2024 News

November

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was featured in a documentary by NBC 7 San Diego, “The cost of losing: The risks and rewards of weight loss drugs.” She talks about the influence that pharmaceutical companies have over advocacy groups, medical societies, and medical meetings. Dr. Fugh-Berman also emphasizes how harmful it is that pharmaceutical companies fund most of the continuing medical education that doctors receive. 

• The NBC 7 San Diego documentary on weight loss drugs also highlighted PharmedOut’s report on the FDA. To learn more about the report, see below. 

October

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in the MedPage Today article, “Peer reviewers have financial conflicts, too” on October 10. She commented, “Just because something's common, it shouldn't be normalized, and in this case, this really should be vilified rather than normalized." 

• STAT News quoted Dr. Fugh-Berman on Biogen promoting awareness of postpartum depression to sell Zurzuvae (zuranolone). “Efforts to publicize a disease that are going to expand access to or prescriptions for a drug are part of a company’s marketing, no matter what they say,” she said. 

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was also quoted in an article by Mary Chris Jaklevic for the Association of Health Care Journalists on October 15 about a highly praised sickle cell therapy that is “now suspected of harming patients.” She warned that “No drug should be called ‘transformative,’ ‘landmark,’ or ‘life-changing’ until it’s been used in many people for sufficient time to identify harms.” 

September

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was also quoted in Being Patient on September 4 in the article “Do You Have Alzheimer’s? New Diagnostic Criteria Might Change the Answer.” She questioned the validity of diagnosing people without symptoms of cognitive impairment with Alzheimer’s disease.

August

• PharmedOut’s Research Fellow, Judy Butler MS and Dr. Fugh-Berman published an op-ed on August 20, “Lilly's misleading marketing of Alzheimer's medicine,” in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in The New York Times article, “A Popular Weight Loss Drug Is Getting a Price Cut,” on August 27. She cautioned against the risks of weight loss drugs to older patients, saying “Older people do not need to lose muscle.”

• Endpoint News quoted Dr. Fugh-Berman in an August 27 newsletter article on direct-to-consumer drug sales. “When patients go to a [web]site looking for a particular drug for a self-diagnosed problem, that’s not medical care,” she said.

July

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in CNN in “In new Alzheimer’s criteria, some see progress while others fear profit-driven ‘diagnostic creep’”. She said, “The Alzheimer’s Association should lose all credibility by releasing guidelines labeling perfectly normal people as having Alzheimer’s disease ... If followed, these guidelines will ruin the lives of tens of thousands of people who will be misinformed that they have dementia. The only entities that gain from this travesty are the pharmaceutical companies that make drugs for Alzheimer’s and the Alzheimer’s Association, which is preying on fear."

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was also quoted in “New criteria for diagnosing, staging Alzheimer’s stirs controversy” in McKnight's Long-Term Care News.

June

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in The BMJ in “How an opioid giant deployed a playbook for moulding doctors’ minds” on June 10. She said, “creating the term ‘pseudoaddiction’ and distorting the terms ‘tolerance’ and ‘dependence’ were strategies that distracted physicians from noticing their patients were addicted.”

• Judy Butler’s testimony on donanemab was quoted in The Washington Post, Politico, and Morning Star.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in MedPage Today in "Social Media Physician Endorsements Raise Prickly Ethical Questions". Of physicians who endorsed drugs on social media she said, [its] "surprising that some physicians are comfortable with a role more commonly associated with drug reps than healthcare providers."

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was also quoted in "Opioid giant's tactics to influence doctors revealed in court documents" in Medical Xpress. She said, "creating the term pseudoaddiction and distorting the terms tolerance and dependence were strategies that distracted physicians from noticing their patients were addicted."

May

• PharmedOut’s article on pimavanserin was featured in “Pharma Pushed “Parkinson’s Disease Psychosis” to Boost Drug Sales, Researchers Report” in Mad in America on May 14. 

April

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in “Drug, Device Makers Paid Physicians $12 Billion in Just Under a Decade” in Medscape on April 2nd. Of gifts to physicians she said, “Really, this should be banned. Doctors should not be allowed to get gifts from pharmaceutical companies."

March

• Dr. Fugh-Berman and Judy Butler’s Bioethics Forum Essay was cited in The New York Times’ “Apparently Healthy, but Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s?” on March 4.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in “Industry Payments to Physicians Topped $12 Billion Over Nearly a Decade” in MedPage Today on March 28. She explained, “Physicians should not consider industry a partner: pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers are beholden to their shareholders, while physicians have a fiduciary responsibility to their patients."

February

• PharmedOut catalyzed the coverage of this story in STAT which looks at how an industry-paid key opinion leader gave a presentation full of opioid marketing messages to medical students last fall.  

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in “More patients are getting their meds online. Big Pharma wants in on the action” in STAT. She said “You want to establish a relationship and provide services in such a way that it doesn’t look like you’re just selling a drug… But really, you’re just selling a drug.”

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was also quoted in “Sidney Wolfe: public health leader who campaigned for reform across the US health system” in BMJ. She said “When Sid walked into the room at an FDA meeting, industry representatives would shudder… He was very effective.”

January

• PharmedOut's comment to the FDA on the Research, Abuse, Diversion, and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS) system was featured in “Groups Blast FDA's Opioid Abuse Surveillance Proposal” in MedPage Today.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in “As Eli Lilly Wades Into Telehealth for Weight Loss, Doctors Are Wary” in The New York Times.

• Dr. Fugh-Berman was also quoted in “Subscription-based care moves beyond peddling birth control and helping with hair loss” in AP News.