Scott Strumello's Blog (39)

Tueday Tirade

I admit to nothing!! The other day, my pal Scott Johnson wrote about his unfortunate recent DKA experience and I commented that there was no room for guilt (or the related self-blame) in his conversation, and I really meant it. The simple reality is that the patient cannot always be blamed for this stuff, and attempts to do so really work against effective self-care. But I'd be willing to bet th… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on September 8, 2009 at 6:55pm — 3 Comments

Medco CFO Sees Generic Insulin By 2013, Generic Analogues By 2015

This isn't meant to be a primer on the role of the Pharmacy Benefits Managers (or PBMs), but few people realize just how massive the role of the PBM really is in today's healthcare reform debate. These companies know the score when it comes to the drug costs, prescription and usage patterns and the outlook on where things are likely to be going. The Role of the PBM in the U.S. Healthcare "System" PBMs are probably one of the biggest players in the U.S. he… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on June 3, 2009 at 6:28pm — 1 Comment

FDA New Year's Resoultions

Happy New Year to all of my readers! I've been quite busy with other parts of my life in recent weeks to do much blogging, and while I'm almost wrapped up with my annual review on diabetes research and the outlook for the coming year, I still had to share the following with everyone: an editorial on The Huffington Post. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, The Huffington Post is perhaps the ultimate blog. It's described as a news website and aggregated weblog founded by Arianna Huffing… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on January 9, 2009 at 11:00am — No Comments

Some Things People With Diabetes Need to Consider When Voting This Year

I've been absent from blogging for the past few weeks, mainly because I was feeling a bit burned out by all of it and needed a vacation from blogging. However, that doesn't mean I've tuned out, only that I chose not to write about anything. I have a few topics pending, one of which I am writing about today: the election and the topic of healthcare. If you listen to policy wonks, the topic of healthcare has fallen down on the priorities for both Presidential candidates, as the economy takes cent… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on October 14, 2008 at 7:00am — 1 Comment

Trials Show BGAT Delivered Online a Success! But Don't Celebrate Just Yet ...

Blood Glucose Awareness Training (also known as "BGAT") is, perhaps, one of the most important pieces of diabetes education that miraculously, an overwhelming majority of certified diabetes educators (CDEs) have never even heard of. It should be required education, but sadly, is not and in my personal experience, many CDEs have never even heard of the program. Now I must admit, when I was diagnosed at age 7 back in 1976, there was no such thing as a "CDE" and truthfully, I have never viewed tha… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on September 10, 2008 at 6:30am — 1 Comment

Insulin In the News

It's not everyday that insulin is in the news. In fact, far more attention seems to hit the press over irrelevant diabetes studies and dumb PR dressed as "news" intended to position yet another new type 2 diabetes drug favorably for investors and regulators which occurs almost daily. Comparatively speaking, insulin seldom makes any sort of news, which is why today was quite unusual. FDA Unveils List of 20 Drugs In Side-Effect Probes First of all, on Frida… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on September 8, 2008 at 6:00pm — No Comments

More Exposure of Trouble at the FDA

No doubt, you have read about the brew ha ha over the type 2 diabetes medicine Byetta being linked to pancreatitis which lead to the death of a few (I believe around 6 cases at the last count, out of over a million prescriptions worldwide). In fact, last night at 5:00 PM, Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly and Company (who jointly market Byetta, known genericall… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on August 27, 2008 at 5:30am — No Comments

Reminder: FDA Needs Your Input on Islet Transplantation TODAY!!!

Back in June, I did a posting (see http://sstrumello.blogspot.com/2008/06/fda-needs-your-input-on-islet.html for that) which indicated that the FDA Needs Your Input on Islet Transplantation. The deadline is officially today, although anyone may comment anytime on guidance, if you wish your comments to be seriously considered, try to get something by today. The main issue seems to be that the… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on August 20, 2008 at 1:16pm — No Comments

Generic Insulin in 2008? Don't Bet On It.

Remember Insmed? Well, back in February, I posted a story I called "Meet Mike Coleman", which was coined from a Pharmlot story featuring a YouTube video entitled "Meet Mike, Your Generic Biologics Lobbyist". Well, this morning's Washington Post… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on August 14, 2008 at 7:30am — No Comments

Are Amylin's Days Really Numbered?

This isn't exactly new news, but back in June, the Indianapolis Star reported that corporate raider Carl Icahn had acquired a $200 million stake in Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the San Diego-based biotechnology company perhaps best known for its stake in the blockbuster type 2 diabetes drug Byetta. Amylin is also responsible for the company's namesake drug sold under the brand-name Symlin, which is less a drug and more a biosynthtic analogue of the hormon… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on August 13, 2008 at 5:00am — No Comments

Novo Nordisk Will Pursue Autoimmunity Drugs

Back in November 2007, I featured a post in which I said that there were signs that pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company was reconsidering the company's type 1 diabetes strategy, particularly given their partnership with MacroGenics, Inc. to develop and commercialize teplizumab, which is a humanized anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody. In effect, that… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on August 6, 2008 at 10:00am — No Comments

Prescription Data Used To Assess Consumers' Health "Scores"

Yesterday, The Washington Post featured an article describing what the authors called "a powerful new tool for evaluating whether to cover individual consumers: a health 'credit report' which is drawn from databases containing prescription drug records on more than 200 million Americans." Pharmaceutical industry blog Pharmalot broke the… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on August 5, 2008 at 5:30am — 4 Comments

Straight from the Bog?

Last night, I tuned into dLife (well, I didn't exactly do it myself, but TiVO changed the channel and began recording it for me and I turned the TV on and tuned in then). I realize that dLife is an advertiser-sponsored program, and like other diabetes-related media, dLife needs sponsors to pay its bills. … Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on August 4, 2008 at 10:12am — No Comments

More on Islet Regeneration

A decade ago, there was a lot of excitement about INGAP (which stands for Islet Neogenesis Associated Protein), but for a variety of different reasons, much of that excitement disappeared to the point where many new patients or parents of children with type 1 diabetes really know little about this promising potential treatment, even though many diabetes veterans view all regeneration efforts -- including Denise Faustman's -- as having a number of similarities. Back in March, I wrote that INGAP… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on July 30, 2008 at 5:42am — 2 Comments

Is this any way to run a regulatory agency?

The Associated Press recently featured a story on my subject for today which began as follows: "When a state trooper pulls over a speeding motorist, the officer usually writes out a ticket on the spot." However, when federal regulators catch a pharmaceutical company marketing prescription medications for an "unapproved" use, it typically takes the U.S. ~~Fatal~~Food and Drug Administration (FDA)… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on July 28, 2008 at 9:30am — 3 Comments

Lavish FDA Bonuses Go to Bureaucrats, Not Scientists

You'd think the U.S. ~~Fatal~~Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would be on the mend. After all, last December, The New York Times reported that the FDA is desperately short of money and poorly organized, which is putting people's lives at risk. A report entitled "… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on July 11, 2008 at 7:30am — No Comments

Unbiased Medical Advice?

First of all, a hat tip to Peter Rost, as the physician and former drug marketer for Pfizer turned whistle-blower and blogger featured this story on his blog late last week. At issue is something Americans, and perhaps too often, patients with diabetes fail to consider, and that is when their doctor(s) recommend the latest and greatest new drug, insulin, device or other treatments, so… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on July 1, 2008 at 6:30pm — No Comments

New Healthcare Plans and Our Dysfunctional Medical System ... Urgh!

Sooner or later, I suspect that almost everyone is impacted by the rising cost of healthcare. The U.S. has an estimated 47 million uninsured, and a large number of underinsured people. In fact, Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers recently released a 50-state survey, which revealed that insurance companies in most states are not prohibited from denying health coverage to people with p… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on June 16, 2008 at 11:30am — 2 Comments

ADA Scientific Sessions-Coming Soon: Humalog Plus?

This past weekend, the American Diabetes Association's 68th Annual Scientific Sessions began in San Francisco and today (Weds., June 10, 2008) they end. The press releases and reporters were on overdrive, largely releasing the same, recycled stories containing tidbits from the ill-fated type 2 studies which also investigated cardiovascular disease -- even though that news came out months ago. Nevertheless, there were a handful of interesting findings revealed in these sessions, although I previe… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on June 10, 2008 at 9:30am — 3 Comments

The ADA's Silence Is Deafening

It seems that almost every month, we hear yet another news story about problems at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Last December, even an internal report produced by the FDA itself entitled "FDA Science and Mission at Risk" (which can also be found at the Food and Drug Administration's… Continue

Added by Scott Strumello on May 13, 2008 at 9:30am — 1 Comment

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