DOCSLIB.ORG

Fall 2018/Winter 2019

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Fall 2018/Winter 2019 ISSUE ISSUE 2433 TheTheVoice Voice FALL/WINTER 2018 FOR PREVENTION, TREATMENT, AND POLICY SPRING/SUMMER 2014 FOR PREVENTION, TREATMENT, AND POLICY National WHAT’S INSIDE We’re in the Headlines…2 Center Brain Stimulation as a Treatment for Depression?...3 What are the Implant Files?...4 for Health Is the Affordable Care Act Still at Risk?....4 What is Breast Implant Illness?...5 Research Honoring Foremothers….6 Dietary Supplements...7 We are dedicated to improving the health and safety of adults and children by Can Sleeping Pills Cause Cancer? Can Avoiding using research to develop more Them Improve Your Health? effective treatments and policies. The Cancer Americans spend more than $41 billion each year on prescription sleeping pills, and that doesn’t Prevention and Treatment count the popular over-the-counter sleep aids such Fund is our major program. as Tylenol PM and Benadryl. If you are one of the many Americans that needs help sleeping, you’ll want to know about a study showing that people who take these drugs are significantly more likely to be diagnosed with cancer or to die within the next The Cancer two and a half years than people who don’t take Even before this study, there were at least 18 other them. Published in the prestigious British Medical studies showing an increased risk of death for Prevention Journal, author Dr. Daniel Kripke estimates that people taking sleeping pills, and several also and Treatment sleep medications could be causing more than showed an increased risk of cancer. However, this Fund 300,000-500,000 deaths every year. study is especially well-designed and the only one that includes the newer, short-acting class of popular sleeping pills known as non- Our Cancer Prevention and The researchers studied more than 10,000 primary care patients in Pennsylvania who were prescribed benzodiazepines, such as Ambien, Lunesta, and Treatment Fund helps adults sleeping pills and compared their health to patients Sonata. and children reduce their risk without such prescriptions who were the same sex, ethnicity, marital status, smoking status, and had Among study participants, the most commonly pre- of getting cancer and helps similar health conditions, alcohol use, and BMI. scribed sleeping pills were Ambien (also known by everyone get the best possible other names) and Restoril. However, the higher Sleeping Pills, Death, and Cancer risk of death was true for those prescribed any sleep treatment. aid , including Lunesta, Sonata, barbiturates, as well as antihistamines such as diphenhydramine Patients who were prescribed sleeping pills were (the active ingredient in Benadryl), which is also more likely to have died during the 2.5 years of the used in many over-the-counter sleep aids. The study than were the patients not prescribed average age of patients in the study was 54, but the Cancer Helpline: sleeping pills. Even the patients who were study found harm associated with sleeping pill use prescribed fewer than 18 pills per year were more [email protected] in every age group. than 3 times as likely to die. Patients who were prescribed more than 132 pills a year were more Are Some Sleeping Pills Safer than Websites: than 5 times as likely to die. Others? www.center4research.org When the study started, none of the patients had All the sleeping pills studied increased the risk of www.stopcancerfund.org been diagnosed with cancer. Heavy users of sleep- ing pills (over 132 pills prescribed per year) had a death, but Lunesta showed a more than 500% in- 35% greater risk than those with fewer pills pre- creased risk compared to any of the other sleeping scribed. Among those with prescriptions for sleep- pills. However, Lunesta was a relatively new drug ing pills, the increased risk of their developing lym- at the time of this study, and relatively few people phoma, lung cancer, colon, and prostate cancer was took it. For that reason, it is not possible to say greater than the risk from being a current smoker. whether the risk of Lunesta is really that high. This CFC #11967 study did not evaluate cancer or death rates among patients taking Belsomra, a newer sleeping aid with numerous side effects. Continued on Page 4 We’re in the Headlines! Board of Directors US Goal to be “First” on Devices Worries Former Regulators Brandel France del Bravo, MPH Associated Press, Consultant November 11, 2018 Sarah Deutsch, JD -Implant Injuries Hidden: FDA’s Deal with Counsel, Mayer Brown Breast Companies Made Thousands of Cases Look Like New Drugs So Pricey They Need New PaymentPlans Dan Fox Just One President Emeritus, Milbank November 26, 2018 LA Times, Memorial Fund FDA Targets Vaping, Alarmed by Teenage Use August 13, 2018 Ben Gitterman, MD Politico, Devices? Associate Clinical Professor New York Times, Pediatrics and Public Health September 12, 2018 What Are the Unexpected Dangers of Medical George Washington University NPR, May 24, 2018 To Improve Treatments, Researchers Want to Hunt Mary G. Hager, MA Journalist (retired) for Clues in Medical Records Nancy Hardt, MD This Popular Implant Prevents Pregnancy Retired Professor and Associate NPR, July 16, 2018 for Years. It Could Also Go Missing in Dean University of Florida College Your Body. of Medicine October 8, 2018 Circa, Bayer to Stop Sales of Birth ControlLasik Surgery Can Have Little Known Judith L. Harris, JD Device Tied to Injuries Life-Changing Consequences Reed Smith Today Show, NBC, Legal Reader, June 19, 2018 Alan Mendelson, LLD November 26, 2018 Axion Venture Partners Omega Logan Silva, MD Former President, American Medical Women’s Association The FDA announced fines for companies Duchy Trachtenberg One in 10 Americans has some kind of medical selling e-cigarettes to children and teenagers, Former Councilmember device implanted in their body. In an NPR as well as guidances to the manufacturers. Montgomery County, MD podcast, NCHR’s president warns that the NCHR president Dr. Diana Zuckerman told FDA standards for approval of implants are Susanne Wilke, PhD, MBA the New York Times that the FDA's plan much less rigorous than for prescription drugs. Venture Capitalist will be much less effective than other Most medical devices do not even have to be strategies they should consider. Two months proven to be safe or effective. NCHR’s president Susan F. Wood, PhD later, FDA finally announced more effective urges listeners to ask doctors questions about Associate Professor strategies. the scientific evidence that the device is good George Washington University for them, and let Congress know you support better safety testing for new devices. Diana Zuckerman, PhD President The U.S. government keeps talking about Nat’l Center for Health Research streamlining the FDA approval process to get drugs and medical devices to patients faster. NCHR’s president explains to MedTech how Unfortunately, this is adding to the cost of the FDA never takes devices off the market, and medical care and results in many medical instead relies on the manufacturers to "volun- We can’t be bought. products that don't work. NCHR’s president tarily" withdraw them. FDA finds it hard to explained to Newsweek, ProPublica, find the science to justify taking them off the Medscape, and AP how patients are market due to the lack of solid scientific Our Center doesn’t harmed when drugs or medical devices are research. accept funding from approved too quickly. drug companies or device manufacturers, Nexplanon is an implanted contraceptive that lasts for 3 years. Though it's inserted into the so we rely on the NCHR’s president wrote an article for Spectrum News about how the new "Right upper arm, it can migrate and be difficult to re- generosity of to Try" law can result in the exploitation move if it causes dangerous side effects. Despite individual donors. You of people with autism and other conditions, deaths and serious harm reported to the FDA, including cancer. Vulnerable patients and no action has been taken. NCHR’s president can donate their families deserve better protections from tells The New York Post and Circa that FDA online at treatments that don't work and could be very often delays action when devices are shown to be risky or ineffective. stopcancerfund.org. harmful. Page 2 Health Matters Brain Stimulation as a Treatment for Depression? Thank you to our wonderful Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) devices receiving a “sham treatment” – they were hooked up have stimulated the brains of tens of thousands of to a TMS machine but the magnetic pulses did not President’s patients in the United States, often as a treatment for reach their brains. The results of these studies were Circle Donors: depression that hasn’t responded to anti- surprising because in most cases depressant medication. Millions of neither the TMS patients nor the sham Most TMS patients Dianne & Rick Ammons Americans suffer from depression, and patients had much improvement in Holly Bilden-Stehling most try one of the dozens of antide- do not improve their symptoms of depression. In fact, Christopher Cooper pressant medications on the market – substantially, and the placebo patients in studies of Sarah Deutsch most of which are available as relatively any improvement of antidepressants often did as well as the inexpensive generic medications. TMS patients and improved much more Estate of Amanda Belfiore TMS treatment typically costs $300 per any patients tends to than the sham patients. We analyzed Benjamin Gitterman session, usually 5 days/week for four to disappear in the this further and concluded that the Judy Harris & Norm six weeks. That’s obviously inconvenient weeks or months sham treatment was often so obvious to Ornstein and expensive, but the important the doctors involved in the studies that after their TMS Janet Holt question is: Does it work? treatment ends.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Breast Implants: Choices Women Thought They Made
    NYLS Journal of Human Rights Volume 11 Issue 1 Article 5 Fall 1993 BREAST IMPLANTS: CHOICES WOMEN THOUGHT THEY MADE Zoe Panarites Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/journal_of_human_rights Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Panarites, Zoe (1993) "BREAST IMPLANTS: CHOICES WOMEN THOUGHT THEY MADE," NYLS Journal of Human Rights: Vol. 11 : Iss. 1 , Article 5. Available at: https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/journal_of_human_rights/vol11/iss1/5 This Notes and Comments is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@NYLS. It has been accepted for inclusion in NYLS Journal of Human Rights by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@NYLS. BREAST IMPLANTS: CHOICES WOMEN THOUGHT THEY MADE Nearly two million women- received breast implants between 1962 and 1991: eighty percent for cosmetic purposes, and twenty percent for reconstructive surgery following mastectomies. 1 From their inauspicious beginnings as a tool for Japanese prostitutes during World War II to enlarge their breasts for American servicemen, 2 implants have now been deemed crucial to post-mastectomy recipients3 and other women seeking self-improvement." Implants are © Copyright 1993 by the New York Law School Journalof Human Rights. 'John R. Easter ct al., Medical "State of the Art"for the Breast Implant Litigation, in BREAST IMPLANT Lrrio. 1, 12 (Law Journal Seminars-Press 1992). This Note will focus primarily on silicone-filled implants. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") estimates released in 1988 indicate that only 15% of implant surgeries were for reconstructive purposes, while 85% were for cosmetic purposes. Teich v. FDA, 751 F. Supp. 243, 245-46 (D.D.C.
    [Show full text]
  • Spring/Summer 2019
    34 We are dedicated to improving the health and How Can We Cut the Cost of Medical Care? safety of adults and children by using research to develop Everyone agrees that health insurance is too Our own research on cancer drugs found that expensive and prescription drugs cost much too many that were recently approved based on their more effective treatments and much – some cost more than patients’ annual success at shrinking tumors provided zero benefit income! The amount Americans spend on to the average patient in terms of living longer or policies. The Cancer prescription drugs has nearly doubled since the having a better quality of life. Since cancer drugs Prevention and Treatment 1990s, and today the most expensive drugs cost so often cause nausea, vomiting, exhaustion, and $500,000 or more per year. other debilitating side effects, it is unconscionable Fund is our major program. that these drugs are being approved without clear What’s the solution? evidence that they work – or which patients have at least some chance of benefitting even if most This article isn’t about Medicare for All, Medicaid don’t. for All, or other major legislation, all of which face enormous political and corporate opposition. Instead, this article focuses on the issues that would be easier to fix in the near term. How to Spend Less on Drugs and Medical Tests Too many patients are being priced out of the Our Cancer Prevention and medical treatment that they need – or think they Treatment Fund helps adults need. As prices have risen, companies have broken one record after another, so that it seems there is and children reduce their risk no limit on what they will charge.
    [Show full text]
  • Implications for Patients and Health Policy Conference Agenda
    What Evidence is Essential for New Medical Products? Implications for Patients and Health Policy June 13, 2014 AAAS Headquarters Washington, DC Conference Agenda 8:00 am Registration 8:30 am Welcome Remarks: Mark S. Frankel American Association for the Advancement of Science 8:40 am Keynote Addresses Introductions: Diana Zuckerman National Center for Health Research 8:45 am Remarks: Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT) 9:05 am Remarks: Margaret R. Hamburg (via live video) Food & Drug Administration 9:15 am Panel I. Evidence-Based Policy: Opportunities and Challenges Moderator: Susan F. Wood George Washington University Speakers: Aaron S. Kesselheim Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School Robert Yarchoan National Cancer Institute Gregory D. Curfman New England Journal of Medicine Rita F. Redberg JAMA Internal Medicine 10:45 am Panel II. Speed vs. Safety: Implications for Public Health of Changing Standards for Getting Products to Market Moderator: Kim Witczak Patient Safety Advocate Speakers: Bernard Lo Greenwall Foundation Lisa M. Schwartz & Steven Woloshin Dartmouth Medical School Michael Rosenblatt Merck 12:00 pm Lunch 1:00 pm Panel III. Biomarkers, Surrogate Endpoints and Other Shortcuts that May or May Not Predict Health Outcomes Moderator: Thomas J. Moore Institute for Safe Medication Practices Speakers: Jerry Avorn Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School Joseph S. Ross Yale School of Medicine Diana Zuckerman National Center for Health Research Ann de Velasco WomenHeart of Miami 2:30 pm Panel IV. Post-Market Surveillance and Comparative Effectiveness Research Moderator: Tianjing Li Johns Hopkins University Speakers: Robert Ball Food & Drug Administration Sebastian Schneeweiss Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School Patrick Ryan Janssen Research and Development 3:45 pm Break 4:00 pm Panel V.
    [Show full text]
  • Long Term Effects of Dab Pens
    Long Term Effects Of Dab Pens Heavy-handed Corrie louts indestructibly. Is Woodrow culicid or semiparasitic after cotemporaneous mimicsTheo automobiles very vaingloriously so sycophantically? and spryly? Is Cole always theism and geochemical when cooperated some In design and long term This field is created when you smoked, also find the aerosol is the pipe and general categories: an fda approval that a breakdown in. But, the truth no the felt is that individuals would not recover the symptoms of withdrawal if there now nothing to disperse from. What boss a cannabis dab pen Leafly. Is Vaping Bad play You Vaping vs Smoking Side Effects and. Weed vapes What you need to make about marijuana CNET. Learn learn the research. Like many vaping products, different batteries provide varying functions and are compatible with disease other products. Another person realized he is dabbing temperatures needed a long run low and effects that cbd and dependence: which contains no. Publications and Reports of the Surgeon General. Early reactions to dab pens. Dna damage to list of? This includes the script as async. Are and aware, has there enough people, companies and bloggers who override their entire days unraveling these lies and exposing the truth lend them? Very friendly but helpful ready with vast product knowledge. Our comments here to not intended it a diatribe against vaping or the legalization of cannabis. It whereas Black Note. The Mighty is no portable powerhouse. Diana zuckerman and. You could probably do consent better. Medical staff revise the depth in Miami, where she as been airlifted, struggled to keep anyone alive.
    [Show full text]
  • INSTITUTION Congress of the US, Washington, DC. House Committee
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 303 136 IR 013 589 TITLE Commercialization of Children's Television. Hearings on H.R. 3288, H.R. 3966, and H.R. 4125: Bills To Require the FCC To Reinstate Restrictions on Advertising during Children's Television, To Enforce the Obligation of Broadcasters To Meet the Educational Needs of the Child Audience, and for Other Purposes, before the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress (September 15, 1987 and March 17, 1988). INSTITUTION Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House Committee on Energy and Commerce. PUB DATE 88 NOTE 354p.; Serial No. 100-93. Portions contain small print. AVAILABLE FROM Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. PUB TYPE Legal/Legislative/Regulatory Materials (090) -- Viewpoints (120) -- Reports - Evaluative/Feasibility (142) EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PC15 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Advertising; *Childrens Television; *Commercial Television; *Federal Legislation; Hearings; Policy Formation; *Programing (Broadcast); *Television Commercials; Television Research; Toys IDENTIFIERS Congress 100th; Federal Communications Commission ABSTRACT This report provides transcripts of two hearings held 6 months apart before a subcommittee of the House of Representatives on three bills which would require the Federal Communications Commission to reinstate restrictions on advertising on children's television programs. The texts of the bills under consideration, H.R. 3288, H.R. 3966, and H.R. 4125 are also provided. Testimony and statements were presented by:(1) Representative Terry L. Bruce of Illinois; (2) Peggy Charren, Action for Children's Television; (3) Robert Chase, National Education Association; (4) John Claster, Claster Television; (5) William Dietz, Tufts New England Medical Center; (6) Wallace Jorgenson, National Association of Broadcasters; (7) Dale L.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction Fact Checking
    Innovative Health Solutions’ Response to NPR Story: Questions Raised About Study of Device to Ease Opioid Withdrawal Introduction Jake Harper’s NPR story, Questions Raised About Study of Device to Ease Opioid Withdrawal, presented a biased and misleading view of the NSS-2 BRIDGE device. To address his story’s factual inaccuracies, this document provides a comparison to many of Harper’s claims with facts backed by the IHS team and its research. Fact Checking Inaccuracy: Innovative Health Solutions (IHS), the device maker, has marketed the BRIDGE for opioid withdrawal for more than a year, even before it had clearance for that use from the Food and Drug Administration. Fact: IHS did not market the BRIDGE for opioid withdrawal prior to FDA clearance. The original 510(k)-cleared BRIDGE device was indicated for use in the acute and chronic pain population. Pain is highly prevalent in this patient population, which led some clinicians to adopt in their treatment of patients. Subsequently, IHS received clearance for a next generation product – the NSS-2 BRIDGE – with a claim that it could reduce the symptoms of opioid withdrawal. What Mr. Harper may be referring to, and what he asked IHS about previously, were conversations with policymakers in a non-promotional setting about future applications for IHS technology. In that context, as we explained to Mr. Harper, IHS has every right to discuss ongoing development and future activities, but Mr. Harper chose to ignore our input. Inaccuracy: An investigation by Side Effects Public Media and NPR reveals that researchers working with Innovative Health Solutions, maker of the BRIDGE, submitted to a medical journal a study that wasn't what it appeared to be.
    [Show full text]
  • Is a COVID-19 Vaccine a Good Idea for You? Will Your Life Children by Using Research Go Back to Normal? to Develop More Effective Treatments and Policies
    36 We are dedicated to improving the health and safety of adults and Is a COVID-19 Vaccine a Good Idea for You? Will Your Life children by using research Go Back to Normal? to develop more effective treatments and policies. If you are at high risk of COVID-19 because you are The Cancer Prevention older, have cancer or other serious diseases, or even if you’re at average risk, you’re probably wondering and Treatment Fund is our if you should get a vaccine as soon as possible. As major program. we write this, there is not yet a COVID-19 vaccine that is widely available. But, we have preliminary data about some of the vaccines. The goal of this article is to give you the information you need to help you make an informed decision. We will also try to answer this key question: Will the vaccines be good enough so that life goes back to normal? On October 22, the FDA held a public Advisory gotten the vaccine. That sounds very impressive. Committee meeting to discuss the scientific However, these studies must continue and it could standards needed for a COVID-19 vaccine to be be many months before the studies can conclude Our Cancer Prevention considered good enough to be sold. Food and Drug whether the vaccines prevent hospitalizations or and Treatment Fund helps Administration (FDA) approval standards are deaths of the people most at risk. And it could be higher than the standards for FDA’s “Emergency much longer before we know if people taking either adults and children reduce Use Authorization” (EUA).
    [Show full text]
  • Biennial Report 2018-19
    Cancer Prevention and Treatment Fund A voice you can trust in prevention, treatment, and policy Biennial Report 2018-2019 2 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT We persuaded Congress to proven accurate and secure for protect all Americans’ access to all patients. affordable health insurance, We trained and continue to including those with pre- work with 100 patient existing conditions such as advocates from across the cancer. country on how to make their We trained researchers and voices heard to improve journalists to better medical research on cancer communicate the results of treatments and prevention. research on which treatments We updated our free booklet are best for which patients, and for women with ductal publicized important new study carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and results. our free booklet for men about We urged the Food and Drug prostate cancer screening. We In 2018 and 2019, we helped Administration (FDA) to made both booklets widely thousands of adults and children require long-term studies of the available to patients and family get the best possible medical treat- safety and effectiveness for all members across the country. ment; we published articles and medications, implants, and Whether we were explaining well- reports that will continue to help vaccines, so that consumers physicians provide better medical established and complicated could make well-informed treatment; and we had a major im- medical research information to decisions for themselves and pact on the many invisible govern- families and health professionals, ment policies that can reduce or their children. or making sense of controversial new research on vaccines, increase our risk of cancer.
    [Show full text]
  • Spring/Summer 2017 for Prevention, Treatment, and Policy Spring/Summer 2014 for Prevention, Treatment, and Policy
    ISSUE ISSUE 2430 TheTheVoiceVoice SPRING/SUMMER 2017 FOR PREVENTION, TREATMENT, AND POLICY SPRING/SUMMER 2014 FOR PREVENTION, TREATMENT, AND POLICY WHAT’S INSIDE National We’re in the Headlines…2 Antipsychotics & Young Kids: How Safe are They?...3 Center Making Our Voices Heard...4 for Health Matching Game for Medications...5 Research Right to Try? Or Right to be Exploited Before You Die?...6 We are dedicated to improving the health and Which Sunscreens Offer the Best Protection? safety of adults and children We all need 15 minutes of sunshine every day to by using research to develop benefit from vitamin D. Otherwise, staying out of the sun is important to prevent skin more effective treatments cancer. But, let’s face it, the sun feels good! In and policies. The Cancer addition to avoiding sun exposure in the hours Prevention and Treatment around noon, especially during the summer, sunscreen can also help protect you and yours Fund is our major program. from some of the damaging effects of the sun. But what kind of sunscreen is best? Spray or lotion? SPF 15 or SPF 70? Waterproof or moisturizing? It seems like new rules come out The Cancer every year. kids into the routine of applying sunscreen every Prevention and And it is important to know that the Food and morning (after they brush their teeth) before Treatment Fund Drug Administration (FDA) has never required going to school or to camp, no matter how cloudy sunscreens to be proven to prevent skin it is outside. But remember, they will need to add Our Cancer Prevention and cancer.
    [Show full text]
  • Concerns and Risks Related to Synthetic Turf and Crumb Rubber and Alternative Infills
    1 Concerns and Risks Related to Synthetic Turf and Crumb Rubber and Alternative Infills Dianne Woelke, MSN 3 Jan 2019© “Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.” Wendell Barry 2 History: The use of crumb for rubber backing of synthetic turf, infill under synthetic turf and pour in place playground surfaces began in the early 1990s as way of dealing with the mounting problem of 1 billion stockpiled scrap tires growing at a rate 242/year. Of those, 188 million/year were discarded in land fills, illegally dumped, stockpiled or exported. Other than a reference to scrap tires harboring mosquitoes, thereby transmitting disease, and being a source for fires (which take days to extinguish), there was no acknowledgment whatsoever about health related concerns in the US EPA 1991 report: MARKETS FOR SCRAP TIRES.(1,2) Vested in reducing these stockpiles, their judgement was clouded according to retired US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)Toxicologist Suzanne Wuerthele: “The EPA made a mistake in promoting this. That’s my personal view. This was a serious no-brainer. You take something with all kinds of hazardous materials and make it something kids play on? It seems like a dumb idea.”(1) Ongoing Research: On 22 June 2016, President B. Obama signed into law the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act in order to reform the the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) from 1976.
    [Show full text]
  • Implementing the Patient-Involvement Provisions of the 21St Century Cures Act at the FDA Kyle T
    THE YALE LAW JOURNAL FORUM A PRIL 7, 2019 Good and Bad Patient Involvement: Implementing the Patient-Involvement Provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act at the FDA Kyle T. Edwards abstract. The 21st Century Cures Act includes a set of provisions affecting the FDA drug- approval process. One of those provisions requires the FDA to issue guidance on how drug man- ufacturers, patient organizations, and others can collect and submit “patient-experience data” to the FDA and how the Agency will use this information in approving new drugs. This Essay exam- ines the FDA’s implementation of these statutory requirements in light of past problems with pa- tient-involvement initiatives at the FDA. It argues that not all patient-involvement initiatives are “good.” Past FDA approval decisions illustrate that there are ways of involving patients in drug development and approval that are ineffective and harmful to patient health. Patient involvement can be ineffective when practices are ill-designed to permit patient input to legitimately affect drug development and the FDA’s decision-making process. And patient involvement can be harmful to patient health when the practices merely serve to pressure FDA decision-makers to bend the Agency’s approval standards to approve drugs that do not work. Although Congress’s patient-experience-data requirements pose a threat of institutionalizing past problematic practices at the FDA, this Essay concludes that the Agency’s early implementation efforts are encouraging. The Agency’s draft guidance documents and transcripts of meetings with stakeholders on patient-experience data suggest that the Agency is attuned to these problems and is using the directives as an opportunity to hone its patient-involvement mechanisms.
    [Show full text]
  • [T]His Advertising Promotes Only the Most Expensive
    presents "[T]his advertising promotes only the most expensive products, it drives prescription costs up and also encourages the 'medicalization' of American life — the sense that pills are needed for most everyday problems that people notice, and many that they don’t." — Jerry Avorn, New York Times Convincing people they are sick and need a drug is a multi-billion dollar industry. In 2015, Big Pharma dropped a record- breaking $5.4 billion on direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads, according to Kantar Media. And it paid off for Big Pharma. The same year, Americans spent a record $457 billion on prescription drugs. The U.S. and New Zealand are the only countries where DTC is legal. Americans also pay more for drugs and devices than any other country. The bulk of these ads appear on TV at a rate of 80 ads per hour of programming, according to Nielsen. Behind the drug and device ads saturating TV, radio and digital media are hidden costs and devastating side effects that companies don't advertise, and critics say the ads drive up drug prices and erode the patient-doctor relationship. With the price of drugs skyrocketing, politicians and health-care providers question Pharma's DTC spending, which exceeds money spent on research and development. Even presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton called for an end to tax breaks for drug ads and for tougher regulations. But the money spent on DTC is just one small cog in Big Pharma's well-oiled marketing machine. Companies spend billions more on getting doctors to write prescriptions for their expensive brand-name drugs or devices for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration — a controversial practice called off-label marketing.
    [Show full text]