As a medical journalist, I receive advanced notice of many studies. As soon as I saw that the Journal of the American Medical Association was about to publish a big study from Britain which showed an almost 50% increase in hip fractures in elderly patients taking the stomach drugs Nexium, Prevacid and Prilosec, I knew I would be receiving many anxious phone calls.

In attending the MMM Awards dinner recently, I was asked to present an award for the best unbranded TV ad.

Two decades ago, back when I was a resident in the hospital trenches treating AIDS patients with little more than the anti-viral AZT and hope, I never envisioned the world of today, where HIV patients on anti-viral regimens are rarely hospitalized.

My father is over 80 years old. To look at his bulging waistline and to hear about his history of heart disease is to wonder how it is that he is still alive.

When the New England Journal of Medicine reported last month on the 2005 measles outbreak, it did us all a favor.

The purpose of this column is to debunk myths about pharmaceuticals and, more specifically, to defend the drug manufacturers from unfair attacks against their products in the media.

Ketek is an antibiotic with a deserved reputation as an effective treatment for bacterial respiratory infections.

Litigation continues over Vioxx, where a statistically remote risk of heart disease is twisted to favor money-seeking defendants in a way that no self-respecting physician would ever endorse.