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Obama's Impact on Healthcare and Pharma Industry Here's where pharma industry people can discuss the pros and cons of Obama's plans for healthcare in the US and the pharma industry.

Blog on Medicare, Medicaid, pharma, biotech, health reform, and more. Insights and resources on hot issues. Authored by a health care strategist, speaker, and writer. Expert on Medicare, Medicaid, and pharma, biotech, and device industries

The fact that an increasing number of medications are unable to beat sugar pills has thrown the industry into crisis. It's not that the old meds are getting weaker, drug developers say. It's as if the placebo effect is somehow getting stronger. Why are inert pills suddenly overwhelming promising new drugs and established medicines alike? Pharma doesn't know, and drugmakers are realizing they need to fully understand the mechanisms behind it so they can design trials that differentiate more clearly between the beneficial effects of their products and the body's innate ability to heal itself. special task force of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health is seeking to stem the crisis by quietly undertaking one of the most ambitious data-sharing efforts in the history of the drug industry.

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Research shows that many doctors rely more on the pharmaceutical industry's own information about a medication than on checking independent sources for evaluations of the drug.

New findings in rodents and human brain shed light on the mechanisms of major depressive disorder (MDD), uncovering over-expression of MKP-1 (mitogen-activated protein kinase [MAPK] phosphatase-1)...and identifying a new therapeutic target. MKP-1, also known as dual-specificity phosphatase-1 (DUSP1), is a member of a family of proteins that dephosphorylate both threonine and tyrosine residues and thereby serves as a key negative regulator of the MAPK cascade4, a major signaling pathway involved in neuronal plasticity, function and survival This study identifies MKP-1 as a key factor in MDD pathophysiology, and as a new target for therapeutic interventions.f Here we use whole-genome expression profiling of postmortem tissue and show significantly increased expression of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphatase-1 (MKP-1, encoded by DUSP1, but hereafter called MKP-1) in the hippocampal subfields of subjects with MDD compared to matched controls. MKP-1, also known as dual-specificity phosphatase-1 (DUSP1), is a member of a family of proteins that dephosphorylate both threonine and tyrosine residues and thereby serves as a key negative regulator of the MAPK cascade4, a major signaling pathway involved in neuronal plasticity, function and survival. We tested the role of altered MKP-1 expression in rat and mouse models of depression and found that increased hippocampal MKP-1 expression, as a result of stress or viral-mediated gene transfer, causes depressive behaviors. Conversely, chronic antidepressant treatment normalizes stress-induced MKP-1 expression and behavior, and mice lacking MKP-1 are resilient to stress. These postmortem and preclinical studies identify MKP-1 as a key factor in MDD pathophysiology and as a new target for therapeutic interventions.

Gaceta Sanitaria Vol.21 Núm. 06. Gaceta Sanitaria. ISSN:0213-9111 | Free full text (English)

Ethical Considerations in the Interpretation and Communication of Clinical Trial Results -- Coultas 4 (2): 194 -- Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society

The frequency with which scientists fabricate and falsify data, or commit other forms of scientific misconduct is a matter of controversy... Misconduct was reported more frequently by medical/pharmacological researchers than others...This metareview is a conservative estimate of the true prevalence of scientific misconduct.