My friend works as a sales rep for a division of Johnson & Johnson selling medical devices. He and I talked about the recent US Senate Panel hearings over possible new FDA regulations for medical device companies advertising directly to consumers.

These regulations would most likely be similar to what is currently required in the pharmaceutical industry.

My guess is that it’s only a matter of time before the medical device industry is required to follow FDA regulations when it comes to DTC ads. (more…)

The American Heart Association has recently started to recommend home blood pressure monitors for use by patients with hypertension (high blood pressure), to help keep accurate daily readings. Most patients only have these readings taken during routine office visits or a trip to the local pharmacy, which typically isn’t all that often.

My mother has high blood pressure, for which she takes medication. She only gets her blood pressure taken during visits to her doctor, which happens every few months at best. I had asked her about a year ago if she was interested in getting a home blood pressure monitor as I’d seen loads of them advertised. Her reply shocked me. “No, my doctor said not to bother, she said those home units aren’t that reliable.”

So when I saw the latest news release from the American Heart Association I called her up immediately.

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