IRS (The tax man couldn't comprehend the idea of a non-profit drug company, seriously) The world now has a precedent for helping those that don't meet Big Pharma's definition of a person. (that definition being "person with a lot of money")
The next time some right wing gasbag tries to give you a condescending lecture about how do-gooder liberalism just doesn't work in the real world, do me a favor. Print out this article and make them read it. Then punch them in the face and force the paper down their throat. Then dare them to call you a liberal pussy. My thanks in advance.
Sounds Like They'd Lose Their Head If It Wasn't Attached......
From the world of high finance:
You mean they just friggin' LOST over 3 billion dollars? They should really try to find it. Maybe look in the pockets of their winter coat. I find money in there sometimes when I put it on for the first time in the fall. If that doesn't work maybe they should try under the cushions of their couch or under the car seat.
Going through the financial news today, I was amazed how many corporations just go around misplacing money. It seems almost every company on earth has lost a few billion here or there from time to time. How incredibly irresponsible. This doesn't seem to be a problem with drug companies though. I couldn't find a single member of Big Pharma that lost a penny in the last few years. I guess they're better about getting their money to the bank at the end of the day.
General Motors reported a loss of $3.2 billion, or $5.62 per share, for the second quarter of 2006, compared with a reported loss of $987 million, or $1.75 per share, for the year-ago quarter.
You mean they just friggin' LOST over 3 billion dollars? They should really try to find it. Maybe look in the pockets of their winter coat. I find money in there sometimes when I put it on for the first time in the fall. If that doesn't work maybe they should try under the cushions of their couch or under the car seat.
Going through the financial news today, I was amazed how many corporations just go around misplacing money. It seems almost every company on earth has lost a few billion here or there from time to time. How incredibly irresponsible. This doesn't seem to be a problem with drug companies though. I couldn't find a single member of Big Pharma that lost a penny in the last few years. I guess they're better about getting their money to the bank at the end of the day.
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