Denialism Blog

Author: denialism_bv2x6a

  • NCCAM: the not-even-wrong agency

    The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is a government agency tasked with (among other things), “[exploring] complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science.” In this space we have talked about NCCAM quite a bit, but I have to admit that I don’t think about them very much. The other day, though, I was reading though JAMA and I came across a study funded by the agency. The study, which showed that Ginkgo does not prevent Alzheimer’s-type dementia, was pretty good, so I cruised on over to NCCAM’s website to see what else they’ve been up to.

    A quick glance at NCCAM’s front page:

      “Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory (GEM) Study Fails To Show Benefit in Preventing Dementia in the Elderly”
      “CAM and Hepatitis C: A Focus on Herbal Supplements ‘No CAM treatment has yet been proven effective for treating hepatitis C or its complications.’”
      “Selenium and Vitamin E in Prostate Cancer Prevention Study, ‘selenium and vitamin E supplements, taken either alone or together, did not prevent prostate cancer.’”

    It seems that NCCAM is finding out something we already strongly suspected: improbable medical claims are usually wrong. Since that’s not how they see things, and since I don’t believe that there is such a thing as alternative medicine, I was curious how they defined CAM.
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  • What does your health insurance cover?

    For many Americans, it’s open enrollment time, the period your employer give you to make changes in your health insurance coverage. You may not understand your insurance very well, but you have to understand this one important fact: your health care providers know even less about your insurance than you do. Most doctor’s offices have a sign that says something like, “Your insurance is your business.” There is know way for your doctor’s office to know all the details of all the different insurance plans.

    Each state has different rules, and each part of the country differs in what kind of health plans predominate. In some areas, non-coverage is so common that it almost doesn’t matter what you know, other than the location of a free clinic. But for those of you looking at new or existing health plans, you must read through the documentation, especially the summaries that tell you what is and isn’t covered.

    For example, many plans cover a yearly preventative physical. Many do not. If you don’t tell your doctor whether or not preventative services are covered, you may end up with an unexpected bill. Preventative physicals are often covered without a co-pay, but most other visits do have a co-pay.

    Your plan will include a glossary, but some terms deserve special attention.
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  • Ginkgo does not prevent dementia, or "I can't remember what NCCAM is good for"

    ResearchBlogging.orgHere’s a question for you: is there, or should there be, any difference between studies of “alternative” and non-alternative medicine? I’ve argued before that there is no such thing as alternative medicine. So why do we need a separate agency to study “alternative” medicine? The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine seems to be just such an agency. For example, the latest study of Gingko biloba for the prevention of dementia could have been funded by other agencies, such as NIMH. Why NCCAM?

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  • Skeptics' Circle #One Hundred!!100!!!

    The big anniversary edition is up at Orac’s place! Don’t miss it!!!11!!

  • Se Habla "woo-woo"

    So, America is changing. We have an African American president. The Latino population continues to grow. How can the alternative medicine community adjust to this demographic shift? What are they to do?

    I’m glad you asked! It turns out that immigrants are palomas ripe for the plucking. Now, we’ve talked about the ethics of alternative medicine, and how “meaning well” is not exculpatory. If you promote quackery, it’s wrong, even if you believe your own drivel.

    One of the worst types of drivel is naturopathy. This “specialty” advertises itself as “medicine-plus”, but really it’s “healing-minus”: minus the evidence, minus the training, minus intelligent thought.

    It should be no surprise that recent immigrants, who may have low educational levels, especially in English, and have less access to the health care system financially, culturally, and linguistically should be ripe targets.

    And targeting these vulnerable individuals is a naturopathic “doctor” in Connecticut.

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  • And now for something completely different

    I’m trying a new thing. I think it would be nice to have a place where medical professionals, and those who wish to see how those professionals are thinking, can have frank discussions about medicine, altmed, etc. In support of this, I’ve created a new forum. The idea is to enhance discussions about medicine, medical ethics, and related issues, and enable people to start their own topic that might not have shown up on the blogs.

    I’m hoping that the discussion can compliment what is already happening right here.

    The catch is that I’m going to have a more aggressive moderation policy than I would be comfortable with here. Trolling, abusive behavior, etc. will be verbotten. Anyway, it’s super beta, so feel free to come by and check it out.

  • Welcome to Realbusiness 101.

    Earlier today, we learned that when faced with a regulatory deadline to test your products for lead, a good course of action is to lobby to delay or reverse the requirement. This afternoon, we learn the best course of action when your highly-profitable drug is about to lose patent protection. We’re all familiar with the tactic of simply making little changes to a drug and declaring the new version marginally better. Jonathan Rockoff explains that the minor improvement strategy can be combined with pricing tactic to steer consumers and insurers away from generics:

    Twice this year, Cephalon Inc. has sharply raised the price of its narcolepsy drug Provigil. The drug is now 28% more expensive than it was in March and 74% more expensive than four years ago, according to DestinationRx, a pharmaceutical software and data provider. The Frazer, Pa., company has said in investor presentations that it plans to continue to raise the price.

    The Provigil price increases — the drug’s average wholesale price is now $8.71 a tablet — are an extreme example of a common tactic pharmaceutical companies employ in the U.S. to boost profits and steer patients away from cheaper generics.

    It works like this: Knowing that Provigil will face generic competition in 2012 as its patent nears expiration, Cephalon is planning to launch a longer-acting version of the drug called Nuvigil next year. To convert patients from Provigil to Nuvigil, Cephalon has suggested in investor presentations it will price Nuvigil lower than the sharply increased price of Provigil.

    By the time copycat versions of Provigil hit the market the company is banking that most Provigil users will have switched to the less-expensive Nuvigil, which is patent-protected until 2023. In the meantime, Cephalon will have maximized its Provigil revenue with the repeated price hikes.

    “You should expect that we will likely raise Provigil prices to try to create an incentive for the reimbursers to preferentially move to Nuvigil,” Chip Merritt, Cephalon’s vice president of investor relations, told a Sept. 5 health-care conference, according to a transcript of the meeting.

    […]

    During his campaign, Mr. Obama promised to lower drug costs by, among other things, allowing the importation of cheaper medicines from other developed countries and increasing the use of generic drugs in public programs like Medicare.

    One approach often threatened by Democrats — allowing Medicare to negotiate prices with drug makers — would help control rising costs, drug-pricing specialists said. But fully preventing tactics like Cephalon’s would be difficult short of outright regulation of drug prices. Many other countries control drug prices, but most U.S. regulators and legislators have opposed such moves.

  • Dumb and Dumber: Toys From China & Lobbyists from NAM

    So you operate a toy company and along the way, you probably offshored your production to China to save money. And now that Americans have awakened to the obvious problems with your business plan, you want to still sell your toys to the public without testing them for lead.

    Your options: 1) sell your inventory before February 10, 2009, when the new lead regulations come into effect; 2) do nothing and just risk it; and/or 3) lobby to make the standards non-retroactive.

    Dear readers, would you be surprised if our friends who cut corners by offshoring to China would choose option 3? Melanie Trottman reports in today’s Journal that:

    …Mr. Woldenberg [a toy seller] said he believes that few, if any, of his company’s goods have lead in excess of the new standards, he has started to have the inventory tested. Meanwhile, he has written to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and congressional staffers, asking for an indefinite amount of time to sell off his older inventory.

    The National Association of Manufacturers and other trade groups have also asked regulators and Congress not to apply the new lead standard to products made before the standard was set.

    “There’s the potential loss of billions of dollars in inventory that is deemed safe for purchase on Feb. 9 but deemed unsafe Feb. 10” unless proved otherwise, said Jim Neill, an association spokesman.

    Deemed safe on February 9th but not on the 10th? We should ask Jim Neill how much lead he thinks is safe for his children–the February 9th or the February 10th standard.

  • Atheists Advertise!

    I never thought I’d see this. But here it is in all its glory. When I used to live in Georgia and drive past huge billboards that read “I heard that! — God,” or “You’re Welcome –God,” I imagined the day when atheist billboards would appear. I always wanted to buy a billboard that simply read, “God is Dead.” in part, to see whether Clear Channel would put it up, and in part, to hear the standard rejoinder said in Georgia–“Nietzsche is dead!” How profound!

    Today’s Journal covers atheists’ efforts in reaching out, and concludes with this astute observation:

    Still, leading activists say nonbelievers tend to be just as wary of organized atheism as they are of organized religion — making it tough to pull together a cohesive movement.

    “A pastor can say to his flock, ‘All rise,’ and everyone rises. But try that in an atheist meeting,” said Marvin Straus, co-founder of an atheist group in Boulder, Colo. “A third of the people will rise. A third will tell you to go to hell. And a third will start arguing….That’s why it’s hard to say where we’re going as a movement.”

  • Has Obama Taken Away Our Guns Yet?

    On Nov. 16th at 9:50 Pacific, the answer remains no, but this site will help us keep track of this important issue after Jan. 20.