Another Sunday and another post…..with all my visits and stuff with my doctors I thought this article would be a good one and hopefully will make people think.
Most of my regulars know that I have no love for AI or anything to do with it….so when I read this article I felt it needed to be passed on…..
If you weren’t convinced we’re spiraling toward an actual cyberpunk future, a new bill seeking to let AI prescribe controlled drugs just might.
The proposed law was introduced in the House of Representatives by Arizona’s David Schweikert this month, where it was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce for review. Its purpose: to “amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to clarify that artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies can qualify as a practitioner eligible to prescribe drugs.”
In theory, it sounds good. Engaging with the American healthcare system often feels like hitting yourself with a slow-motion brick, so the prospect of a perfect AI-powered medical practitioner that could empathically advise on symptoms, promote a healthy lifestyle, and dispense crucial medication sounds like a promising alternative.
But in practice, today’s AI isn’t anywhere near where it’d need to be to provide any of that, nevermind prescribing potentially dangerous drugs, and it’s not clear that it’ll ever get there.
Schweikert’s bill doesn’t quite declare a free-for-all — it caveats that these robodoctors could only be deployed “if authorized by the State involved and approved, cleared, or authorized by the Food and Drug Administration” — but downrange, AI medicine is clearly the goal. Our lawmakers evidently feel the time — and money — is right to remove the brakes and start letting AI into the health care system.
The Congressman’s optimism aside, AI has already fumbled in healthcare repeatedly — like the time an OpenAI-powered medical record tool was caught fabricating patients’ medical histories, or when a Microsoft diagnostic tool confidently asserted that the average hospital was haunted by numerous ghosts, or when an eating disorder helpline’s AI Chatbot went off the rails and started encouraging users to engage in disordered eating.
Sorry but as long as I can I will resist this ‘service’ ….I do not want soul-less piece of tech crap diagnosing my medical situation. and because I am old hopefully I will pass on before this is the rule of the day.
Do you take pills….if so then your meds are probably expensive especially if you fighting off some disease like Diabetes.
I know Biden has brought of insulin down and to that I say ‘bless his heart’…..but what about other drugs?
Well the FDA has just made a ruling on drugs…..
Americans are known to head across the border into Canada to buy their prescription drugs at cheaper costs. Now, for the first time, a state government has received approval to do the same thing on a much larger scale. In a decision described as historic, the Food and Drug Administration has granted Florida’s request to import drugs in bulk from Canada, reports the New York Times. The pharmaceutical industry is expected to file a legal challenge before that happens, but if the move goes through, expect other states to follow suit. Details:
The impact: The development has the potential to “change the way Americans obtain prescription medicines and could reduce their cost,” per the Wall Street Journal. Several other states already have applications pending to the FDA, including Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
However: Canada is only so big. “There are real constraints on Canada’s ability to even do this—they would basically be giving up drugs that are meant for their population to subsidize drugs for people in Florida,” Stacie Dusetzina, a health-policy professor at Vanderbilt, tells the Journal. More tellingly, a spokeswoman for Health Canada agrees: “Canada’s drug supply is too small to meet the demands of both American and Canadian consumers,” Maryse Durette tells the Times. “Bulk importation will not provide an effective solution to the problem of high drug prices in the US.”
Context: The Washington Post notes that the decision comes as Big Pharma appears to realize something has to give on drug prices. Eli Lilly, for example, said this week it would make its diabetes and weight-loss drugs available via telehealth, and CVS is in the midst of a major revamp of its pricing that takes effect in 2025. Both moves could result in lower prices. Politically, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis could gain bragging rights over this, as could former President Trump, whose administration pushed the importation law ahead, and President Biden, whose FDA signed off on it.
First drugs: Florida plans to import drugs initially for the treatment of HIV, AIDS, diabetes, hepatitis C, and mental illness, per CNN. They would be used for Medicaid patients, inmates, and other patients served by state entities, and the FDA would have to approve any such purchases after vetting them for safety and to verify savings. However, it could be awhile before all the legal hurdles get sorted out.
Something needs to be done to slow down the slugs at Big Pharma…..soon you would have to be Bezos to afford your meds.
Please do not fall the con of a Medicare Advantage Plan….it is a rip-off.
Almost every state has some sort of legalization of marijuana going on and since it is a Sunday and a good chance for IST to be an FYI blog for the day I would like to point out the differences on the several uses of the weed.
This is basically the terminology used….
Even though cannabis has a multi-millennia history as a plant used for religion, wellness, and recreation, humans eventually had to mask its existence as prohibition swept the globe—not just the United States. Slang, nicknames, and wordplay have been a part of extralegal activity as long as we’ve had laws.
We can thank slang terms for helping to keep the passion of the plant alive, but let’s also be honest: Sometimes coded language can be confusing—especially for newer consumers.
Smoking cannabis works just like tobacco—wrapped up in something else that’s smokeable, or consumed in one of the traditional styles of its indigenous stewards, in a pipe-type format. Some choose one over the other, but in many cultures and regions, people mix the two, which can be a surprise for someone not expecting either straight weed or the adrenaline hit of even just a few flecks of tobacco mixed in.
Wrapped-up and smokable cannabis has many names: joint, blunt, spliff, preroll, bone, stick, roach, cannagar, and others, to name a few. Some of these terms even have different meanings in different regions of the world, so what’s a smoker to do when they’re not sure?
Joints can be pleasurable and fun for the smoker, granting a social, shareable ticket to a delightful buzz, but what’s inside them? Straight-up weed, for the most part. Rolled or stuffed into pre-made cones, joints are among the top methods of consumption.
It is 4 am and 92 just wish I had something to take my mind off of this heat….then I thought….hey….’shrooms.
A song by the First Edition back in the 60s…..but that is not what this post is about ….instead it is about the popularity of those magic ‘shrooms with the young.
Not in several decades have young adults in the United States done so much tripping on hallucinogens. That’s the upshot of a new study that found the use of such mind-altering drugs nearly doubled from 2018 to 2021. According to research published in the journal Addiction, based on stats from the “Monitoring the Future” study, 6.6% of subjects ages 19 to 30 used non-LSD hallucinogens of some sort (such as PCP and psilocybin mushrooms, aka “magic” mushrooms), up from 3.4% three years earlier. LSD use also saw a rise in that same period, albeit a more modest one, jumping from 3.7% to 4.2% among the same demographic.
Usage of non-LSD drugs was most prevalent among males, white subjects, and individuals whose parents have a higher educational status, per Medscape. The Hill reports that in 2021, about 8% of young adults used hallucinogens, the highest share since the 1980s. For context, in 1971, which was prime psychedelics time in America, a Gallup poll found that 18% of college students had dabbled in hallucinogens. In addition to the stigma of recreational drugs decreasing over the past few years, largely thanks to the legalization of cannabis around the nation, hallucinogens used therapeutically has also given shrooms and similar drugs a big boost. At least one state, Oregon, is even starting to train magic mushroom “facilitators” to help patients using psilocybin.
Still, scientists warn about the issues associated with the growing use of this type of drug. “While non-LSD hallucinogen use remains substantially less prevalent than use of substances such as alcohol and cannabis, a doubling of prevalence in just three years is a dramatic increase and raises possible public health concerns,” study co-author Megan Patrick of the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research tells Medscape. Among those concerns about “bad trips,” per a 2016 study: fear, paranoia, hallucinations, increased heart rate, aggression, and even depression or risk of suicide. “This isn’t all just peace, love, and light,” Sion Harris, an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, tells the Hill. “There’s the potential to have bad reactions.”
These include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and OCD to name a few. But did you know that psilocybin may also have the potential to treat color blindness?
Color blindness is commonly caused by genetic factors, which means that parents can pass them down to their children. However, in less common cases, color blindness may occur due to damage inflicted on the brain or the eyes. Any color blindness can also get worse with age, usually because of cataracts. Aside from these, diseases such as macular degeneration or glaucoma can also cause color blindness.
When embarking on a psychedelic trip, responsible and informed decision-making is paramount. By adhering to these guidelines on what to avoid while tripping, you can maximize your safety, comfort, and the potential for positive and transformative experiences. Remember to choose a controlled environment, have a trusted companion, and avoid mixing substances. By prioritizing safety and mindfulness, the journey into the depths of the psychedelic realm can be a profound and enlightening adventure.
Despite these advances, psychedelics remain fairly mysterious. Researchers haven’t yet pinned down the various mechanisms through which they work inside our bodies. But now, they might be one step closer.
An international team of scientists led by the University of Helsinki in Finland believes they’ve struck biochemical gold. In a study published Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the researchers found that psychedelics psilocin (the primary chemical in magic mushrooms) and LSD exert an antidepressant effect by binding to a protein, receptor tyrosine kinase beta (TrkB), which then activates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that plays a crucial role in the growth, development, and maintenance of neurons; kind of like Miracle-Gro for the brain.
If you are a senior that has to take medications or a regular person the new year will bring us more expensive drugs…..something else to look forward to in this new year.
Big Pharma is set to screw the public again…..
Drugmakers including Pfizer Inc (PFE.N), GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK.L), Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY.N), AstraZeneca PLC (AZN.L) and Sanofi SA (SASY.PA) plan to raise prices in the United States on more than 350 unique drugs in early January, according to data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors.
The increases are expected to come as the pharmaceutical industry prepares for the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which allows the government’s Medicare health program to negotiate prices directly for some drugs starting in 2026. The industry is also contending with inflation and supply chain constraints that have led to higher manufacturing costs.
The increases are on list prices, which do not include rebates to pharmacy benefit managers and other discounts.
In 2022, drugmakers raised prices on more than 1,400 drugs according to data published by 46brooklyn, a drug pricing non-profit that is related to 3 Axis. That is the most increases since 2015.
The median drug price increase was 4.9% last year, while the average increase was 6.4%, according to 46brooklyn. Both figures are lower than inflation rates in the United States.
You would think that elected representatives would care what is happening to their people….but I guess suitcases of cash carried by lobbyists has a a way of blinding the corruptible.
The House recently came to an agreement on the drug pricing promise of the Biden admin….
House Democratic leaders are making a last-minute change to their deal to lower prescription drug prices to resolve a dispute that arose over the wording of the measure, according to a source familiar with the process.
The compromise follows a meeting Thursday night between Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) and other lawmakers to resolve the issue as House leaders race to line up the votes for President Biden‘s social spending package.
The compromise will add an additional year of exclusivity before Medicare will be able to negotiate prices for certain complex drugs known as biologics, moving the total from 12 years to 13 years.
The last-minute dispute arose from how the text of the drug pricing agreement was drafted. The agreement announced earlier this week was to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices after a period of exclusivity: nine years for many drugs and 12 years for more complex biologics.
This was actually written down in the text with the numbers seven years and 10 years, though, because drafters noted there is a two-year delay for the negotiation process to play out, meaning the numbers seven and 10 in actuality translated to nine and 12.
Peters and a handful of other moderates wanted the exclusivity period to fully expire before negotiations could begin, the source said, effectively adding another two years, to bring the totals to 11 years and 14 years, depending on the type of drug
Delaying the start of Medicare negotiating drug prices by any amount of time was already a concession to their position. But many drug pricing advocates have still praised the agreement announced earlier this week as a step in the right direction, even if it does not go as far as they would like.
(thehill.com)
Yet another ‘kick the can down the road” compromise by Dems….which can die in the Senate ….and we all know how useless the Senate is these days.
The health industry has another win under their belt and it only cost $171 million…..
As Common Dreams has reported, pharmaceutical corporations and private health insurers spent $171 million on lobbying through the first nine months of the year, the most of any industry. Big Pharma’s 1,600 lobbyists outnumber members of Congress by a ratio of three to one.
According to the Post‘s analysis of OpenSecrets data, “The industry’s focus on drug pricing has increased dramatically in recent years as the issue became more top-of-mind for voters. In 2012, lobbyists registered to work on the issue of ‘drug prices’ 69 times for 20 different clients. In 2021 so far, they have filed to lobby on the issue 1,192 times for 242 different clients.”
…
Despite the fact that 83% of U.S. adults want the federal government to reduce the costs of medications, for which Americans pay two to four times more than people in other countries, the provision that would have authorized Medicare to do so was briefly removed due to the intransigence of a handful of right-wing Democrats bankrolled by Big Pharma—including Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.), Sinema, Manchin, and Reps. Kathleen Rice (N.Y.), Scott Peters (Calif.), and Kurt Schrader (Ore.).
These days the idiot Right is fixated on a horse de-wormer as a ‘cure/vaccine’ for the Covid virus…..it is getting so toxic that QAnon is screaming and threatening people to use the animal drug Ivermectin as a treatmenr for Covid…..
Supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory recently launched a protest to demand an ill COVID patient be treated with the controversial livestock drug, Ivermectin.
One of the headlines I read over the weekend was basically the title of this post…Ivermectin makes men sterile….
A study published in 2011 and widely circulated in September 2021 found that 85% of men treated with ivermectin for a tropical disease known as river blindness were found to be sterile.
Would make a good meme for social media but the FDA put the brakes on this ‘conspiracy’….
The FDA does not list male sterility as one of the side effects of taking ivermectin.
Scientific studies typically undergo a rigorous peer-review process that assesses the methods and results of a study to ensure that it meets a certain standard of scientific quality.
Ivermectin has not been approved as a treatment against COVID-19.
I constantly ask just what does someone gain by pushing slimy and dodgey ‘cure’ for Covid?
Proponents of ivermectin as a treatment for covid are now in damage-control mode after a series of stories about people overdosing on horse paste and sheep drench from feed stores.
Such luminaries as Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, Brett Weinstein and United States Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) stoked demand for the dewormer, only to have the craze blow up in the faces when the ginned-up demand outstripped the pharmaceutical supply and people started self-medicating with horse paste.
The zeal of the ivermectin prophets was self-defeating. The whole point of being an Ivermectin Guy is that you can indulge in antivaxx conspiracy theories while sounding smarter than the Microchip Guys. That’s why they get so mad when you call it “horse paste.”
I still cannot understand why someone to would take the word of a babbling radio personality over the advice of experts in the field of infectious diseases….instead they listen to the advice of those that are experts in stupid.
Bad news for those that depend on drugs to keep them healthy and well…..like insulin, et al……
The bad news is Big Pharma has stated that there will be major drug increases at the beginning of the New Year…..like they need the increased cash.
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, hospitalizations skyrocketed in 2020, but routine visits to the doctor’s office and demand for new prescription medications fell sharply during the worldwide lockdown.
To make up for lost revenue, the pharmaceutical industry plans to ring in the New Year by raising prices on more than 300 drugs in the United States on January 1, according to an analysis by healthcare consulting firm 3 Axis Advisors, whose findings were summarized in an exclusive report published Thursday in Reuters.
As Reuters pointed out, “The increases come as pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer are playing hero by developing vaccines for Covid-19 in record time.”
While scientific advances made by pharmaceutical companies have contributed to defeating the pandemic, critics argue that it would be naive to assume the industry is simply motivated to improve people’s well-being.
“Big Pharma’s greed is a danger to public health,” Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said earlier this year, when Gilead announced that it would charge U.S. hospitals $3,120 per privately insured patient for a treatment course of remdesivir, a Covid-19 drug whose development was financed in large part by taxpayers.
Pfizer spokesperson Amy Rose pointed to the coronavirus vaccine the company developed with Germany’s BioNTech in an attempt to justify next year’s drug price hikes. “This modest increase,” Rose said in a statement, “is necessary to support investments that allow us to continue to discover new medicines and deliver those breakthroughs to the patients who need them.”
Nevertheless, as David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs Now, said last month, “Drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them.”
What about all those vaccines to fight the Covid-19?
The Pfizer vaccine, also given in two doses, is expected to cost $19.50 a dose. Each dose for Johnson & Johnson’s two-dose vaccine will cost an estimated $10, and AstraZeneca’s two-dose vaccine could be the cheapest at just $3 to $4 a dose.
Am I wrong or did these companies get taxpayer money to expedite a vaccine? If so why should they make any money off the vaccines?
Do they think that because they are taunted as “heroes” because the pandemic will change the fact that they are raping the American people?
Time for these parasites to be put in their place as servants of mankind not the ruler.
Trump has signed a Executive Order….it is easier than going through Congress…..to help seniors with their ever expanding drug prices……but will it truly help or just a blatant attempt to bribe the seniors for their vote?
Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen on Thursday accused President Donald Trump of a “transparent and pathetic attempt to bribe” seniors for their votes after Trump vowed to send $200 prescription drug discount cards to more than 30 million Medicare recipients just weeks ahead of the November election.
Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, called Trump’s highly dubious promise “bizarre” and said that “seniors and all Americans don’t need Trump cards, they need real solutions to rip-off drug prices,” which have continued to soar during Trump’s presidency despite his repeated vows to lower them.
“The solution to outlandishly high pharmaceutical prices is not to give people money to offset extortionate drug prices; the solution is to end price gouging altogether,” Weissman said in a statement.
The drug that Donald the Orange thinks is the bee’s knees is hydroxychloroquine….but he may be the only person that thinks it is adequate for the treatment of Covid-19….but the FDA does not really agree with the president…..
Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine no longer have the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s blessing for use against coronavirus infections when given outside of a clinical trial.
In March, the agency authorized using the malaria drugs for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 who couldn’t participate in clinical trials. But the legal criteria for issuing an emergency use authorization are no longer met, the agency said in a statement June 15.
There is a drug that shows promise but only on patients that are already on a ventilator…..
Researchers running the largest randomized, controlled trial of coronavirus treatments are heralding a “major breakthrough”: the first drug shown to reduce deaths from COVID-19. Dexamethasone isn’t new. Rather, it’s a generic steroid widely used to reduce inflammation. But it’s “the only drug that’s so far shown to reduce mortality [for COVID-19]—and it reduces it significantly,” says Oxford University’s Peter Horby, co-leader of the “Recovery” trial, per the Guardian. Around 2,100 hospitalized patients received 6mg of dexamethasone once a day for 10 days, while about 4,300 patients receive the usual care. Dexamethasone didn’t appear to benefit patients whose treatment excluded respiratory intervention. But it was found to reduce deaths by one-third in ventilated patients (saving one person in eight) and by one-fifth in patients receiving oxygen only (saving one in 25).
This could have a huge impact on death rates, as half of all COVID-19 patients who require ventilators later die, per the BBC. “This is a result that shows that if patients who have COVID-19 and are on ventilators or are on oxygen are given dexamethasone, it will save lives, and it will do so at a remarkably low cost,” says trial co-leader Martin Landray, also of Oxford, per Reuters. The cost of the drugs used in the trial was a little over $6 per patient, per the BBC. And dexamethasone is “easily obtainable anywhere in the world,” reports the Guardian. Landray says hospitalized patients at the greatest risk from the disease should be treated with dexamethasone immediately. In a separate study, the Recovery team found hydroxychloroquine, the drug touted and allegedly taken by President Trump, didn’t benefit patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
There is a drug that can help with symptoms once the infection is detected…..
US regulators on Friday allowed emergency use of an experimental drug that appears to help some coronavirus patients recover faster. It is the first drug shown to help fight COVID-19, which has killed more than 230,000 people worldwide. President Trump announced the news at the White House alongside Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, who said the drug would be available for patients hospitalized with COVID-19, the AP reports. The FDA acted after preliminary results from a government-sponsored study showed that Gilead Sciences’s remdesivir shortened the time to recovery by 31%, or about four days on average, for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The study of 1,063 patients is the largest and most strict test of the drug and included a comparison group that received just usual care so remdesivir’s effects could be rigorously evaluated.
Those given the drug left the hospital in 11 days on average, versus 15 days for the comparison group. The drug also might be reducing deaths, though that’s not certain so far. Dr. Anthony Fauci said the drug would become a new standard of care for severely ill COVID-19 patients. The drug has not been tested on people with a milder illness, and it’s currently given through an IV in a hospital. The FDA invoked its emergency powers to speed experimental drugs to patients. In normal times, the FDA requires “substantial evidence” of a drug’s safety and effectiveness, usually through one or more large patient studies. But during public health emergencies the agency can waive those standards, simply requiring that a drug’s potential benefits outweigh its risks. Gilead has said it would donate its current stock of the drug and is ramping up production. No drugs are approved now for treating the coronavirus, and remdesivir will still need formal approval.
There is the drug news during the time of a pandemic…..
