Episode 12 dives into the world of menopause. With special guests, Garnet Anderson PhD and Cindy Pearson, Pharmanipulation explores the evidence from and controversies about menopausal hormone therapy. Dr. Garnet Anderson is a biostatistician and clinical trialist at the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center and is one of the Principal Investigators of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a set of federally-funded, long-term studies of the effects of menopausal hormone therapy on chronic disease risks in postmenopausal women. Cindy Pearson is a women’s health activist who served as the executive director of the National Women’s Health Network for 25 years. Cindy led the Network’s efforts to expand access to health care and to improve research on women’s health.
Additional Resources
Manson JE, et al. The Women's Health InitiativeRandomized Trials and Clinical Practice: A Review. JAMA. 2024 May 28;331(20):1748-1760. doi: 10.1001/jama.2024.6542.
Hickey M, et al. Normalising menopause. BMJ. 2022 Jun 15;377:e069369. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2021-069369. PMID: 35705221.
Series on Menopause from The Lancet: published in March 2024, this series of articles and perspectives considers how we can empower women as they age and transition through menopause.
SWAN Fact Sheets: these fact sheets summarize the results of the Study of Women'sHealth Across the Nation (SWAN). SWAN is the only multi-ethnic long-term natural history of women before, during, and after menopause. They outline the major findings from SWAN on bone health, memory and cognition, hot flashes,sleep, depression, urinary incontinence, sexual functioning, and vaginal health.
Episode 11 features Paul Offit MD, an international expert in virology and immunology. Dr. Offit is a professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and director of the Vaccine Education Center; he is also the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He chats with PharmedOut about the current measles outbreak, the real risks and benefits of vaccines, RFK Jr., the medical freedom movement, and more.
Additional Resources
Dr. Paul Offit’s Beyond the Noise Substack: https://pauloffit.substack.com/
Autism Science Foundation: https://autismsciencefoundation.org/teams/dr-paul-a-offit/
Dr. Offit’s op-ed “Giving Infectious Diseases a Break?” in thePhiladelphia Citizen: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/guest-commentary-giving-infectious-diseases-a-break/
Dr. Offit’s open letter to Senator Cassidy about RFK Jr.: https://www.statnews.com/2025/05/07/rfk-jr-kennedy-hhs-secretary-bill-cassidy-measles-epidemic/
“A Boy Who Had Cancer Faces Measles Risk From The Unvaccinated”: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/02/03/383324228/a-boy-who-had-cancer-faces-measles-risk-from-the-unvaccinated#:~:text=To%20Protect%20His%20Son%2C%20A,of%20parents%20refusing%20to%20vaccinate.
Episode 10 highlights examples of how patient advocacy groups influenced pharmaceutical decisions at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In a conversation with health policy researcher, author and activist, Sharon Batt PhD, we explore regulatory decisions on Relyvrio (AMX0035), Avastin (bevacizumab), and Addyi (flibanserin) within the context of our latest report “What Needs to Change at the FDA?Protecting and Advancing Public Health.”
Pharmanipulation is produced by PharmedOut, a project at Georgetown University Medical Center that advances evidence-based prescribing.
Additional Resources
Full Report “What Needs to Change at the FDA? Protecting and Advancing Public Health”: https://georgetown.box.com/s/n87us836fpmdhtcvdaqopyobfwx7bymx
Webinar on “What Needs to Change at the FDA?”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g9br3wZW-k&t=11s
Article on “How some drug companies manipulate patient advocates” by Judith Garber: https://lowninstitute.org/how-some-drug-companies-manipulate-patient-advocates/
Episode 9 features a conversation on opioids with Andrew Kolodny MD. Dr. Kolodny is a leading expert on the opioid crisis and serves as President of Health Professionals for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP). We chat about the opioid epidemic in the US over the years, the covert marketing strategies used to sell opioids, and opioid prescribing guidelines.
Pharmanipulation is produced by PharmedOut, a project at Georgetown University Medical Center that advances evidence-based prescribing.
Additional Resources
PROP’s Website: https://www.supportprop.org/
PharmedOut on Opioids: https://sites.google.com/georgetown.edu/pharmedout/advocacy/pharmedout-on-opioids
PharmedOut's Journal Article, “Survey of opioid prescribing among dentists indicates need for more effective education regarding pain management” in Journal of the American Dental Association: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34689958/
“Years into an addiction crisis, a med school lecture still minimized opioid risks” by Ed Silverman for STAT News, link: https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2024/02/07/opioid-addiction-pain-nova-southeastern-university-florida/
Fact sheet on opioid marketing: https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/3fqr4f0nl4jnviwrcxhn6muaxqqptgsx
Summaries of key articles on opioid marketing: https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/xt2rhk3tinq0rqgn9bz2dozm2w4dv84c
Episode 8 features an interview with Shahram Ahari MD, an emergency medicine physician and former drug rep, that explores the world of pharmaceutical samples. We chat about why samples are the most important marketing tactic drug companies have, how samples are used to manipulate prescribing choices, and discuss whether or not drug samples should be banned.
Pharmanipulation is produced by PharmedOut, a project at Georgetown University Medical Center that advances evidence-based prescribing.
Additional Resources
PharmedOut fact sheet on drug samples: https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/y51hkdvu2dju9sv26fjcc976ivlvwtkj
Summaries of key articles on the topic of drug samples: https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/3052cjlgv9thfw0qf3k9fkuyio978mbr
PharmedOut’s paper “Pharmaceutical marketing: the example of drug samples.” Link: https://joppp.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40545-022-00479-z
PharmedOut’s paper “Following the Script: How Drug Reps Make Friends and Influence Doctors.” Link: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0040150
PharmedOut’s paper “Why lunch matters: Assessing physicians' perceptions about industry relationships.” Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/chp.20081
Dr. Ahari’s op-ed in The Washington Post “I was a drug rep. I know how pharma companies pushed opioids.” Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/i-was-a-drug-rep-i-know-how-pharma-companies-pushed-opioids/2019/11/25/82b1da88-beb9-11e9-9b73-fd3c65ef8f9c_story.html
Episode 7 features an interview with Peter Whitehouse MD, PhD and Lon Schneider MD, MS exploring dementia and mild cognitive impairment. We chat about the medicalization of normal aging, the overdiagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, problems with new drugs and tests for Alzheimer’s disease, and how to prevent dementia.
Pharmanipulation is produced by PharmedOut, a project at Georgetown University Medical Center that advances evidence-based prescribing.
Additional Resources
PharmedOut resources on Alzheimer’s and Mild Cognitive Impairment: https://sites.google.com/georgetown.edu/pharmedout/advocacy/alzheimers-and-mild-cognitive-impairment?authuser=0
Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission. Link: https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(20)30367-6/fulltext
Making the Case for Accelerated Withdrawal of Aducanumab. Link: https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad220262
Dr. Peter Whitehouse’s latest letter to the editor, “Cummings column on Alzheimer treatments skips over a few key things.” Link: https://www.cleveland.com/letters/2023/10/cummings-column-on-alzheimer-treatments-skips-over-a-few-key-things.html
American Dementia: Brain Health in an Unhealthy Society by Danny George PhD and Peter Whitehouse MD, PhD. Link: https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12394/american-dementia
The Myth of Alzheimer’s: What You Aren't Being Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis by Peter Whitehouse MD, PhD and Danny George MSc. Link: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312368173/themythofalzheimers
Episode 6 invites Ragen Chastain, activist and author, and Joel Lexchin MD of York University, to discuss myths about weight and health, the hype around Ozempic and Wegovy, and the unclear connection between weight loss and health.
Pharmanipulation is produced by PharmedOut, a project at Georgetown University Medical Center that advances evidence-based prescribing.
To learn more about Ragen Chastain and her work, please visit her website: https://weightandhealthcare.substack.com/
Additional Resources
Dances With Fat Monthly Workshop – September: Navigating Weight Stigma at the Doctor’s Office date changed from September 27 to October 11 to avoid overlap with ASDAH’s annual meeting. Link: https://danceswithfat.org/monthly-online-workshops/
Books
“Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia” by Sabrina Strings. Link: https://nyupress.org/9781479886753/fearing-the-black-body/
“Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness” by Da'Shaun L. Harrison. Link: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/670607/belly-of-the-beast-by-dashaun-harrison/
Articles
"Semaglutide: a new drug for the treatment of obesity" by Joel Lexchin and Barbara Mintzes. Drug Ther Bull. 2023 Oct 25:dtb-2023-000007. doi: 10.1136/dtb.2023.000007. Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37879878/
“How the ‘It's Bigger Than Me’ Campaign Is Harming Fat People for Profit" by Ragen Chastain. Link: https://themighty.com/topic/eating-disorders/its-bigger-than-me-campaign-harms-fat-people-for-profit/
“Weighing the Consequences of Weight-Loss Drugs” by Judy Butler and Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman. Link: https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/104482
Igho J. Onakpoya, Carl J. Heneghan and Jeffrey K. Aronson. Post-marketing withdrawal of anti-obesity medicinal products because of adverse drug reactions: a systematic review. BMC Medicine 2016;14:191. Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27894343/
Prescrire’s "Semaglutide (Wegovy°) for excess body weight" Prescrire International 2023; 32 (245): 36-38. Link: https://english.prescrire.org/en/81/168/66102/0/NewsDetails.aspx
Please note: the full article is available for subscribers only.
PharmedOut is supported primarily by individual donations. To donate, please visit: https://sites.google/com/georgetown.edu/pharmedout/donate
Episode 5 invites Tony Scialli MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist and reproductive toxicologist, to talk about the overuse of gynecologic surgeries – namely hysterectomies and Cesarean sections.
Pharmanipulation is produced by PharmedOut, a Georgetown University Medical Center rational prescribing project. For a transcript of this episode, please visit: https://georgetown.box.com/s/1bdbxvaezezlpu0qsm02q3101mmhsi3a
To learn more about Dr. Tony Scialli, please visit his website: https://www.scialliconsulting.com/#about
Additional Resources
The Cultural Warping of Childbirth by Doris Haire. Link: https://www.abebooks.com/9789315600471/Cultural-Warping-Childbirth-Doris-Haire-9315600479/plp
Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women’s Health Collective. Link: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Our-Bodies-Ourselves/Boston-Womens-Health-Book-Collective/9781439190661
Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin. Link: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31385160493&ref_=ps_ggl_17730880232&cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade_10to20-_-product_id=COM9781570671043USED-_-keyword=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1_SkBhDwARIsANbGpFs4ExX1P9YXQFUuTueJytlUy2VdelLMIBU7neywgGu14aYawh1w7hkaArxfEALw_wcB National Women’s Health Network. Link: https://nwhn.org/
PharmedOut is supported primarily by individual donations. To donate, please visit: https://sites.google/com/georgetown.edu/pharmedout/donate
Episode 4 invites medical anthropologist Sylvia Önder PhD and cultural psychologist Yulia Chentsova Dutton PhD to discuss the differences among disease, sickness and illness and explore the concepts of invented diseases, folk illnesses, and the social value of certain diseases.
Pharmanipulation is produced by PharmedOut, a Georgetown University Medical Center rational prescribing project. For a transcript of this episode, please visit: https://georgetown.box.com/s/ufrrmreu5d26cbfvorbu863uz32qkih9
PharmedOut Conference: https://sites.google.com/georgetown.edu/pharmedout/resources/conferences/2023-conference
Bonnie O’Connor. Healing Traditions: Alternative Medicine and the Health Professions. 1995. Link: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fhvd3
Irving Zola. Medicine as an institution of social control. 1976. Link: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43618673
Michel Foucault. The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception. Link: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/55034/the-birth-of-the-clinic-by-michel-foucault/
PharmedOut is supported primarily by individual donations. To donate, please visit: https://sites.google/com/georgetown.edu/pharmedout/donate
Episode 3 of Pharmanipulation invites Gretchen LeFever Watson PhD and Robert Whitaker to question diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and to critique drug treatment of behaviors associated with ADHD.
Pharmanipulation is produced by PharmedOut, a Georgetown University Medical Center rational prescribing project. For a transcript of this episode, please visit: https://georgetown.box.com/s/jjei0u9zhtezfqg2i5p83h9per8nzugc
For a list of resources and studies mentioned in this episode, please visit: https://bit.ly/Ep3Resources
To learn more about Dr. LeFever Watson, please visit her website: https://drgretchenwatson.com/
To learn more about Robert Whitaker, please visit his website: https://www.madinamerica.com/robert-whitaker-new/
PharmedOut is supported primarily by individual donations. To donate, please visit: https://sites.google/com/georgetown.edu/pharmedout/donate
Episode 2 of Pharmanipulation invites Adewole S. Adamson MD, MPP, to discuss the relationship of sun exposure to melanoma, whether sunscreen actually prevents skin cancer, and the overdiagnosis of melanoma. Dr. Adamson is a board-certified dermatologist and an assistant professor in the department of Internal Medicine at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin where he studies skin cancer, evidence-based medicine, and health policy. He is also the Director of the Pigmented Lesion Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin, and he serves as an assistant editor at JAMA Dermatology.
Pharmanipulation is produced by PharmedOut, a Georgetown University Medical Center rational prescribing project. For a transcript of this episode, please visit: https://georgetown.box.com/s/3bte8vynpulj33kv3qdtwdabamm2n9xx
To learn more about Dr. Adamson, please visit his website: https://adeadamson.com/
Dr. Adamson’s paper on Estimating Overdiagnosis of Melanoma Using Trends Among Black and White Patients in the U.S. is available here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/fullarticle/2789995
Dr. Adamson’s paper on The Rapid Rise in Cutaneous Melanoma Diagnoses is available here: https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMsb2019760?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed
PharmedOut is supported primarily by individual donations. To make a donation please visit: https://sites.google/com/georgetown.edu/pharmedout/donate
Pharmanipulation is a new show created by PharmedOut, dedicated to the topics of evidence-based medicine and industry influence on medical information and public health. PharmedOut is a Georgetown University Medical Center rational prescribing project. Episode 1 covers pharmaceutical marketing tactics, industry influence on medical knowledge, and invented diseases. Join hosts Caroline Renko and Patricia Bencivenga as they interview Adriane Fugh-Berman MD, the Director of PharmedOut.
Links
PharmedOut website: https://www.pharmedout.org/
PharmedOut is supported primarily by individual donations. To make a donation please visit: https://sites.google.com/georgetown.edu/pharmedout/donate
Pharma Marketing Hub (factsheets and summaries of important topics): https://sites.google.com/georgetown.edu/pharmedout/resources/pharma-marketing-hub?authuser=0
Patient Grooming Webinar: https://youtu.be/PD_tBqHDouY
Transcript to this episode: https://georgetown.box.com/s/qsf6875gd5qgelemtx9urltgaxyl77lx
