Rogue chemo drugs

Here’s a surprising bit of news: There are apparently a bunch of online pharmacies — “rogue” pharmacies, mind you — selling chemotherapy drugs like imatinib without proper prescriptions.

The research (by UNC School of Pharmacy researchers) was straightforward: They simply searched online for where to buy chemo meds to get an idea of the scope of the problem.

“By simply searching Google, Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo, we found 44 websites that sold and shipped imatinib in the U.S.; 13 of these websites sold imatinib without a prescription, and more than three-quarters did not offer a way for patients to speak with a pharmacist. This is a significant concern for patient safety.”

And that’s based on just the first 10 pages of search results. (Fun fact: You can actually look past the first page of results. Who knew?) They didn’t actually buy any of these drugs, but they point out that … well, let’s just say that quality control might be lacking, although the prices were often significantly lower than patients would normally pay — the very reason these sites exist.

Big new drug-interaction database

Columbia University researchers have created a database of nearly 20,000 potential pediatric adverse drug events (ADEs) — interactions that can occur at all stages of development, many of which haven’t been reported yet.

That last part is the gem: Existing databases, such as the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System, “only capture data from patients who experienced adverse events,” while the Columbia database uses computer modeling to identify issues before they occur.

The database, which is made freely available (via a site called PDS Portal), isn’t meant for clinical use; it’s designed for drug researchers, although “Clinicians can use it as a gut check.”

ICYMI: Banananana Boat recall

Banana Boat is recalling some batches of its Hair & Scalp Sunscreen because it may contain benzene, which you don’t want anywhere near you.

It’s only three lots, and it doesn’t (yet) affect any other Banana Boat products. Get the deets from the official FDA recall page.

Heat, meds, and heart attacks

Two types of meds — beta blockers and antiplatelet drugs (including aspirin) — increase your risk of heart attacks in hot weather. Somehow (the Yale researchers who discovered this don’t know how) they make the heart more susceptible when the weather gets warmer.

Antiplatelet medication use was associated with a 63% increase in risk and beta-blockers with a 65% increase [in heart attacks]. People taking both drugs had a 75% higher risk. Non-users of those medications were not more likely to have a heart attack on hot days.

To get even more complicated, statins tripled the risk of heart attack for younger people on hot days, but didn’t have that effect on older patients.

Stopping stones: Water good, calcium better

If you’ve had a kidney stone, there’s a good chance you never want another. The folks at the Mayo Clinic have some advice: Make sure you’re getting enough calcium and potassium.

Their new study looked not at preventing first time kidney stones, but at stopping recurrence. Some of their findings aren’t surprising, such as “drink more fluids.” But the surprise was that “Low dietary calcium and potassium was a more important predictor than fluid intake of recurrent kidney stone formation.”

The study concludes that diets with daily intake of 1,200 milligrams of calcium may help prevent first-time and recurrent kidney stones. [It didn’t have a specific recommendation for potassium, so take your best guess.]

What cannabis can do (entry 261)

As the legalization of marijuana spreads, so too do the number of studies on the stuff — including some with eyebrow-raising conclusions. (Not, like, shocking. Just unexpected.)

For example, smoking marijuana might reduce incidence of sinus problems like congestion, sneezing, and sinus pain … at least according to a study from USC’s Keck School of Medicine.

The study of nearly 2,300 U.S. adults found that while cigarette smokers were often plagued by such symptoms, the same did not hold true for regular marijuana users.

Actually, they don’t know which way the causation goes, so it’s possible “people who already have nasal or sinus symptoms might steer clear of marijuana.”

The mantra, as always: “The only way to find out […] is with further research.”

Why is red meat bad?

Why does eating too much red meat increases the risk of heart problems? We know it does, but what’s the mechanism?

A surprising (possible) answer comes out of Tufts University: It’s the gut bacteria. “Chemicals produced in the digestive tract by gut microbes after eating red meat may help explain part of the higher risk of cardiovascular disease associated with red meat consumption.”

Not that cholesterol and salt are helping, but gut bacteria produces trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) when it digests red meat, and high levels of TMAO are double-plus ungood for people, with links to cardiovascular issues, kidney disease, and diabetes.

In other words, by eating red meat you’re feeding bacteria that, er, expels poison into your gut.

Smart IVs, safe patients

A lot of hospitals have “smart” IV infusers that can automatically calculate the correct dose and rate for delivering drugs, but — at least in Britain — many aren’t used “because they are difficult to configure and maintain.”

So instead of a pump that’s configured by a pharmacist and smart enough to sound an alarm if something’s amiss, you have a dumb pump “set by ward staff who calculate and input infusion rates themselves — increasing the risk of drug errors.”

That’s what researchers from Manchester, England, England* found based on data from the UK’s National Health Service; they calculated that “1 in 10 IV drug administrations are associated with an error, and up to 1 in 10 of those were associated with harm.”

* Across the Atlantic sea