2019 News

PharmedOut In the News - 2019

December 6: The Washington Post released a documentary and companion article on the opioid epidemic and the immense corporate marketing push behind it. Dr. Fugh-Berman appears at the 2:33 minute mark commenting on how industry persuaded physicians to prescribe opioids.
PharmedOut's latest conference, "Opioids: Conflicts and Controversies," was highlighted in Georgetown Medicine Magazine's Fall/Winter 2019 issue. "A key part of the tragedy of the opioid epidemic is that physicians participated unwittingly in creating it," Dr. Fugh-Berman told the magazine. If you missed our conference, you can find select speakers' slides on our website.

November 21: Dr. Fugh-Berman also spoke to Science Magazine about the way that the NIH loan repayment program effectively functions as a subsidy for biased industry research.

Dr. Fugh-Berman spoke about international promotion of opioids at the International Society of Drug Bulletins at Prescrire's offices in Paris.

August 22: Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in a BMJ article by Tim Schwab on the influence of Big Pharma on the federal government, particularly the industry ties of Victor Dzau, the head of the National Academy of Medicine.
August 15: Dr. Fugh-Berman was an expert witness on deceptive marketing tactics used by Johnson & Johnson to sell pelvic mesh devices that caused vaginal injuries and chronic pain in women, covered in the Northern California Record.
August 15: “It’s not charity, it’s cheating.” The Economist quoted Dr. Fugh-Berman on how pharmaceutical companies use co-pay charities to profit from their own drugs.
August 5: Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in Global News on how drug reps use tactics to manipulate physicians.

June 21: Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in the New York Times on Vyleesi, a new drug for hypoactive sexual desire disorder that isn't all it's cracked up to be.
June 5: Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in AP on how libido boosting drugs are sold via telemedicine—and why that's a problem.
June 5: Dr. Fugh-Berman was interviewed for Mad in America on how industry-funded CME impacts medicine.
June 2: Dr. Fugh-Berman talks about medical devices on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver in a clip from the Netflix documentary, The Bleeding Edge.

Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in STAT News on a doctor skeptical of opioid tapering; in the Palm Beach Post on a pharmaceutical company CEO charged with racketeering; in Pacific Standard on the closure of a pharma-funded patient advocacy group; and in HealthNewsReview on the misleading messaging around "first" treatments in healthcare, like brexanolone for postpartum depression.

April 9: Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in STAT News on how Sackler gifts to Tuft's School of Medicine influenced curriculum.

March 26: Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in PBS NewsHour on Purdue Pharmaceuticals paying a $270 million settlement to the state of Oklahoma, and what that means for the opioid epidemic.
March 26: Dr. Fugh-Berman was also profiled on Slate's podcast Working, discussing her career trajectory from writer/activist to academic physician-slash-activist.
March 24: Our project manager Sophie Krensky and research intern Olivia Shannon penned the first critical article brexanolone, the first FDA-approved drug for postpartum depression, in the Women's Health Activist. Their article was also quoted in the New York Times.

January 14: In Consumer Reports Dr. Fugh-Berman reflected on increased costs for direct-to-consumer advertising.
January 7: She was also quoted in MedPage Today on pseudobulbar affect, a rare disorder, getting the diagnostic creep treatment ("diagnostic creep": widening disease definitions so more people get diagnosed and prescribed treatments). Pseudobulbar affect is one of our favorites here at the PharmedOut office; see if you might need to talk to your doctor about PBA with this quiz in which you rate such statements as "I find that I am easily overcome by laughter."
January 3: Dr. Fugh-Berman was quoted in Medical Marketing and Media on why pharma-sponsored paid speaking engagement is actually a high yield marketing tactic.