2023 News

PharmedOut In the News - 2023

December 2023

• Judy Butler’s December fodder covers false and misleading Rexulti (brexpiprazole) advertisements. Read it here!

• December 1st: Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in the Reuters Special Report “Maker of Wegovy, Ozempic showers money on U.S. obesity doctors.” She said “These highly-paid doctors end up drowning out the voices of people who aren't being flown around to every medical meeting…As a result, there’s not a lot of resistance to the prevailing industry-funded view.”

• Also on December 1st: Media reports on weight loss drugs lack balance. Dr. Fugh-Berman published a Letter to the Editor protesting a too-rosy editorial on weight loss drugs in The Washington Post.

• Menopause is being medicalized – again. Dr. Fugh-Berman was featured on WORT 89.9FM’s (Madison, Wisconsin) show “Her Turn” on December 10, talking with Arlene Zaucha about the menopause and our recent op-ed, which opposed treating menopause as a disability. The audio archive can be found here.

• December 13th: “Rethinking mild cognitive impairment and dementia”, the seventh episode of Pharmanipulation, features Dr. Peter Whitehouse and Dr. Lon Schneider. Click here to listen!

• December 15th: PharmedOut submitted a comment to the FDA on the Research, Abuse, Diversion, and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS) system. PharmedOut stressed that RADARS "has a terrible history of involvement in creating and maintaining dangerous overprescribing of opioids." Our comment was featured in “Groups Blast FDA's Opioid Abuse Surveillance Proposal” in MedPage Today.

• December 26th: Dr. Fugh-Berman was also quoted in “Subscription-based care moves beyond peddling birth control and helping with hair loss” in AP News. She said, “This isn’t medicine. This is selling drugs to consumers…Mental health care should never just be about drugs.” The piece was republished in the Los Angeles Times, CBS News, The Detroit News, Aurora Colorado Sentinel, Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Mississippi Business Journal, Providence Business News, CT Insider, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, QuadCity Times, NewsNet Northern Michigan, Honolulu Star Advertiser, ABC4, and was covered by Becker’s Hospital Review, RetailWire, and Subscription Insider.

November 2023

• Patricia Bencivenga and Dr. Fugh-Berman published “Menopause is not a disability. Why are employers being asked to treat it like one?” in The Baltimore Sun on November 8. It was also republished in The Korea Times, St. Paul Pioneer Press, and Jewish World Review.

• November 14th: Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in “Are Doctors Missing Millions of Cases of Mild Cognitive Impairment?” in Being Patient. She said “What purpose is served in telling people they have something that is an unclear diagnosis with unclear ramifications — unless the purpose is to put them on a drug?”

• November 15: Research Associate Dave Stanke and Dr. Fugh-Berman published, "Cover hearing aids, not questionable Alzheimer's drug," in The Chicago Tribune. 

• PharmedOut continues to criticize weight loss drugs and weight stigma. We sent a letter opposing the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act to Congressional staffers on November 15th. The letter and accompanying factsheet supporting weight-neutral healthcare can be found here.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in “FDA Hearing Targets Unproven $900,000 Drug for Deadly Cancer” in Bloomberg Law on November 16. She said “Delaying confirmatory trials for years or decades means companies can profit from inadequately tested drugs until their market exclusivity runs out.” This piece was re-published in the Financial Post.

• November 22: "Targeting Black and Hispanic communities for dementia drugs," by Caroline Renko and Naisa Rahman was published in the Washington Times. The op-ed exposes how Biogen is targeting Black and Latinx populations for Aduhelm (aducanumab) even though the drug wasn't tested in these populations.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was also quoted in “Patient Support Programs Need Transparency, Researchers Say” in Medscape on November 29. She explained that when drugmakers fund patient support programs, it is a way of “worming their way into patient care to the detriment of medical care and public coffers.”

October 2023

• Judy Butler’s October fodder covers patient groups that are pressuring Medicare to cover obesity drugs. Read it here!

• Judy Butler and Dr. Fugh-Berman published “Don’t Give Symptom-Free People Alzheimer’s Drugs” in The Hastings Center’s Bioethics Forum on October 23. Their piece was also quoted in Being Patient’s “CTAD: Updating the Way We Define — and Diagnose — Alzheimer’s” by Simon Spichack on October 27.

• October 26th: We published our sixth episode of Pharmanipulation, “Fat and Fiction: Considering the risks and benefits of weight loss and weight loss drugs with Ragen Chastain and Dr. Joel Lexchin.” This episode discusses myths about weight and health and the hype around Ozempic and Wegovy — click here to listen!

September 2023

• Judy Butler’s September fodder covers the Alzheimer’s Association’s inexplicable recommendation of diagnosing perfectly normal people with Alzheimer’s disease. Read it here!

• September 1st: Dr. Fugh-Berman published “The Supreme Court Justices Are Just Like Anyone Else” in The Atlantic. Her article was covered by former Montana Supreme Court justice James Nelson in The Missoula Current and Counterpunch and was featured in Above the Law’s How Appealing weekly roundup.

• September: Dr. Fugh-Berman was a guest on the AMA Journal of Ethics podcast episode, "Ethics Talk: Medical Device Representatives in the Surgical Suite."

• September 17: Judy Butler's op-ed, "Caution warranted before using new Alzheimer's drug," exposed marketing messages and misleading claims in Biogen's "educational" website, targeting physicians, on mild cognitive impairment. 

• Dr. Fugh-Berman’s BMJ essay on industry-funded medical education was quoted in “Sponsored training courses in Berlin: How Pfizer and Co. manipulate doctors” in Berliner Zeitung on October 7. Her BMJ essay was also featured in “Can Pharmaceutical Companies Ethically Sponsor Medical Education?” in Pharma News Intelligence on September 19.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman’s and Dr. Molchan’s JAMA Internal Medicine article on lecanemab was quoted in “Training to Slow Disease Progression at Angleton Dementia Caregiver Workshop Oct. 27” in The Facts on September 21.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was a panelist on Faces & Voices for Recovery’s Q&A session following the screening of Anonymous Sister, a personal and powerful film about opioid addiction, on September 26.

• Caroline Renko and Dr. Fugh-Berman submitted comments against the approval of NurOwn, a drug for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), on September 27 to the Food and Drug Administration’s Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee. Their comment can be viewed here.

August 2023

• Judy Butler’s August fodder covers more marketing of Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drugs. Read it here!

• August 6: Dr. Fugh-Berman was a guest on Connecticut Public Radio’s Where We Live episode, “Opioid Use Disorder: A Growing Epidemic Within An Epidemic.” In this episode, she explained the role of patient advocacy groups in opioid marketing, and dentists' opioid prescription habits  

• Dr. Fugh-Berman also presented the keynote presentation, “Marketing Drugs to Physicians,” at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s International Conference on Nutrition in Medicine on August 11.

• August 21: Dr. Fugh-Berman was interviewed for this story in Kaiser Health News that exposed the close relationships between medical device sales representatives and surgeons.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman presented “How Drug Makers Make Us Sick” at Penn Social (yes, at a bar!🍺) for the Profs and Pints DC lecture series on August 21.

• Also this August 21st: Dr. Susan Molchan and Dr. Fugh-Berman’s JAMA Internal Medicine piece on the new Alzheimer’s drugs was covered by Brenna Miller for The Lown Institute.

July 2023

• PharmedOut’s Pharmanipulation Podcast Episode 5 premiered on July 5th - “Under the Knife and Over It” with Dr. Tony Scialli talks about unnecessary C-sections and hysterectomies. Click here to listen!

• July 10th: Caroline Renko’s testimony on Opill was quoted in HBW Insight’s article “Catholic Group Asserts Alarm About Teen Access Among Doubts About Safety Of OTC Birth Control.” She said, “Of course, medication costs will still be a barrier for some, but granting approval for Opill would be a first step in the right direction.”

• Dr. Fugh-Berman published “Alzheimer's medicine a 'ray of hope'? That's marketing.” in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on July 15th. Her op-ed examines the claims made by patient advocacy organizations about the new drug Leqembi (lecanemab).

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was also quoted in “TikTok takes down accounts for weight loss influencers who discussed Wegovy, Mounjaro” on July 19 in Endpoints. She said, “Good for TikTok. Do more.” 

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in “IQVIA has grown unchecked into a health data juggernaut. Will the FTC rein it in?” on July 25th in STAT. Regarding the health data IQVIA and DeepIntent have access to, she questioned, “How did all of this information end up in private hands?” She also said, “It’s all about marketing… This isn’t about public health.” 

• Dr. Susan Molchan and Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman published “Are New Alzheimer Drugs Better than Older Drugs” in JAMA Internal Medicine on July 31. It takes a critical look at the new monoclonal antibodies directed toward amyloid for Alzheimer’s Disease.

June 2023

• Judy Butler’s June fodder covers Jazz Pharmaceutical’s payments to the American Heart Association (AHA), and the marketing messages peddled by the AHA. Read it here!

• PharmedOut sent a letter to more than 500 members of congress on May 12th urging them to support the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ coverage determination for monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of Alzheimer’s. Our letter was covered in “Alzheimer’s Groups Seek Broad Medicare Coverage for Pricey Drugs” in Bloomberg Law on June 1st. “These drugs don’t have the evidence that Medicare needs for them to be considered reasonable and necessary,” said Judy Butler. Dr. Fugh-Berman said that lawmakers are “getting one side of this argument, and it’s the industry side”.

• Patricia Bencivenga, PharmedOut’s Special Projects Coordinator, testified in opposition to full FDA approval for Leqembi (lecanemab) at the FDA Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee Meeting on June 9th. Her written comment can be found here. 

• Patricia Bencivenga was quoted in “Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi backed by FDA advisers for full approval” in The Washington Post on June 9th. “It doesn’t work,” she said, adding that the drug poses significant safety problems and could make dementia worse.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in “When will lecanemab be available? Eisai and Biogen Alzheimer's drug awaits FDA approval” in USA Today on June 20th. These drugs don't make anybody better," Fugh-Berman said. "This is wasting taxpayers' money to harm patients."

• PharmedOut’s conference was discussed in "Georgetown University Conference Addresses ‘Invented Diseases & Overtreatment’” in CounterPunch on June 23. 

May 2023

• Judy Butler’s May fodder covers the FDA’s proposal for new studies on long-term use of opioids. Read it here!

• Caroline Renko testified in support of nonprescription use of Opill (norgestrel), a once daily oral contraceptive to prevent pregnancy at the Food and Drug Administration’s Joint Meeting of the Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee and the Obstetrics, Reproductive and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee Meeting on May 9th. Her written comment can be found here.

• Caroline Renko was quoted in “FDA advisers unanimously back over-the-counter birth control pill” in Nature on May 11th. She said, “Women can understand labels, including contraindications,” and “These patronizing concerns are not grounds to take away a woman’s choice from her.”  

• Judy Butler and Dr. Fugh-Berman published “Weighing the Consequences of Weight-Loss Drugs: We need more discussion of the potential harms” in MedPage Today on May 12.

• Patricia Bencivenga and Dr. Fugh-Berman published “Heating up the hot flash market with unnecessary, and potentially harmful, drugs” in The Baltimore Sun on May 17th.

April 2023

• Judy Butler’s April fodder looks at an unbranded marketing campaign for Amgen’s latest drug, Tezspire. Read it here!

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in “Why experts worry the 'magic' in new weight loss medications carries a dark side” in USA Today on April 2nd. While discussing the efficacy of drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, she said “It's not clear you're going to get improved health outcomes from weight loss medications”.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in “Accelerated Approval: US FDA, Covis Navigate Novel Issues With Makena’s Withdrawal” in Pink Sheet on April 11th. She said, “It's outrageous that [Covis subsidiary] AMAG continues to promote the drug after the FDA ordered it off the market – and turned down the company’s request to wind down use. Makena should have been taken off the market years ago.”

• Judy Butler and Dr. Fugh-Berman published “Why weight loss drugs are not the answer to obesity” (4/15) on KevinMD.com.

• Judy Butler was quoted in “Social Media Is Fueling Enthusiasm for New Weight Loss Drugs. Are Regulators Watching?” in KFF Health News on April 18. Of the pharmaceutical industry she said, "They talk about trying to destigmatize obesity at the same time they're talking about losing weight. They're co-opting the concept.”

March 2023

• Judy Butler’s March fodder examines Novo Nordisk’s obesity drug marketing practices. Read it here!

• Caroline Renko testified at the FDA’s Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drug Advisory Committee on Biogen’s amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) drug, tofersen, on March 22nd. Find her public comment here.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman gave a presentation on the influence of industry-funded patient advocacy groups at the Georgia State College of Law symposium on “Public Health Administrative State Under Fire: Restoring Trust in the CDC and FDA” on March 24th. 

• PharmedOut released the third episode of Pharmanipulation on March 29th, “Paying Attention to ADHD: Diagnosis and Treatment in Children.” We interviewed Dr. Gretchen LeFever Watson and Robert Whitaker on ADHD diagnoses and treatments.

• PharmedOut alum and second-year med student at Tulane, Vi Nguyen, published “Primordial prevention: Reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in racial/ethnic populations” in American Heart Journal Plus: Cardiology Research and Practice this March! Her work was also published in Tulane News. Congratulations, Vi!

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in “Why do pharmaceutical companies give away some expensive drugs for free?” in Marketplace on March 31st. On the topic of financial assistance programs offered by pharmaceutical manufacturers, she said “They really will do anything to avoid government regulation of drug prices.”

February 2023

• Judy Butler’s February fodder takes a look at education streaming services for healthcare providers: for example, Netflix-style short educational videos funded by pharmaceutical companies. Read it here!

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in “What is the lawsuit against CVS and Walmart? Chains targeted over homeopathic product sales” (2/2) in USA Today. She said, “Homeopathic preparations should be available for those who know what they are and want to use them, but no one should inadvertently buy sugar pills.”

• PharmedOut’s Pharmanipulation Podcast's February 15th episode is now available! Our second episode was on the topic of sunscreen and the overdiagnosis of melanoma with Dr. Adewole Adamson.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in “The Truth About Testosterone and Your Libido” (2/17) in Men’s Health. She said, “Most men need insight, not drugs.”

• Dr. Fugh-Berman gave a presentation on dentists and opioids at the Dupont Summit on Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy on February 17th.

January 2023

• Judy Butler’s first fodder of 2023 takes a look at Novo Nordisk’s marketing campaign for Wegovy (semaglutide). Be sure to read here!

• PharmedOut signed on to a letter to The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that supported its Coverage with Evidence Development decision for aducanumab and similar drugs, including lecanemab, which received accelerated approval from the FDA on January 6th. In line with our previous support for CMS’ decision, PharmedOut supports CMS upholding its limited coverage decision for lecanemab, an Alzheimer’s drug with safety concerns and questionable efficacy.

• PharmedOut’s Pharmanipulation Podcast is now available! We launched our first episode this January of 2023; the second episode will be out in early February. If you haven’t already, click here to listen to Episode 1, “Unlocking Pharma’s Secrets,” on Spotify (you don’t need a Spotify account to listen). It’s a primer on pharmaceutical marketing tactics, industry influence on medical knowledge, and invented diseases. We plan to release a new episode each month.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman published “Too soon to celebrate new Alzheimer’s drug” in The Baltimore Sun on January 23rd. It explains why Leqembi, Biogen and Eisai’s latest Alzheimer’s drug, is ineffective and dangerous; it also exposes the Alzheimer’s Association and UsAgainstAlzheimer’s appalling support of this new drug. The op-ed was featured in Kaiser Health News’ Morning Briefing, and was republished in the Miami Herald, The Marin Independent Journal, The Bradford Era, and Gwinnett Daily Post.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman spoke about industry support of consumer advocacy groups at Georgetown University's Women in Public Policy Initiative event on health policy and breast cancer on January 25.