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| Available in | English |
|---|---|
| Founded | March 2005 |
| Owner | Ziff Davis |
| Editor | Jeremy Faust [1] |
| Products | Health information services |
| URL | www |
| Registration | Required |
MedPage Today is a medical news-focused site owned by Ziff-Davis, LLC. [2] It is based in New York City, and is geared primarily toward medical and health professionals. [3]
The news service MedPage Today was founded by Robert S. Stern in March 2005. [4] [5] In January 2010, the organization was provided approval for offering American Academy of Family Physicians-accredited CME credits in collaboration with the Office of Continuing Medical Education at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. [6] [7] [8]
In December 2010, the organization was acquired by Everyday Health, a subsidiary of Ziff-Davis. [9] In July 2011, MedPage Today announced a collaboration with the American Heart Association for a daily email newsletter named Cardiovascular Daily. [10] [9] In June 2017, MedPage Today started to collaborate with the Endocrine Society on a "Reading Room" combining articles from the two organizations. [11]
MedPage has won several Platinum eHealthcare Leadership Award multiple times in different categories. [11] [12] [13]
During October 2017, Cheryl Clark of MedPage Today wrote an independent statistical and clinical analysis on the rise in cases of amputation for the patients with diabetes from 2013 onwards. [14] [15] This analysis invited mixed receptions from the different parts of the medical profession. [16] [17]
During 2011 and 2012, MedPage Today and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel jointly investigated the "questionable financial relationships" between the pharmaceutical companies that commercially produce narcotic painkillers and numerous nonprofit organizations that advocate for the pain treatment. The investigation included the special report where it was claimed that UW Pain & Policy Studies Group (a University of Wisconsin-Madison–based organization of medical professionals) received the undisclosed amount of $2.5 million from drug manufacturers to advocate and promote the usage and prescription of opioid-based drugs. [18] The investigation was further extended by a U.S. Senate Committee on its merit. Endorsing the findings of the journalistic investigation, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee, Max Baucus, remarked, "It is clear that the United States is suffering from an epidemic of accidental deaths and addiction resulting from increased use of powerful narcotic painkillers". [19] [20] [21] While the committee also described the situation of pervasive practice of prescribing opioid painkillers as an "epidemic", the focus of the discussion was the drug OxyContin, manufactured by Purdue Pharma. [22]
During 2015, MedPage Today and The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel jointly in their investigative report mentioned the troubled history of approval of Opana ER as done by the FDA and its consequent pervasive abuse. [23] Triggered by the report and its consequent aftermath, the FDA decided to remove the opioid painkiller from the market for the second time during June 2017 where the same drug was removed from the market in 1979 followed by the alarming abuse during 1960 and 1970. [24] [25] [26] [27]
In November 2017, MedPage Today published a critical report on the insurance machinery and its way of functioning which was referred to as "dinner table stories" by others. [28] The report fueled controversy and its reception was mixed; some regarded it as useful for exposing the unethical practices carried out by the insurance officials, while others raised questions of factual accuracy and criticized the depiction of the preauthorization process. [29] [30] [31] [32] [ unreliable source? ]
MedPage Today is known for carrying out series of analysis on suicide cases, instances, rates, etc. [33] [34] [35] In September 2018, MedPage Today published a report blaming medical professionals including physicians and their "lack of clinical training" as the reason for the rising rate of suicide in the United States. The focus of the report was to fix the accountability of the suicides on the physicians and the rising rate of suicide was blamed to be a result of the failure of the physicians in general. [36] The report invited severe criticism from physicians and the hypothesis in the report was rejected by most of the medical professionals. [37] [ self-published source? ][ third-party source needed ]
Oxycodone, sold under various brand names such as Roxicodone and OxyContin, is a semi-synthetic opioid used medically for treatment of moderate to severe pain. It is highly addictive and is a commonly abused drug. It is usually taken by mouth, and is available in immediate-release and controlled-release formulations. Onset of pain relief typically begins within fifteen minutes and lasts for up to six hours with the immediate-release formulation. In the United Kingdom, it is available by injection. Combination products are also available with paracetamol (acetaminophen), ibuprofen, naloxone, naltrexone, and aspirin.
Naloxone is a medication used to reverse or reduce the effects of opioids. It is used to counter decreased breathing in opioid overdose. Effects begin within two minutes when given intravenously, five minutes when injected into a muscle, and ten minutes as a nasal spray. Naloxone blocks the effects of opioids for 30 to 90 minutes.
The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was 271,660 in 2022.
A drug overdose is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended. Typically it is used for cases when a risk to health will potentially result. An overdose may result in a toxic state or death.
A prescription drug is a pharmaceutical drug that is permitted to be dispensed only to those with a medical prescription. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs can be obtained without a prescription. The reason for this difference in substance control is the potential scope of misuse, from drug abuse to practicing medicine without a license and without sufficient education. Different jurisdictions have different definitions of what constitutes a prescription drug.
Oxymorphone is a highly potent opioid analgesic indicated for treatment of severe pain. Pain relief after injection begins after about 5–10 minutes, after oral administration it begins after about 30 minutes, and lasts about 3–4 hours for immediate-release tablets and 12 hours for extended-release tablets. The elimination half-life of oxymorphone is much faster intravenously, and as such, the drug is most commonly used orally. Like oxycodone, which metabolizes to oxymorphone, oxymorphone has a high potential to be abused.
Cardinal Health, Inc. is an American multinational health care services company, and the 14th highest revenue generating company in the United States. Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, the company specializes in the distribution of pharmaceuticals and medical products, serving more than 100,000 locations. The company also manufactures medical and surgical products, including gloves, surgical apparel, and fluid management products. In addition, it operates one of the largest networks of radiopharmacies in the U.S. Cardinal Health provides medical products to over 75 percent of hospitals in the United States.
Dextropropoxyphene is an analgesic in the opioid category, patented in 1955 and manufactured by Eli Lilly and Company. It is an optical isomer of levopropoxyphene. It is intended to treat mild pain and also has antitussive and local anaesthetic effects. The drug has been taken off the market in Europe and the US due to concerns of fatal overdoses and heart arrhythmias. It is still available in Australia, albeit with restrictions after an application by its manufacturer to review its proposed banning. Its onset of analgesia is said to be 20–30 minutes and peak effects are seen about 1.5–2.0 hours after oral administration.
Drug diversion is a medical and legal concept involving the transfer of any legally prescribed controlled substance from the individual for whom it was prescribed to another person for any illicit use. The definition varies slightly among different jurisdictions, but the transfer of a controlled substance alone usually does not constitute a diversion, since certain controlled substances that are prescribed to a child are intended to be administered by an adult, as directed by a medical professional. The term comes from the "diverting" of the drugs from their original licit medical purpose. In some jurisdictions, drug diversion programs are available to first time offenders of diversion drug laws, which "divert" offenders from the criminal justice system to a program of education and rehabilitation.
Ketorolac, sold under the brand names Toradol, and Biorolac among others, is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to treat pain. Specifically it is recommended for moderate to severe pain. Recommended duration of treatment is less than six days, and in Switzerland not more than two days. It is used by mouth, by nose, by injection into a vein or muscle, and as eye drops. Effects begin within an hour and last for up to eight hours.
Endo International plc is an American Irish-domiciled generics and specialty branded pharmaceutical company that generated over 93% of its 2017 sales from the U.S. healthcare system. While Endo's management, operations, and customers are almost exclusively U.S.–based, in 2013 Endo executed a corporate tax inversion to Ireland to avoid U.S. corporate taxes on their U.S. drug sales, and to avail of Ireland's corporate tax system.
Hydrocodone/paracetamol is the combination of the pain medications hydrocodone and paracetamol (acetaminophen). It is used to treat moderate to severe pain. It is taken by mouth. Recreational use is common in the United States.
CVS Health Corporation is an American healthcare company that owns CVS Pharmacy, a retail pharmacy chain; CVS Caremark, a pharmacy benefits manager; and Aetna, a health insurance provider, among many other brands. The company is the world's largest healthcare company, and its headquarters are in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
MedWatch is the Food and Drug Administration’s “Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program.” It interacts with the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System. MedWatch is used for reporting an adverse event or sentinel event. Founded in 1993, this system of voluntary reporting allows such information to be shared with the medical community or the general public. The system includes publicly available databases and online analysis tools for professionals. MedWatch also distributes information on medical recalls and other clinical safety communications via its platforms.
A pill mill is an illegal facility that resembles a regular pain clinic, but regularly prescribes painkillers (narcotics) without sufficient medical history, physical examination, diagnosis, medical monitoring, or documentation. Clients of these facilities usually receive prescriptions only against cash. Pill mills contribute to the opioid epidemic in the United States and are the subject of a number of legislative initiatives at the state level.
Oliceridine, sold under the brand name Olinvyk, is an opioid medication that is used for the treatment of moderate to severe acute pain in adults. It is given by intravenous (IV) injection.
Scott Gottlieb is an American physician and investor who served as the 23rd commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from May 2017 until April 2019. He is presently a senior fellow at the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a partner at the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA), a member of the board of directors of drug maker Pfizer, Inc, a member of the board of directors of Illumina, Inc., a contributor to the cable financial news network CNBC, and a frequent guest on the CBS News program Face the Nation. An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, Gottlieb is the author of The New York Times best selling book Uncontrolled Spread on the COVID-19 pandemic and the national security vulnerabilities that it revealed.
In the United States, the opioid epidemic is an extensive, ongoing overuse of opioid medications, both from medical prescriptions and illegal sources. The epidemic began in the United States in the late 1990s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), when opioids were increasingly prescribed for pain management, resulting in a rise in overall opioid use throughout subsequent years. The great majority of Americans who use prescription opioids do not believe that they are misusing them.
The opioid epidemic, also referred to as the opioid crisis, is the rapid increase in the overuse, misuse/abuse, and overdose deaths attributed either in part or in whole to the class of drugs called opiates/opioids since the 1990s. It includes the significant medical, social, psychological, demographic and economic consequences of the medical, non-medical, and recreational abuse of these medications.
The timeline of the opioid epidemic includes selected events related to the origins of Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma, the Sackler family, the development and marketing of oxycodone, selected FDA activities related to the abuse and misuse of opioids, the recognition of the opioid epidemic, the social impact of the crisis, lawsuits against Purdue and the Sackler family.
