Sunday, February 09, 2014

"60 Minutes" on February 9, 2014

First, Lesley Stahl on dosing medicines as between men and women.

Second, giving apartments to homeless people.

Third, Steve Kroft gives a reprise of an interview with Philip Seymour Hoffman.

FDA last year [ On January 10, 2013 ] cut the dose for women for Ambien (zolpidem) by 50%. [ The United States patent for zolpidem was held by the French pharmaceutical corporation Sanofi-Aventis. ] For drug dosage, sex matters. Larry Cahill of UCal/Irvine noted Ambien is a case in point. Women have been prescribed a does that is twice as much as needed. Dr. Sandra Queter of FDA/Office of New Drugs: women metabolize Ambien differently. (45%). In the original review in 1992: Cmax and AUC were 45% higher in females. Gender related difference. Clinical pharmacology. Bikini medicine. There was an assumption that women were men, with pesky hormones. Heart disease. Cedar-Sinai: women differ from men in the way they have heart attacks. Women might have stomach upsets. Men get clogs in major arteries; women get clogs in minor arteries. Dr. Melina Kibby at Northwestern Medical School. Most researchers just study male rate. Doris Taylor at Texas Heart Institute, works on stem cells. Give female animals, male stem cells. Merely to track cells. Only the female stem cells got rid of the plaque. Male vs. female animals gave different results. Men's stem cells are less powerful and prone to aging. If whole pipeline is male dominated, but sex matters, one has a problem. Muddling up the understanding of what's going on. Need to review everything. The assumption that sex does not matter is not a valid assumption. So far, zolpidem is the only drug on the market that has different recommended dosages for men and for women. [Footnote: According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, zolpidem may be overtaking illegal sedatives as the most common date-rape drug. ]

IPBiz query on Ambien. The gist of the "60 Minutes" story was dosage of drugs, men vs. women, based upon the FDA determination for Ambien (zolpidem). One thing not addressed was controlled release formulations. Ambien CR is the “controlled–release“ (CR) formulation of Ambien, and was on-patent after the original Ambien went off-patent. It is standard practice in the pharmaceutical industry to create “extended release,“ “sustained release“ or “controlled release“ versions of drugs that go off patent. See a post by Consumer Reports. If Ambien is not metabolized quickly by women, a controlled release formulation might not be a good idea.

Anderson Cooper on the "100,000 homes" campaign. Nashville has joined the campaign. Ingrid McIntire. Robert McMurty lived in a storage bin; aged 48 years old. "Open Table Nashville". Robert was given a 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment. The hardcore homeless. Becky Kanis of Community Solutions. More than 60% of chronic homeless have drug or alcohol problems. Becky is a West Point graduate. Boots on the ground intelligence. Plan: spend three nights for homeless. Kirby Davis. Homeless ranked according to medical risk. Frank Clements, former criminal. "giving them a second chance." Goal: get 100,000 people off the streets.

Steve Kroft noted Hoffman was intense, introspective and gave an interview to 60 minutes in 2006. The interview was at 8am in Greenwich Village. 40 films in 14 years. The Talented Mr. Ripley; Scent of a Woman; Boogie Nights. Scruffy wardrobe. Part of being an actor is staying private. You don't want people to know about your personal life. You want your audience to think you are some one else. His role as Truman Capote. The 6 years writing "In Cold Blood."
Bennett Miller. Capote was an iconic figure. Capote's ambition, drive. Stubborn single-minded zeal for perfection.
Clip of final scene from Capote. Hoffman took 9 months on Capote. "If I start drinking again..." There are things I want to do...Rehab was a respite... Hoffman began drinking in 2012 during role of Willy Loman. Broadway went dark in Hoffman's honor. ...when I went to sleep peacefully, that's as good as it gets.


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