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Dear Friends:
We hope you will join us for a very important CAPITOL HILL BRIEFING:
Patient-Centered Drug Safety for the 21st Century presented by CMPI, iGuard.org, and The Critical Path Institute. It takes on Tuesday, December 4 at 8:00am to 10:00 am at the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC.
Speakers include:
Robert Goldberg, Ph.D., Vice President, the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest
Hugo Stephenson, M.D., President and Founder of iGuard.org
Michael Weber, M.D., Assoc. Dean and Professor of Medicine, SUNY Downstate College of Medicine
Marietta Anthony, Ph.D., Critical Path Institute
Media reports and research studies that make general claims about a drug’s safety years after it has been on the market are causing patients and physicians confusion and concern. Physicians and patients want to know about the safety of drugs they are prescribing or taking. Often patients don’t take or stop treatments that are essential to their well being. To address this growing public health problem, people need timely, objective, individualized information about risks and benefits of medicines and they want this information earlier than either the drug companies or researchers currently provide. The panel of drug safety experts will discuss these issues and solutions that are available to people today.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK
CMPI NEWS
www.cmpi.org
Medicare’s ‘Doughnut’ Hole
By Peter Pitts – Letter to the Editor
The New York Times
Read Article
Killing Healthy Patents
By Peter Pitts
The American Spectator
November 26, 2007
Read Article
DRUGWONKS BLOG
www.drugwonks.com
Building a Cassell in the Sky
By Peter Pitts
November 30, 2007
A subcommittee of the FDA’s Science Board (headed by the talented Dr. Gail Cassell of Eli Lilly & Company) says the agency suffers from a "plethora of inadequacies," including an "appallingly low'' rate of food inspections and a lack of scientists who understand new technologies. According to a new report issued by the subcommittee, the FDA needs more money, better computer systems, and should be restructured to include a scientific leader.
"Without a substantial increase in resources, the agency is powerless to improve its performance, will fall further behind, and will be unable to meet either the mandates of Congress or the expectations of the American public. This will damage not only the health of the population of the U.S., but also the health of our economy.''
Read Article
Letting the Government Decide What is Unacceptable
By Robert Goldberg
November 27, 2007
Health Affairs is late to the party when it comes to personalized medicine. It has a roundtable of oncologists talking about treating cancers and people differently right off the bat like it was something new. Better late than never. But some people still like using blunt instruments. Here is the managed care view of comparative effectiveness courtesy of Lee Newcomer business leader of Oncology Services at UnitedHealthcare in Minneapolis.
"Newcomer also argues that, following the example of the United Kingdom, the U.S. government should establish cost-effectiveness guidelines: “The government could say that anything more than $40,000 per year of life gained is unacceptable.”
Read Article
PODCAST
Universal Healthcare
CMPI launched a new podcast this week. In this episode, “Phil the Pill” asks people enjoying the Thanksgiving Day Parade whether they prefer government-run healthcare or universal healthcare. The answers will leave you amazed if not outright frightened!
We hope you enjoy it!
View Video Podcast
INTERNATIONAL ARTICLE OF NOTE
Government Drug Policies in Canada Offer No Cost Advantage over U.S. Drug Policies
The Fraser Institute
November 26, 2007
Read Article
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