Quartz has posted a list of the prescription drugs that generated the most in global sales dollars in 2014, according to a study by Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News. The antipsychotic Abilify was number twelve at $5.7 billion.
The best selling prescription drugs in the world last year (February 25, 2015)
There is something perverse in talking about “blockbuster drugs”. For profit medicine has an awful stench.
Yes, this is the black box warning on the number one seller, an arthritis drug. It can cause cancer:
WARNING: SERIOUS INFECTIONS AND MALIGNANCY
SERIOUS INFECTIONS
Patients treated with Humira are at increased risk for developing serious infections that may lead to hospitalization or death [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1)]. Most patients who developed these infections were taking concomitant immunosuppressants such as methotrexate or corticosteroids.
Discontinue Humira if a patient develops a serious infection or sepsis.
Reported infections include:
Active tuberculosis (TB), including reactivation of latent TB. Patients with TB have frequently presented with disseminated or extrapulmonary disease. Test patients for latent TB before Humira use and during therapy. Initiate treatment for latent TB prior to Humira use.
Invasive fungal infections, including histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis, candidiasis, aspergillosis, blastomycosis, and pneumocystosis. Patients with histoplasmosis or other invasive fungal infections may present with disseminated, rather than localized, disease. Antigen and antibody testing for histoplasmosis may be negative in some patients with active infection. Consider empiric anti-fungal therapy in patients at risk for invasive fungal infections who develop severe systemic illness.
Bacterial, viral and other infections due to opportunistic pathogens, including Legionella and Listeria.
Carefully consider the risks and benefits of treatment with Humira prior to initiating therapy in patients with chronic or recurrent infection.
Monitor patients closely for the development of signs and symptoms of infection during and after treatment with Humira, including the possible development of TB in patients who tested negative for latent TB infection prior to initiating therapy [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) and Adverse Reactions (6.1)].
MALIGNANCY
Lymphoma and other malignancies, some fatal, have been reported in children and adolescent patients treated with TNF blockers including Humira [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2)]. Post-marketing cases of hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma (HSTCL), a rare type of T-cell lymphoma, have been reported in patients treated with TNF blockers including Humira. These cases have had a very aggressive disease course and have been fatal. The majority of reported TNF blocker cases have occurred in patients with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis and the majority were in adolescent and young adult males. Almost all these patients had received treatment with azathioprine or 6-mercaptopurine (6–MP) concomitantly with a TNF blocker at or prior to diagnosis. It is uncertain whether the occurrence of HSTCL is related to use of a TNF blocker or a TNF blocker in combination with these other immunosuppressants [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2)].
Primary antibody can be added in the best selling substances in the lab supplies. Monoclonal antibodies and polyclonal antibodies are included in the primary antibodies and they can be used in different researches. Monoclonal antibodies are highly specific in detecting single epitopes but Polyclonal antibodies recognize multiple epitopes, giving stronger signals in Western Blot. http://goo.gl/grc86K
