Epi Pens Pack a Punch

Just in case anyone is wondering IF Epi-Pens work fast and hard, here's a personal experience.
The pharmacy received about a half dozen outdated pens for destruction, so in keeping with a need to reduce space, your humble typist thought it wise to depackage them before tossing them into the sharps container.
Along the way, one of them went KerPOW and right into my left thumb. 
Quick reactions notwithstanding, a few drops managed to penetrate the epidermal layer.
First of all, the needle didn't handle the experience well, either:

And then there were some changes in the physiological makeup of the left thumb (note- it didn't really look that green):

And then came the bruising, with just the hint of numbness along the top.  Fortunately, it was just a drop, and the effects began to reverse with continuous warm water soaks and jamming the thumb in question into the heat vent of the dashboard on the trip home. 
The next morning, all was well, with just the lingering sensation of having annoyed a bumblebee....

First Commercial Artwork - 1978-79

For the Michigan Pharmacists Association, ca 1978.  Payment - ten big simoleons for each one!



February 1979 Cover Illustration





December 1978 Cover illustration





Interior article illustration - "Winning with ACES" - February 1979



Restriction to Three Colors - Black, Yellow and Red

(c) 2000 The Animating Apothecary

(c) 2000 The Animating Apothecary

An experiment in limitations, using density and shading and three total colors.

It's a way to empathize with photographers dealing with two-strip Technicolor in the 1930s.

Why There Are Few Real "New" Drugs

(c) 2003 Animating Apothecary/Jim Middleton



(c) 2003 The Animating Apothecary/Jim Middleton

A Rather Disturbing Trend in 'Medicine'

A recent link from "Physician's Money Digest" is as follows.   I find it at least disturbing that the article celebrates the profits that can be had in treating cancer, and how it can offer the information to physicians who might be willing to benefit from judicial investments.  I contend that a logical sequel to this would be a listing of the 10 Most Profitable Mortuary Chains.
Here's the article:
 
10 Best-Selling Cancer Drugs

Right now oncology is the main attraction, which makes sense considering ASCO is just two weeks away. But oncology drugs have always garnered a lot of attention because the diseases they treat are so scary for the patients, plus they can be quite costly. (italics mine)

But the good thing (for the pharmaceutical companies) is that these drugs aren’t facing generic competition like some other drugs have to. As a result, expensive and older treatments are contending with low-cost generics for sales, meaning they’re still bringing in a pretty penny for the company. (emphasis mine - again, what are we celebrating here?  More effective treatments?  Or more expensive - and thus, profitable - treatments for drug companies?  And are any of these treatments more effective, or just more profitable?  And isn't it just about the creepiest thing to consider success not by outcomes, or benefits to the patients, but as profit from sales of these drugs.... what a world, what a world... )

FiercePharma released a list of the top 10 best-selling cancer drugs based on how much they brought in U.S. sales over the last year. (My interruption again:  they also have a nice discussion on whether drug company CEOs get paid enough!!! So far their newsletter is free, so go there and get the daily scoop on what PharmaLand is doing behind the curtain)....

(And look how the information is presented, like it's some Top Ten on the David Letterman Show)

10. Tarceva
Company: Genentech
2011 sales: $564.2 million
FDA approvals: Non-small cell lung cancer, 2004; pancreatic cancer, 2005; NSCLC maintenance therapy, 2010.

9. Xeloda
Company: Genentech
2011 sales: $647.6 million
FDA approvals: Metastatic colorectal cancer, 1998; metastatic breast cancer, 2002; adjuvant colon cancer therapy, 2005.

8. Velcade
Company: Millennium Pharmaceuticals, a unit of Takeda Pharmaceutical Industries, in partnership with Johnson & Johnson
2011 sales: $692.7 million
FDA approvals: Multiple myeloma, 2003; mantle cell lymphoma, 2006; first-line multiple myeloma, 2008.

7. Erbitux
Company: Eli Lilly, in partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb
2011 sales: $703.3 million
FDA approvals: EGFR-positive colorectal cancer, 2004; second line in head and neck cancer, 2006; first line in recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer, 2011.

6. Alimta
Company: Eli Lilly
2011 sales: $1.04 billion
FDA approvals: Malignant pleural mesothelioma, 2004; non-small cell lung cancer, 2008; NSCLC maintenance therapy, 2009.

5. Eloxatin
Company: Sanofi
2011 sales: $1.2 billion
FDA approvals: Colorectal cancer, 2002; adjuvant use in colorectal cancer, 2004; new formulation, 2005.

4. Gleevec
Company: Novartis
2011 sales: $1.51 billion
FDA approvals: Chronic myelogenous leukemia, 2011; gastrointestinal stromal tumors, 2002; Philadelphia-chromosome positive acute lymphocytic leukemia, 2006; dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, 2006; certain myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative diseases, 2006; hypereosinophilic syndrome/chronic eosinophilic leukemia, 2006; aggressive systemic mastocytosis, 2006; adjuvant GIST treatment, 2012.

3. Herceptin
Company: Genentech
2011 sales: $1.66 billion
FDA approvals: Metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer, 1998; adjuvant in early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer, 2006; additional adjuvant approvals, 2008; HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer.

2. Avastin
Company: Genentech
2011 sales: $2.66 billion
FDA approvals: Metastatic colorectal cancer, 2004; non-small cell lung cancer, 2006; breast cancer, 2008 (revoked in 2011); kidney cancer, 2009; brain cancer, 2009.

AND HERE'S NUMBER ONE - The drumroll, please!!!!
1. Rituxan

Company: Genentech
2011 sales: $3 billion
FDA approvals: Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 1997; rheumatoid arthritis symptoms, 2006; rheumatoid arthritis disease progression, 2008; chronic lymphocytic leukemia, 2010; Wegener's granulomatosis and microscopic polyangiitis, 2011.

Ka- CHING!!!!!!

Battle Creek - You've Got A Problem!

The Michigan Automatic Prescription Service (MAPS) offers up a lot of information on controlled substance usage as reported from the state's pharmacies.  Their website even provides the raw data for the entire year of 2010, broken down by zip code.
After some research, it was possible to track down the populations for those zip code regions, then break the general use down 'per capita.'
The categories chosen for this snapshot of 2010 were 'stimulants' (meaning, all varieties of Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, and its chemical relatives), 'hydrocodone' (for all drugs similar to Vicodin), 'oxycodone' (for those like Oxycontin), and 'methadone.'
The 49014 area corresponds to an area near Battle Creek known as "Harper Creek."  The 49015 refers to the "Lakeview" region, with 49016 being those who use a PO box as their primary address, 49017 referring to the city's northern side, and 49037 to the general region known as "Urbandale."
I recommend checking out the MAPS program and looking up your particular region and crafting a similar spreadsheet.  Battle Creek may look to be problematic, but I'm almost thinking that other regions may have a bigger problem....
Now, contemplate the causes.....