Pharma Blog Watch

Cox-2 Risks (Drug Wonks)
In his entry, Robert Goldberg discusses a study to be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on adverse effects of Cox-2 inhibitors. He chides medical journals for repeatedly printing similar studies showing the dangers of these drugs.

"By now everyone knows the risks associated with taking COX-2 drugs," he writes. "You would think that as one of the flagship medical journals JAMA could take a more responsible position on the risks and benefits of medicines."

MedWatch Alerts (Eye on FDA)
In his blog, Mark Senak writes about MedWatch alerts, noting that there were 300 alerts in 2005 while there have been only 104 so far this year, which is similar to the amount in 2004 — "in other words since last year, MedWatch alerts have been cut in half."

"Was 2005 an anomaly? Was there an increase in alerts in order to bolster confidence in the agency at a time when it was suffering a loss of confidence post-COX-2s?" he writes.