August 8 RxAdvocate August, 2023 — Newsletter
Posted at 20:49h
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Newsletter
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August Stories:
- DTC Drug Marketing
- GLP-1 Drugs/Stomach Paralysis
- Adderall Shortage
- Community Involvement
Influence of Direct-to-Consumer Drug Marketing
An article recently published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) highlighted the influence of direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug marketing from 2015 to 2021. Everyone that watches television knows the volume of ads that consumers are exposed to, so it is no surprise to learn there has been a fivefold increase in DTC drug advertising between 1997 to 2016.
Television marketing makes up two-thirds of the total spending on DTC advertising with over 650,000 ads reported in 2016 alone. During the six years look back, 81 drug products were identified for the study with over $22 billion spent on the ads. Of these 81 products, less than one-third were rated as high therapeutic value and the highest advertising budget went to the products with the lowest therapeutic value at over $15 billion. The study confirmed the already held assumption that drug manufacturers spend the largest amount of advertising time and budget on products that are ultimately not the best products to treat the population. Read More Here.
Gastric Impact of GLP-1 Agonists – Stomach Paralysis
GLP-1 agonists are a class of medications utilized for weight loss and treatment of type 2 diabetes. The drugs FDA approved for weight loss include liraglutide (Saxenda) and semaglutide (Wegovy). The drugs FDA approved for type 2 diabetes treatment include semaglutide (Ozempic), liraglutide (Victoza), dulaglutide (Trulicity), and exenatide (Byetta, Bydureon BCise).
The GLP-1 agonist drug class works at the gastrointestinal level to increase insulin secretion and decrease glucagon release, both medications for blood sugar control. These drugs also slow the gastric motility causing a delay in gastric emptying. According to the FDA, the agency “has received reports of gastroparesis with semaglutide and liraglutide, some of which documented the adverse event as not recovered after discontinuation of the respective product at the time of the report.” Some cases were so severe that patients have been hospitalized from gastroparesis (stomach paralysis).
The difficulty is gastroparesis can be a complication of poorly managed diabetes or long history of diabetes complicating the ability to determine what role the drugs played in the reported events. A personal injury law firm has filed a lawsuit against Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly and Co, the manufacturers of Ozempic and Mounjaro.
Click here to read more.
FDA/DEA Address Persistent Adderall Shortage
The US Food and Drug Administration announced a drug shortage in Adderall, a medication to treat deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) back in October 2022. The shortage was initially only supposed to last a few months but continues to persist almost a year later.
On August 1, 2023, The FDA and DEA collaborated and executed a letter (attached below) to all Americans that the two agencies are working with manufacturers and other stakeholders in the supply chain to alleviate the current shortage and how to prevent this from happening again. The letter expresses that they are urging manufacturers to boost more production and to re-evaluate the manufacturers 2023 quota allotment as the shortage approaches it’s one year mark. Last year, production of amphetamine medications came in 30% below the full manufacturer quota for the year. This downfall would represent almost a 1 billion-dose shortfall of potential doses. This type of request could possibly allow the DEA to adjust allotment to manufacturers which could in return increase production.
The FDA and DEA also called on various healthcare providers to closely monitor the prescribing amount for the stimulant in hopes to prevent “widespread misuse”, which could be a major cause for the stimulant shortage. The dispensing of amphetamine products and other stimulants jumped by 45.5% in the U.S. from 2012 to 2021, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. For more information, please refer to the links here:
Source Source
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We were so thrilled that some of our amazing team members were able to come together in Dallas, Texas at the end of last month to reconnect, network and have some fun!
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