MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'interest'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:56:38 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181696&cid=t_138861_85_f&fid=34967&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fdocisinblog%2FwNlq%2F%7E3%2Fd2VJaccZ2K0%2F Check it out: Tempest Milky Way from Randy Halverson on Vimeo. And this, with the winter sky in time lapse photography: Sub Zero – winter night timelapse from Randy Halverson on Vimeo. (Source: The Doctor Is In) The Doctor Is In blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181696 Thu, 01 Sep 2011 23:38:38 +0100 5181696 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5169515&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fan-interesting-issue-of-life-extension-magazine.php The latest issue of Life Extension Magazine is fairly focused on the long view, and taken as a whole is a more than usually explicit call for the defeat of aging through research and development of the appropriate biotechnology. It is my sense that the mouthpiece of that organization has been steering more towards that direction in recent years, and I'm pleased to see it - the less the LEF folk conduct themselves as a standard issue supplement shop and the more they conduct themselves as a source of advocacy and funding for serious longevity research such as SENS the better they look to my eyes. There are a couple of articles worth thinking on, starting with one penned by Aubrey de Grey subject that I've held forth on in the past. Why Aren't More Wealthy People Funding Aging Research? S... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5169515 Thu, 25 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5169515 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159836&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FAhQvJIfu6qE%2F Concerns about conflicts of interests are all the rage these days. The FDA is debating whether to loosen rules over complaints that an insufficient number of experts are available for its advisory committees. And the National Institutes of Health just issued new rules covering academics who receive federal funding for their research and also have ties to industry (see here and here). As it turns out, the US Department of Health & Human Services, which oversees both agencies, has its own problems with conflicts. A new report by the HHS Office of Inspector General found most conflict-of-interest waivers issued two years ago were not documented as recommended in federal ethics regulations and only a minority of waivers were signed and dated by HHS employees receiving them. These waivers... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159836 Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:12:11 +0100 5159836 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5158872&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F08%2Fquis-custodiet-ipsos-custodes-redux.html Revised HHS Rules for Conflict of Interest Fall Short This morning NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins announced revisions to the existing 1995 regulations on objectivity in research that is funded by the Public Health Service. The focus is on significant financial interests (SFI) and on financial conflicts of interest (FCOI). The regulations illustrate the 3-way dance involving academic institutions (the grantees), NIH (the grantor) and academic scientists (the investigators). Thanks to Senator Grassley (R-Iowa) and his investigator Paul Thacker, headlined revelations in recent years about unacceptable management of FCOI at places like Stanford (Alan Schatzberg), Emory (Charles Nemeroff) and Harvard (Joseph Biederman) forced these revisions of the NIH regulations. The general initial react... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5158872 Tue, 23 Aug 2011 23:10:00 +0100 5158872 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139684&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FY7qfzaXp3V4%2F By Caleb O. BrownThe mortgage interest income tax deduction is popular among homeowners (read: likely voters) despite its role in distorting housing and related markets, its contribution to the housing bubble and its enabling of additional household debt. Never mind that there isn’t much evidence that the deduction boosts home ownership in the United States. Consider also that the tax break largely benefits affluent homeowners living in expensive urban areas. As Mark Calabria notes in today’s Cato Daily Podcast, it’s well past time for the mortgage interest deduction to be replaced by lower marginal tax rates for all earners. End the Mortgage Interest Deduction is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139684 Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:26:46 +0100 5139684 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107457&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F08%2Fretreat-back-to-regulatory-capture-us.html After some brave words about transparency, integrity and all that, US government officials seem to be running back to the arms of the health care corporate CEOs.Weakening FDA Conflict of Interest RulesAs reported by Reuters,U.S. lawmakers likely will change the criteria for advisers reviewing new medicines next year because of complaints that the rules meant to prevent conflicts of interest make it harder to find real experts.Congressional lawmakers may require the Food and Drug Administration to relax the rules that bar advisers from reviewing a drug if they have even indirect financial ties to related manufacturers, as part of an FDA funding bill.This was not purely an initiative of legislators, but was egged on by a top FDA administratorThe agency often must delay panel meetings while i... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107457 Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:13:00 +0100 5107457 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5097093&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FB_rma9edmls%2F Last week, FDA commish Margaret Hamburg told a congressional committee that the agency may loosen conflict of interest rules that were enacted in 2008, because finding qualified experts to serve on advisory committees has become increasingly difficult (back story here). Her remarks parroted a point made three months ago by Janet Woodcock, who heads the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, who has been pushing to relax the rules, which include barring participation for any individual who has potentially conflicting financial interests totaling more than $50,000 ( you can read more here). Last year, the agency tweaked its procedures for granting waivers (see this). The effort by FDA officials to roll back the rules, which were passed after an arduous campaign to promote greater ... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5097093 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:37:45 +0100 5097093 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5086256&cid=t_138861_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F01%2Fare-you-living-vicariously-through-your-kids%2F In his book, The Available Parent: Radical Optimism for Raising Teens and Tweens, psychologist John Duffy, PsyD, talks about an adolescent client named John, who’s a star football player. He’s so good that the local paper predicts that he’ll play in Division I football, and college scouts have already started contacting him. A teenager’s dream, right? Well, unfortunately, John isn’t too keen on football. He plays the sport solely because it’s the only time his father, a famous college football player, pays attention to him.  And John pines for that attention and his dad’s approval. But he also wants to quit football and pursue other interests. Maybe you’ve felt a similar trap with your own parents: not enjoying or downright hating something you’re doing but sticking ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5086256 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:45:03 +0100 5086256 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077624&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F07%2Fexecutives-get-rich-despite-ethical-and.html We recently posted about some shocking allegations suggesting that the for-profit corporations that now dominate hospice care may prey on vulnerable patients to increase their revenues, and may specifically recruit patients who are not terminally ill for hospice, and then neglect to attend to their treatable medical problems.  The post was based on a Bloomberg investigative report.The Bloomberg report focused on two large for-profit hospice providers, Vitas, a subsidiary of Chemed, and VistaCare, a subsidiary of Gentiva. We have repeatedly seen a pattern in numerous other health care organizations, non-profit as well as for-profit: despite questionable corporate behavior that appears to violate the values of health care professionals, executives receive rich compen... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077624 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:51:00 +0100 5077624 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5057707&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Fthe-economics-of-the-late-realization-of-lifes-high-value.php When you're young, you expect to have a great deal of time ahead of you. You haven't spent much time yet, and so what remains seems like a fortune in comparison - enough to squander. Think of the way that wealthy children so often turn out despite the best efforts of their parents, their view of the value of money and economic common sense poisoned by having grown up with access to a great deal of money. But before you look down on them or pity them, think of your own situation with respect to the expected time remaining in your life. Your viewpoint on time, life, and the future was poisoned by having what appeared to be a great deal of remaining time, far more than it was easy to compare against what little you had lived to date ... so you valued time poorly. We are evolved to squander ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5057707 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5057707 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050490&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Fthere-is-no-such-thing-as-a-scientific-breakthrough.php The concept of the scientific breakthrough is firmly embedded in our popular culture: a great leap forward happens in the laboratory, ushered in by the enlightened work of a tiny inner circle of researchers, and bursts upon the world to change everything. I would argue, however, that this doesn't happen, never happens, and there is, really, no such thing as a scientific breakthrough in this sense. Science is nothing if not a business of incremental advances, each carefully built atop a pyramid of many earlier research results. Science is not the province of lone researchers and microcommunities: progress occurs reliably and steadily only in those fields where a great many people are working away - and among those workers, it is no great secret as to what are most plausible forthcoming ite... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050490 Sun, 17 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5050490 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5029207&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FmeIeLnrcOiY%2F Earlier this month, three prominent psychiatrists from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital were sanctioned for violating conflict of interest rules. The trio received grant money from various drugmakers while studying their meds, but failed to report some of the outside income to the institutions while also receiving grants from the National Institutes of Health (see this). The move followed a long-running controversy over the interplay between academia and pharma, which was prompted by a high-profile US Senate Finance Committee probe over concerns that such undisclosed relationships may unduly influence medical research and practice. For their sins, the trio issued a mea culpa. The most prominent among them is Joseph Biederman, a psychiatrist with a national profile ... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5029207 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:36:22 +0100 5029207 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028138&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FyZZPNvIJeBs%2F By Mark A. CalabriaIt’s probably never wise to inject oneself into the middle of a food fight, but since I think both sides actually have something right and something wrong, its been a worthwhile debate to follow.  That is the ongoing debate between Peter Wallison at the American Enterprise Institute and David Min at the Center for American Progress (at least we can all agree we love America) on the role of Fannie Mae (and Freddie Mae) in the financial crisis.  If you can’t guess, Peter says Fannie/Freddie caused the crisis, David says they didn’t. David makes an interesting point, one I’ve actually argued, in his latest retort.  That is, this wasn’t exclusively a housing crisis/bubble.  Other sectors, like commercial real estate, boomed and then went bus... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028138 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:40:43 +0100 5028138 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008308&cid=t_138861_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F06%2Fever-had-such-an-intense-interest-in-a-subject-that-learning-was-easy%2F As I’ve noted here before, I’ve recently become obsessed with the sense of smell — which has been an interesting experience, for several reasons. One reason: this obsession has reminded me about the nature of learning. I’ve been struck by how much I’ve learned in the last few weeks. I went from knowing almost nothing about the scent of smell to knowing… well, quite a bit more. And without any effort, any drilling, any assignments on my part. Quite the contrary. I’m gulping down books, jumping around websites, eager to learn more, more, more. The same thing happened when I was working on my Churchill biography. In college, I’d taken classes that covered World War II, and I had to force myself to do the reading, and I struggled to memorize the facts. But through the l... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008308 Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:45:37 +0100 5008308 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008312&cid=t_138861_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F05%2Fapproaches-to-knowledge-interview-with-nathaniel-b-jones%2F Dr. Brian Jones has a PhD in exercise science and is a full-time professor at the University of Louisville where he teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses. He approaches all his courses with a scientific mindset, emphasizing the importance of critical thinking. Recently, Dr. Jones sent me a file containing one of his lectures on critical thinking. The lecture was for college students, but after reading the file I thought the subject matter would be great for everyone to know, not just those who are attending college. In the following interview, we discuss important points on critical thinking and approaches to knowledge. I think most people know that the media is not the best source for reliable information.  Yet, many seem to almost exclusively turn to the media for knowledge. ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008312 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 10:22:38 +0100 5008312 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4997508&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Fbiomarkers-of-aging-and-age-related-conditions.php The Russian side of the longevity science community, largely associated with the Science for Life Extension Foundation, produces very slick, professional materials on the science of aging and how we might intervene to extend healthy human life. Unfortunately, many of the large posters on the fundamental science are in Russian, and only slowly make their way into English. As they usually appear online as images rather than PDFs, and are generally filled with scientific terminology, they are not particularly amenable to automated translation. But it is worth keeping an eye out for the ones that do get translated. See, for example, this recent post from Alexey Moskalev, run through the Google Translate service: To chart some of the biomarkers of aging and age-related pathologies. English ha... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4997508 Sun, 03 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4997508 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4992989&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2Fl9r_qs2CrEo%2F Three years after they were fingered in a US Senate probe into the interplay between academics who receive grant money from both pharma and the National Institutes of Health, three prominent psychiatrists from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital have been sanctioned for violating conflict of interest rules and failing to report the extent of their payments. In a mea culpa addressed to their colleagues, Joseph Biederman, Thomas Spencer and Timothy Wilens wrote that “we want to offer our sincere apologies to HMS and MGH communities…We always believed we were complying in good faith with the institutional polices and our mistakes were honest ones. We now recognize that we should have devoted more time and attention to the detailed requirements of these polici... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4992989 Sat, 02 Jul 2011 14:04:29 +0100 4992989 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968427&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F06%2Fembedded-networks-of-influence-in.html At the 12th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC), sponsored by Transparency International, one of the plenary sessions was devoted to the topic of "embedded networks of influence."  The session description included this description of the topic as:the major stumbling block in the fight against corruption, namely, the power of 'embedded networks' in advancing personal or group interests through state institutions. The extent of their power can create what is known as “state capture” meaning democratic governance failure. It will take a close look at the influential role of private sector, especially of the multinational private sector.A recent investigative report in the Chronicle of Higher Education illustrated a striking case of how one key individual has affected... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968427 Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:11:00 +0100 4968427 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968439&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Fon-deathism-and-hope.php I stumbled across an interesting post on life, death, and cryonics today: A deathist is someone who tells you death is good, natural, and somehow right. If you can truly trick yourself into thinking they're correct then good luck with your funerary planning. I, for one, disagree. ... Humans have made tremendous advances over the past twenty years. And unless you believe all progress will stop, as if nothing new can be learned, then chances are good cryonics will increasingly be a short term means to heal and repair damage instead of the long-term suspension it is today. What cryonics does is provide the time to find causes and treatments. It is a chance to continue your life. To extend your life. To improve your quality of life. If it doesn't work you're no more dead than if you did no... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968439 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4968439 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4960329&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2Fdzqbvzs1qj4%2F Two years ago, a study found that nearly 53 percent of academic researchers have some form of relationship with the pharmaceutical industry, especially consulting, and faculty with industry research support were more productive than faculty without support. For instance, faculty with industry relationships published significantly more and published at a greater rate in the past three years. In an update of the findings, which first appeared in Health Affairs (read the abstract), the researchers explored conflict of interest policies at universities that have been under increasing pressure to scrutinize and disclose financial ties between faculty and drugmakers. The attention is an outgrowth over concerns that medical practice may be unduly influenced by industry (see here). What did the l... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4960329 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:13:27 +0100 4960329 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4960330&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FeV33sONHAAI%2F Now you see recusal, now you don’t. For the past couple of years, National Institute of Mental Health director Tom Insel has found himself at the center of a furious controversy over conflicts of interest involving academic researchers who simultaneously receive NIH funding and do work for drugmakers. At one point, he was ensnared in a probe by the US Senate Finance Committee. What prompted this attention was a long-standing relationship with Charles Nemeroff, a former Emory University psychiatry department chair who accepted sizeable consulting fees from GlaxoSmithKline at the same time he was the primary investigator on an NIH-funded grant for research into a Glaxo drug. The revelation sparked a probe by the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Ne... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4960330 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:32:59 +0100 4960330 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4959995&cid=t_138861_85_f&fid=34967&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fdocisinblog%2FwNlq%2F%7E3%2FiMBgUWNcbdY%2F Word of my demise, widespread and nefarious as it has been, is most assuredly premature. I must put these scurrilous rumors to rest… But life has been, well, most interesting… The past year or so has been one of the most challenging in many a season, on a number of fronts. Professionally, the passage of Obamacare has made it abundantly clear that the independent private practitioner is a dying breed, and likely will disappear — with the exception of cash-only, concierge-style arrangements — within the next few years. The administrative burden is crushing — unfunded mandates, such as pay-for-performance, compliance programs, HIPAA, mandated “government certified” EMRs (even though existing, non-certified ones are fully functional), and intrusive, ab... The Doctor Is In blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4959995 Tue, 21 Jun 2011 22:02:32 +0100 4959995 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953359&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FVV5N71KRqKg%2F The FDA hearing officer who is presiding over the upcoming Avastin review has rejected a request from her agency colleagues to require all outside scientific experts who speak at the meeting to disclose financial ties to Roche’s Genentech unit or rival manufacturers. The June 17 request had been made by FDA lawyers in the name of greater transparency. The two-day event, which begins June 28, stems from an unprecedented decision last year by the FDA to yank the breast cancer indication for the best-selling Avastin cancer med. That came after results of four clinical studies showed the drug does not prolong overall survival in breast cancer patients or provide a sufficient benefit in slowing disease progression to outweigh significant risks (see here). In response, Roche appealed the d... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953359 Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:10:01 +0100 4953359 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952793&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FDGqSypCChvo%2F By Mark A. CalabriaI almost hesitate to suggest that anyone actually read Alan Blinder’s defense of Keynesian economics in today’s Wall Street Journal, except that the piece lays out clearly in my mind why Blinder is so wrong.  The only part you really need to read is: In sum, you may view any particular public-spending program as wasteful, inefficient, leading to “big government” or objectionable on some other grounds. But if it’s not financed with higher taxes, and if it doesn’t drive up interest rates, it’s hard to see how it can destroy jobs. So in Blinder’s world, deficits are explicitly not future taxes, despite what I believe is a fairly strong consensus among economists that some form of Ricardian equivalence holds (see John Seater&#... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952793 Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:40:22 +0100 4952793 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952851&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=39261&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvactruth.com%2F2011%2F06%2F17%2F83-reasons-to-question-autism-speaks-for-hiring-big-pharma-scientist%2F The big secret finally is out. Autism Speaks made a radical announcement May 9th, 2011 that said Robert Ring, PhD, a scientist from Pfizer, was placed “into to the newly-created position of vice president of translational research.” Ring’s appointment was made simultaneously with the discovery that 83 cases of vaccine-induced autism were paid compensation secretly by the U.S. government’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). Why is former Pfizer employee Ring’s appointment radical? Two years ago Pfizer announced the pharmaceutical industry’s first “Autism Spectrum Disorders Unit.” Robert Ring led that group since 2009. I’ll provide more information on this later, but I also want you to consider another very important point. After the U.S. government’s secret ... vactruth.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952851 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:43:55 +0100 4952851 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952769&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Fthe-global-catastrophe-that-nearly-everyone-studiously-ignores.php Allow me to point you to an attractively blunt assessment of the human condition from the Russian end of the rejuvenation research advocacy community, tidied up a little after the automated translation made a hash of it: Needless to say, a catastrophe - something unpleasant. Global catastrophe - unpleasant globally. And what is the most global of global catastrophes? Probably the one that leads to widespread death. And here we must note that if nothing is done, then all living people will die with 100% probability. Of aging. Therefore, it is aging that is the global catastrophe that is unfolding silently throughout the course of human history. "Unfolding silently" because nearly everyone in the world studiously refuses to characterize the consequences of aging for what they in fact are. ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952769 Thu, 16 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4952769 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934027&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F06%2Fucb-settles-pleads-guilty.html Tromp, tromp, tromp.... the legal settlements keep marching along.  This latest story was reported by Reuters and Bloomberg.  The basics were, per Reuters:The American unit of Belgian pharmaceutical company UCB SA (UCB.BR) pleaded guilty on Thursday and will pay $34.4 million to settle criminal and civil charges that it illegally promoted a drug for migraines.The company pleaded guilty to one count of promoting the epilepsy treatment drug, Keppra, in the United States in 2004 for migraine treatment without the necessary approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Justice said.One atypical element here is that the company actually pleaded guilty to a crime.Another slightly off-key note came from the description of the activities constituting the ill... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934027 Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:41:00 +0100 4934027 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4911819&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FpiJzMoYrTX4%2F And yet another country wants to get tough on the interactions between docs and drugmakers. This time, India’s Department of Pharmaceuticals is proposing an updated Uniform Code of Marketing Practice for drugmakers that would tighten rules on doling out samples and encounters between docs and reps. The revised code, which is voluntary, would also improve procedures for reporting complaints. Among the dictums: the code requires employees who draft promotional materials to be familiar with the rules; promotional material such as mailings and journal ads must not be designed to disguise their real nature, and sales reps “must not employ any inducement or subterfuge to gain an interview. They must not pay, under any guise, for access to a healthcare professional.” In general,... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4911819 Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:01:56 +0100 4911819 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893343&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F06%2Fstealth-marketing-of-medical-devices.html We have frequently discussed the use of organized, deceptive stealth marketing campaigns to influence physicians to prescribe pharmaceuticals. Now more information is coming to light about similar campaigns to influence physicians to use particular medical devicesAs reported in the New York Times, based on documents supplied apparently by a corporate whistleblower, here are some tactics used by a small German device manufacturer, Biotronik:Seeding TrialsThese are ostensibly clinical trials, but designed more to market than to discover meaningful data. We have discussed them in the context of drug marketing.The message from cardiologists was loud and clear, according to a top executive at a heart device company. The doctors wanted implant makers to produce more clinical trials of devic... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4893343 Thu, 02 Jun 2011 21:32:00 +0100 4893343 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893357&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Finsight-into-the-state-of-funding-for-aging-research.php Aging research is the poor cousin of the life science field, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of the harm brought to humanity through disease, frailty, and death is basically caused by aging. Work on extending life or reversing aging is in turn the poor cousin in the aging research family. This situation must change for the better if we are to see meaningful progress in our lifetimes. A recent article puts some numbers to the picture, here for the Buck Institute, which is one of the largest mainstream laboratories specializing in aging research. In this fiscal year, the institute will receive about $23 million in government grants, about 66 percent of its $35 million budget. The institute will also get about $5.6 million from the Marin Community Foundation - down from clos... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4893357 Wed, 01 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4893357 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893360&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Ffunerals-are-for-the-living-true-but-more-for-the-ape-inside.php I had an artistic vision, a long time back, shortly after I had my initial realization with regard to engineered longevity, of the path to radical life extension as a sort of vertical ascension. I recall describing the vision of flight through darkness years ago, to my partner at the time - the rest of that conversation lost, along with much else, to failing memory. A room is packed with thousands of people, waiting. The walls and ceiling then unfold to reveal a void beyond, and the assembled masses begin to ascend towards some distant goal - arms spread and looking up in anticipation, as they fly upward, empowered by their own sheer force of will. The energies of their passage glow blue in the darkness, a thousand, thousand trials of light. But with each moment, some falter, and fall away... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4893360 Tue, 31 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4893360 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4883907&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FUaHLMBOJt7k%2F For the past few years, one of the more contentious controversies has been the close financial ties between drugmakers and some doctors. But why have some docs embraced the pharmaceutical industry? Were their attitudes formed early in their careers? If so, would there be virtue in educating medical students and residents about the downside to industry interactions? That is the conclusion reached in a report issued last week in PLoS Medicine, which analyzed 32 studies that looked at industry interactions with medical students and whether these influenced student views (this amounted to reviewing data concerning some 9,850 students at 76 med schools or hospitals). They found that most had some interaction with drugmakers, but contact increased in the clinical years, with up to 90 percent of ... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4883907 Tue, 31 May 2011 12:03:59 +0100 4883907 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4872030&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F05%2Fmedical-societies-paid-to-do-corporate.html BackgroundLast year we posted about how two medical societies which received funding from a drug manufacturer tried to persuade the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to deny approval of a generic competitor to one of that company's products.  The medical societies were the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) and the North American Thrombosis Forum (NATF).  The company was Sanofi-Aventis and the product involved was its anti-coagulant derivative of heparin, Lovenox.  At the time, we noted that the SHM CEO denied the need to specifically disclose funding from Sanofi-Aventis in the letter to the FDA, since he asserted the letter was about "providing the best, most effective care to the hospitalized patient." If so, I wondered why the SHM ha... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4872030 Fri, 27 May 2011 18:37:00 +0100 4872030 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862923&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FS4p18a2bMJQ%2F Health Department workers in West Australia have received $745,000 worth of gifts, business class flights and hotel accommodations from drug and device makers, many of which sell meds and equipment to area hospitals, The West Australian reports. According to documents revealed in Parliament, between last July and April 6, there 259 instances in which perks - including champagne, iPads, flights and hotel packages to Paris, Vienna, Montreal and Los Angeles - were accepted. More than half of the gifts or trips were accepted by staff from the South Metropolitan Area Health Service, which is headed by Nicole Feely, a former chief of staff to former Prime Minister John Howard, the paper writes. And the goodies included return business-class flights to New Orleans and six nights accommodation wo... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862923 Wed, 25 May 2011 12:03:00 +0100 4862923 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862926&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2Fq283udIKjWI%2F In another effort to shed light on untoward relationships, the FDA has just issued a draft guidance on financial conflicts of interest for clinical investigators and the drugmakers that enlist their assistance. The document is designed to revise a 10-year set of rules and address an issue that has grown increasingly contentious in recent years. “During the intervening years, interest has grown in the public disclosure of industry financial arrangements with physicians,” the agency writes. The “FDA is striving to achieve a proper balance between transparency and the right to privacy of clinical investigators with respect to their financial arrangements as expressed in the agency’s protection of privacy regulation.” The guidance would require any drugmaker to submit... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862926 Tue, 24 May 2011 15:43:46 +0100 4862926 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4848151&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FHW9228lhNLE%2F Last month, the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to repeal a 2008 law that bans drug and device makers from giving gifts to docs. The law, which you can see here and here, was seen as a way to limit undue industry influence over medical practice. But the ban has upset doctors, and pitted various consumer and patient groups against the state’s restauranteurs and drug and device makers ever since. Those in favor of repeal argue the ban stifled business seeking to expand in Massachusetts and robbed the state of revenue from two medical conventions that held their events elsewhere (back story). “I think we acted in haste,” state legislator James Miceli, who voted in favor of the ban originally but recently voted to overturn the law, recently told WB... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4848151 Fri, 20 May 2011 11:46:06 +0100 4848151 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4847926&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2Fa-look-at-the-most-mainstream-of-longevity-science.php A Science News article here looks at the most well known and best funded research into slowing aging. It is all a matter of great expense to achieve very modest goals in slowing aging, and that almost as a side-effect of the main aim, which is to catalog and understand the biochemistry of metabolism. A drug that postpones aging could also have profound health benefits, since most common diseases (such as cancer, heart disease and dementia) accompany old age. "That's what's driving us," says Donald Ingram, head of the nutritional neuroscience and aging laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La. "We would like to see some kind of a product that would promote healthy aging." So far, scientists have singled out a handful of synthetic and natural compounds that a... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4847926 Thu, 19 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4847926 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841980&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F1PSVJ9RSQKk%2F Stanford University has disciplined five faculty members at its medical school for violating school policy by giving paid promotional speeches for drugmakers, according to ProPublica, which a few months ago wrote that Stanford was one of several teaching hospitals that failed to enforce their own conflict-of-interest rules. At the time, more than a dozen faculty members were identified as paid speakers (back story). Paul Costello, a Stanford spokesman, declined to name the disciplined faculty members or discuss their penalties. But in a written statement, he told ProPublica that the “actions are significant” and have or could impact the doctors’ compensation or positions. In a note to faculty last December, medical school dean Paul Pizzo wrote that a preliminary investig... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841980 Thu, 19 May 2011 21:25:04 +0100 4841980 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841984&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FmsrQpBjd9A8%2F Four years ago, the FDA issued new rules concerning conflicts of interest for its advisory committees. The idea, of course, was to avoid the possibility that a panel member may have a financial connection of some sort to a company or type of drug to be reviewed (read here). Ever since, some critics charge the rules are too draconian and, worse, the effort amounted to overkill, because finding qualified panelists becomes harder. Last week, Janet Woodcock, who heads the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, made the same point. The conflict of interest guidelines made it “tough to find knowledgeable people” to serve on advisory committees, she told the Reuters Health Summit. “It’s a concern for all our staff…There is no doubt it is difficult findi... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841984 Thu, 19 May 2011 11:58:03 +0100 4841984 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841390&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F05%2Fmore-medical-societies-supported-by.html There were several new reports about the extent that medical societies are supported by industry.  Last week we asked whether the extent of the industrial support provided the Heart Rhythm Society made that organization appear to be more of a marketing firm than a professional society.  Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions (SCAI)ProPublica reported last week:The Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) received 57 percent of its revenues in 2009 from medical device and pharmaceutical makers, according to financial information on the group's website.Industry contributions to the society's budget covered $4.7 million of the $8.2 million it received that year.The group's biggest funders are the companies with the biggest share of the stent market: C... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841390 Wed, 18 May 2011 21:43:00 +0100 4841390 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4828834&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2Fwhen-did-we-become-suicidal-negligent-barbarians.php Our descendants will look back on us with some horror: an era of peoples who could have largely saved themselves from oblivion, but didn't. Suicidal, negligent barbarians they'll call us - and they'll be right. We have had the tools to preserve the brains of the dead for the long haul for quite some time now, and preserve them well enough that the fine structures storing the data of the mind remain intact. Death is death, but oblivion only occurs when the present detailed arrangement of matter in your brain is destroyed. For so long as that data is preserved, there is the chance that future technology and circumstances will lead to a restoration of life, such as through the use of advanced nanotechnology and charitable groups dedicated to returning the preserved to active life once more. ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4828834 Sun, 15 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4828834 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4813212&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F05%2Fhas-heart-rhythm-society-become-more.html ProPublica's and USA Today's joint investigation of one medical society's ties to industry has created a stir.  (The full ProPublica version is here.)  It's worth doing a little reading between the lines to see its further implications.The Basic StoryThe story focused first on the annual meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS), a sub-specialized medical society for cardiologists who specialize in electrical or rhythm disorders.  The meeting seemingly has become a giant marketing opportunity, supported by $5 million in industry money, in which practically every flat surface became a medium for advertising.  (The ProPublica article included multiple pictures of branded items from carpets in the exhibit halls to the backs of the seats in shuttle buses... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4813212 Wed, 11 May 2011 20:02:00 +0100 4813212 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4803016&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2Fthe-lunch-eating-helping-hand-effect-of-open-biotech.php What are the effects of a large and energetic open development community on an industry? What happens when tens of thousands of people start making their products available for free, sharing data, designs, and improvements openly, and making money for services and expertise rather than through selling protected secrets? Fortunately we don't have speculate on this topic: we know. Look at the software industry, which is presently more vibrant and accomplished than it has ever been, whilst a large proportion of the most important software used around the world is open, freely shared, and constructed by a mix of professional and amateur contributors. Open source software is big business and that community gets things done. Why is this relevant? It is relevant because what happens in software ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4803016 Sun, 08 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4803016 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4795056&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FgtIUt5aYG24%2F How closely tied are professional medical societies to drug and device makers? Just how much money do some receive? And how obvious is the spending at annual meetings? The answers - some have very close ties, get lots of money and the outlay can be enough to burst a blood vessel. Take the Heart Rhythm Society, which is holding its annual to-do in San Francisco this week. For instance, Sanofi-Aventis shelled out a total of $351,00, which was divided this way: $110,000 on programs & guides; another $110,000 on educational support; $96,000 for exhibit space; $25,000 for ‘turndown service,’ and $10,000 for bag inserts and cards. Similarly, Johnson & Johnson spent $386,750. Here’s how: $275,000 for exhibit space and lounge;s $36,000 on educational support; $25,000 for ban... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4795056 Fri, 06 May 2011 13:44:32 +0100 4795056 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789184&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2Fthe-relentless-focus-on-supplements-is-not-helpful.php Dietary supplements elbow their way into discussions of human longevity in a very unhelpful way. The loudest voice in the room when it comes to aging is not the research community, but rather the collective megaphone wielded by the salespeople of the "anti-aging" marketplace - a well-funded army ever ready to puff up thin evidence, misrepresent research, propagate outright lies, and sell you whatever happens to be sitting in their warehouses right this instant. They're just as good at deceiving themselves as anyone else; the best salespeople are the true believers. The simple truth is that no (presently available) supplement or collection of supplements can be shown to achieve anything close to the benefits to health and longevity produced by exercise and calorie restriction. Everyone sho... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789184 Tue, 03 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4789184 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4780272&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F05%2Fwho-is-really-bullying-academic-leaders.html Universities, which are supposed to discover and disseminate knowledge, ought to be the foremost defenders of free speech and a free press.  However, in the past decades, university executives have become notorious for trying to control speech that offends their political sensibilities (for numerous examples, see the FIRE - Foundation for Individual Rights in Education web-site.)  It seems that academic leaders get even more upset when their or their faculties' conflicts of interest are criticized, as demonstrated by updates about two important cases we have discussed.Columbia UniversityWe recently posted about reactions at the university to revelations in the movie "Inside Job" that the Dean of the Business School and one of its prominent professors failed to disclose ... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4780272 Tue, 03 May 2011 19:46:00 +0100 4780272 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4775406&cid=t_138861_90_f&fid=36413&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdcscience.net%2Fmaterial-world-part2-220307.mp3 One of my first posts about nonsense taught in universities was about the University of Westminster (April 2008): Westminster University BSc: “amethysts emit high yin energy”. since then, there have been several more revelations. Jump to follow-up Professor Petts The vice-cnancellor of Westminster, Professor Geoffrey Petts, with whom the buck stops, did have an internal review but its report was all hot air and no action resulted (see A letter to the Times, and Progress at Westminster). That earned Professor Petts an appearence in Private Eye Crystal balls. Professor Petts in Private Eye (and it earned me an invitation to a Private Eye lunch, along with Francis Wheen, Charlie Booker, Ken Livingstone . . ). It also earned Petts an appearence in the Guardian (The opposite of... DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4775406 Tue, 03 May 2011 08:10:00 +0100 4775406 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4780280&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2Fmerits-of-the-gung-ho-argument-for-immortality.php I don't see anything wrong with standing up and arguing passionately for the merits of either immortality as a Platonic ideal or immortality as a practical goal. Here I take the colloquial modern meaning of agelessness attained through biotechnology rather than the old-school "never die, ever" variety of immortality attained only in stories and myths. But someone has to be out there pushing out the boundaries of the discussion: The middle of the road, "reasonable" position in public or political debate tends to gravitate to midway between what are perceived to be the two opposite outrageous extremes, regardless of the actual merits of any of these positions. With this in mind, it is occurring to me that part of the ongoing problem in the modern political debate over healthy life extension... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4780280 Mon, 02 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4780280 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4759040&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F9a0xO_8AxcM%2F For the second time in less than a year, the Massachusetts House of Representatives has attempted to repeal a 2008 law that bans drug and device makers from giving gifts to docs. An effort last summer failed (read here). This time, however, a repeal is gaining traction. A bipartisan majority voted 128-to-22 yesterday to overturn the ban. The law, which you can read here and here, was seen as a way to limit undue industry influence over medical practice. But the ban has upset doctors, and pitted various consumer and patient groups against restauranteurs and the pharmaceutical and device industries ever since. Those in favor of repeal argue the ban stifled business seeking to expand in Massachusetts and robbed the state of revenue from two medical conventions that held their events elsewhere... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4759040 Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:13:56 +0100 4759040 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753629&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F04%2Frucing-about-conflicts-of-interest.html Since 2007, we have been writing about the secretive RUC (RBRVS Update Committee), the private AMA committee that somehow has managed to get effective control over how Medicare pays physicians. The RUC has been accused of setting up incentives that strongly favor invasive, high technology procedures while disfavoring primary care and other "cognitive medicine." Despite the central role of (perverse) incentives in raising health care costs while limiting access and degrading quality, there was surprisingly little discussion about the pivotal role played by the RUC until the formation of the "Replace the RUC" movement (see post here).  Recently, the leaders of Replace the RUC scored a journalistic coup by putting the current list of RUC members publicly on-line.  As we have di... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753629 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:26:00 +0100 4753629 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753971&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FU0H-Kz5ZdoU%2F For many people, the Provenge controversy has come and gone. The prostate cancer vaccine was approved a year ago by the FDA and, more recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services signaled that coverage would be provided (see here). Meanwhile, Provenge sales are rising, manufacturing is increasing and Wall Street tracks shares in Dendreon, which makes the vaccine, very closely. But one aspect apparently remains unresolved, at least for some. Four years ago, the unexpected FDA delay in approving Provenge occurred amid alleged conflicts of interest involving two members of an agency advisory committee. They quietly wrote FDA officials to veto a panel recommendation in favor of approval. The episode prompted a lawsuit and patient protests, but full details were never disclosed (... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753971 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:06:15 +0100 4753971 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753644&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fageless-animals-the-jellyfish-edition.php The jellyfish Turritopsis nutricula is one of the few species whose members might be considered immortal, based on what is presently known of its biology. The life course of this jellyfish is very far removed from that of humans; even more so than that of the lobster, another marine species that might be immortal - though there researchers know far too little to make the call one way or another. Immortality in the sea lasts right up until something larger eats you, of course. The form of agelessness enjoyed by Turritopsis nutricula appears to be an adaptation to periods of starvation: it can retreat to earlier stages of its life cycle, and in the process its cells alter their character in an usual way: It starts out as a larva that eventually sinks to the bottom of the ocean and attache... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753644 Mon, 25 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4753644 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4742353&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fthe-importance-of-improvement.php It is unfortunate and noteworthy that the loudest institutional voices in Western culture seem to have an aversion to human enhancement. It is the ideal of equality run rampant, heading for its inevitable Harrison Bergeron endpoint - equality by leveling down to the lowest and preventing new heights from being achieved. Destruction is the only thing that politicians are really good at, sad to say, and egalitarianism, much like communism, is pretty in its abstract ideals but horrific when put into practice: The Terrible Urge to Tear Down the Successful Shunning Advances Through the Instinct to Equality This rejection of human enhancement is in essence a rejection of the urge to improvement - and is thus one of a number of important hurdles standing in the way of widespread support for the... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4742353 Wed, 20 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4742353 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4733993&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F04%2Fkhadafys-academic-mercenaries-health.html We just discussed Henry Kissinger as an early example of the intellectual mercenary, and recent striking examples of academic mercenaries,particularly the Harvard University-derived Monitor Group's academically disguised public relations work for Libyan tyrant Moammar Khadafy.We concluded that academic mercenaries help foster the corporate culture in which health care is now immersed.  However, it also appears they may have direct influence on health care.  Monitor Group LeadershipConsider for example the main figure in the Monitor Group - Khadafy scandal.  According to a Boston Globe article, Michael Porter developed the Monitor-Khadafy connection: Monitor’s work in Libya began when Michael Porter, a Harvard Business School professor who is a... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4733993 Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:54:00 +0100 4733993 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4733995&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F04%2Fhenry-kissinger-icelands-promoter.html In which we discuss how medical academic mercenaries (like the key opinion leaders paid to promote drugs and devices cloaked in their academic and professional credentials) now appear to be just part of a larger problem.Henry KissingerAlmost 17 years ago, an article by David Halberstam in Vanity Fair(1) should have warned us of the rise of the academic and intellectual mercenary.  However, back in those go-go years of the new gilded age, most of us were not listening.  Halberstam focused on Henry Kissinger, once a protege of New York Governor and then US Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, who became the infamous President Nixon's National Security Advisor, then Secretary of State:Kissinger’s capacity to be all things to all campaigns—an overt Rockefeller man, a semi-over... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4733995 Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:27:00 +0100 4733995 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4723806&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fonline-health-information-can-be-more-trustworthy-than-printed-texts%2F2011.04.17 Recently Ed Silverman of Pharmalot considers the case of a ghost-written medical text’s mysterious disappearance. The 1999 book, “Recognition and Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders: A Psychopharmacology Handbook for Primary Care,” (reviewed in a psychiatry journal here) came under scrutiny last fall when it became evident that the physician “authors” didn’t just receive money from a relevant drug maker, SmithKline Beecham; they received an outline and text for the book from pharmaceutical company-hired writers. poster for the X-Files Now the book’s listing is gone from the website of STI (Scientific Therapeutic Information), the company that provided the authorship “help.” I tried to get a copy of the handbook on Amazon.com, where it’s currently out-of-stock. The book ... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4723806 Sun, 17 Apr 2011 16:00:58 +0100 4723806 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4719869&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fprogress-is-forged-over-the-background-hum-of-whining-ethicists.php The problem with ethics as a profession is exactly that it has become a profession: the salaried ethicist knows that his continued employment depends upon finding problems with research and development. Money, even modest amounts of the stuff, is a powerful incentive. So where there are no problems, there are still groups of people who are effectively being paid to invent problems - and you wonder why medical science isn't moving as fast as it might be. This form of institutional corrosion is well entrenched throughout the Western world now, of course, and so you'll see plenty of things like this open access whine-slash-justification-for-a-paycheck: Optimistic predictions of the feasibility and effectiveness of life extension should be critically reviewed in the light of their ethical an... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4719869 Thu, 14 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4719869 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4714693&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F04%2Fthird-rail-that-no-one-wishes-to.html DiscussionWhile the data from this case-study were limited, they do suggest that major private foundations that support global health, and by extension, health care, services, and policy research may have institutional conflicts of interest, and their leaders may have personal conflicts of interest. It is possible that these conflicts have steered global health policy to favor vested interests, particularly towards approaches that depend on drugs and devices, perhaps instead of more effective ones using less technology.Furthermore, it is possible that that these conflicts of interest have helped create the anechoic effect.  Conflicts of interest could have pushed the foundations in directions that favored specific vested interests, and away from... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4714693 Thu, 14 Apr 2011 20:11:00 +0100 4714693 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4693505&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F1ht08wD4WlQ%2F The run-up to what will be a closely watched FDA meeting this coming June to review the Avastin cancer med is prompting some interesting behind-the-scenes sparring between the agency and Roche. To wit, in a recent letter to different FDA officials, Covington & Burling attorney Michael Labson, who represents Roche’s Genentech unit, accused the FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee of bias. Why? In his view - and obviously, the view of the drugmaker - there are concerns about “objectivity and fairness.” To underscore this contention, Labson writes in his March 10 missive that nearly all members of the committee last July voted to withdraw FDA approval for the metastatic breast cancer indication for Avastin (back story). And since then, various committee members were q... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4693505 Fri, 08 Apr 2011 13:26:24 +0100 4693505 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4684758&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FDD9bzsNsVtU%2F Is there a link between antidepressants and breast and ovarian cancer? A new meta-analysis of 61 trials identified a connection in nearly 33 percent of the epidemiological and pre-clinical studies conducted between 1965 and 2010 found an association between cancer and antidepressants. And the link was stronger among women using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. Moreover, the study found researchers with industry ties were significantly less likely than researchers without those affiliations to conclude antidepressants increase the risk of breast or ovarian cancer. The authors of the meta-analysis, which was published this week in PLoS Medicine, suggest the findings raise public health and policy issues, “because there is increasing evidence that financial ties among... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4684758 Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:29:41 +0100 4684758 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4676731&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F04%2Fwho-you-gonna-believe.html WHO YOU GONNA BELIEVE? Ghostwriting Charges and Stonewalling at the American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association came under a searchlight this past December over allegations of ghostwriting. The story originated with a public letter from Project on Government Oversight (POGO) to the Director of NIH, and it was picked up by Duff Wilson writing in the New York Times. The book was Recognition and Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders: A Psychopharmacology Handbook for Primary Care. The named authors were Charles Nemeroff, now chairman of psychiatry at the University of Miami, and Alan Schatzberg, formerly chairman of psychiatry at Stanford University. Both are well known for ethical controversy – see here and here. Soon, these allegations were being dissected in the bl... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4676731 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 04:44:00 +0100 4676731 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4664124&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Fcommercial-services-to-measure-telomere-length.php If you can have a range of single nucleotide polymorphisms and other quirks of your DNA analyzed by mail and presented via an online service, then why not the same for the length of your telomeres? Telomeres - the terminal caps of chromosomes - become shorter as individuals age, and there is much interest in determining what causes telomere attrition since this process may play a role in biological aging. The leading hypothesis is that telomere attrition is due to inflammation, exposure to infectious agents, and other types of oxidative stress, which damage telomeres and impair their repair mechanisms. Several lines of evidence support this hypothesis, including observational findings that people exposed to infectious diseases have shorter telomeres. At least two nascent companies prese... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4664124 Wed, 30 Mar 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4664124 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4653602&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FdtWgguerbvk%2F Yet another study has found a conflict of interest among doctors. This time, conflicts were reported by 56 percent of 498 docs who helped write 17 guidelines for the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology between 2003 through 2008, according to the study published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine (see the abstract). And this finding matters because these panels typically wield considerable influence. “Panels are the select groups of experts who are assigned to evaluate science independently and issue their advice to other doctors on what to do in clinical practice,” the researchers write. Guidelines “play an important role in synthesizing information for clinicians, as well as increasing uniform practice to certain standards and avoiding t... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4653602 Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:15:11 +0100 4653602 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4653316&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FDqpqnUQUx-4%2F By Benjamin H. FriedmanIn his speech last night defending U.S. participation in Libya's civil war, President Obama repeated the justifications for bombing Libya that I attacked in a post written for the National Interest last Friday, "Three Phony Reasons to Bomb Libya." 1. The President argued that Qaddafi recently "lost the confidence of his people and the legitimacy to lead." I'll again quote George Will on that: Such meretricious boilerplate seems designed to anesthetize thought. When did Gaddafi lose his people’s confidence? When did he have legitimacy? American doctrine — check the Declaration of Independence — is that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. So there are always many illegitimate governments. When is it America’s duty to scrub awa... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4653316 Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:11:31 +0100 4653316 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4653317&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fet392xf2v9Y%2F By Malou InnocentTonight, to sell the illusion of America's "limited military action" in Libya's civil war, President Barack Obama insisted that America had a moral imperative to intervene militarily, implying he will do so wherever foreign leaders commit atrocities against their people. This latest mission in the name of "humanitarian imperialism" is extremely dangerous. In fact, if all goes well in Libya, it might be just as bad as if we fail. Consider, for instance, if I walked through a wall of fire and came out the other side unharmed. Although I came out safe and sound, my decision to walk through the wall of fire was still misinformed. My good outcome was simply one among a host of potentially terrible outcomes. After all, if I were to walk through that wall of fire again and... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4653317 Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:01:33 +0100 4653317 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4642572&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F8JIumpKo5F8%2F By Christopher PrebleThere is ample recent evidence that the president has some difficulty with entrances and exits.  The linked video is a humorous example; the building conundrum in Libya is not. President Obama's decision to launch a series of military strikes against Libya raises a host of questions, many more than can be answered in his much-belated address to the American people tonight. At a minimum, the President must clarify the purpose and scope of the mission. He has declared that the sole object is to protect civilians from harm. Others in his administration, however, suggest that military operations will continue until Muammar Qaddafi leaves office. In fact, the two goals might be contradictory, as the need to protect civilians from violence could well extend long after Qadd... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4642572 Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:57:22 +0100 4642572 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4653295&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Frespectable-manias-and-well-thought-of-delusions.php Manias and delusions: both words that found their modern footing in Victorian times, alongside the formation of a populism that links insanity with any belief declared to be wrong. In an earlier century, Shakespeare inked the accusation "Thou art mad," but readily casting the slur of insanity upon everyone who fails to agree with you is a more recent cultural creation, I think. Politics has not been improved by it, for all that there is still little real difference between contemporary reds and blues and the blues and greens of antiquity. It is unfortunately the case that we live in a world in which a great many people choose to hold self-evidently incorrect and harmful beliefs. It really doesn't matter where you yourself stand in the grand spectrum of ideas, there is still at least one v... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4653295 Sun, 27 Mar 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4653295 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4636396&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F03%2Finstitute-of-medicines-release-reports.html Two days ago, the prestigious US Institute of Medicine released two reports on important health care issues, clinical practice guidelines and systematic reviews.  Systematic reviews of the relevant clinical research have been advocated by evidence-based medicine proponents as the appropriate basis for clinical and policy decisions.  Clinical practice guidelines have been advocated by many health researchers, policy makers, and clinicians as the best way to encapsulate the evidence to inform clinical and policy decision making.  Both reports suggested series of standards for how systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines should be developed.  These topics are of general importance to clinicians, health services researchers, and health policy makers.  T... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4636396 Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:05:00 +0100 4636396 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4626770&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F03%2Fdespite-poor-financial-results.html It is the season for share-holders' meetings of big US publicly held corporations, and as the proxy statements prepared for these meetings, prepare for more eye-popping, jaw-dropping examples of executive compensation.  Pfizer's 2010 CEO CompensationThe AP (via the Wall Street Journal) just noted the compensation given to Jeffrey Kindler, the outgoing (in 2010) CEO of Pfizer, Inc, the world's largest pharmaceutical company:Former Pfizer Inc. Chairman and CEO Jeffrey B. Kindler may have left the world's largest drugmaker abruptly last December, but he didn't leave empty-handed thanks to a compensation package valued almost $22 million.Kindler received a 60 percent increase last year over his 2009 compensation, according to an Associated Press analysis of a Pfizer regulatory filing Tues... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4626770 Wed, 23 Mar 2011 21:14:00 +0100 4626770 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4615424&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FY1gMg4H-zKQ%2F The European Medicines Agency has placed new restrictions on the business activities of its former director, Thomas Lonngren. after he resigned in late December and then issued a letter just a few days later indicating he had accepted an industry consulting position. The move prompted criticism, in part, because the EMA initially failed to investigate (back story). Today, the agency has issued a statement approving Lonngren’s consulting arrangements and found that there was no misuse of confidential or privileged info gained while he headed the EMA, there was no activity that risk improper influence on EMA decision and, more generally, none of his activities posted a conflict of interest. Nonetheless, the EMA “regretted the late notification by Mr. Lönngren of details of his ... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4615424 Mon, 21 Mar 2011 18:35:06 +0100 4615424 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4610887&cid=t_138861_117_f&fid=37824&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.doctorkalitenko.com%2Fblog%2Finept-trials-tainted-studies-living-disease-waiting-cure%2F According to statistics, 1500 people die every day in the United States from cancer. Shocking statistic? Sure. But how long have these people lived with the disease, how long did they know about it? What kind of treatment did they receive? What kind of treatment could they have received if it was not held up in one study after another? A recent article in the Wall Street Journal highlighted perhaps the most amazing point (1) How long will someone have to wait for a drug to be approved? How many treatments are there that are being held up by inefficient trials while you or a loved one are dying of cancer. Here’s where a holistic doctor like myself just doesn’t understand. Why should we trust clinical studies? Well, there are years and years of various testing done before a product is ap... Doctor Kalitenko antiaging blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4610887 Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:38:31 +0100 4610887 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4610776&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F03%2Fconflicts-of-interest-government.html There seems to be a small surge of stories about conflicts of interest regarding health care affecting government leaders who can affect health care.  The Institute of Medicine defined conflict of interest in medicine as "circumstances that create a risk that professional judgments or actions regarding a primary interest will be unduly influenced by a secondary interest."  So we will summarize these stories by first showing what each leader's secondary interests are, and then show how they may influence carrying out his leadership responsibilities.  (We used "his" because all examples are of male leaders.)Florida: Governor Scott and SolanticRick Scott, the new Florida Governor, apparently still has strong ties to a for-profit chain of urgent care centers, as reported by the ... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4610776 Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:15:00 +0100 4610776 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4600495&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F03%2Fdespite-recalls-legal-settlements.html For our latest story about the tremendous disconnect between the pay and performance of leaders of health care organizations, we turn to Reuters.  Astronomical PayDespite having a very bad 2010, Johnson and Johnson continued to reward its CEO royally:After a year in which Johnson & Johnson's product quality control was deemed such a shambles that the U.S. government will oversee some plants, the board had praise for Chief Executive William Weldon and awarded him almost $29 million in overall compensation.The once golden reputation of the diversified healthcare giant was severely tarnished by seemingly endless recalls of widely used consumer products as well as recalls of medical devices and products from other units in 2010.U.S. consumer product sales fell by more than 19 percent ... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4600495 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 21:00:00 +0100 4600495 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4592337&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Ffinding-smart-ways-to-say-profoundly-stupid-things.php I notice that Science Progress has thoughtfully posted an overview of a book that, like so many, passed beneath my distracted field of vision. It's a good overview, and in reading it, I'm struck by just how greatly modern fields of intellectual study have devolved into the title of this post - efforts to find smart ways to say profoundly stupid things. This isn't the aim and goal at the outset, of course, but with postmodernism leading the way, there is a well defined sort of style that accompanies the ability of a community of intellectuals to cut themselves off from rationality and evidence in order to build castles in the sky. Up becomes down and left becomes right, and all sorts of nonsense rises to rule the roost. The end result is a core of stupidity well wrapped by a tremendous expe... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4592337 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4592337 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4592326&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F03%2Fsome-dare-call-it-corruption.html We have discussed many cases of health care organizations' leaders reaping rewards disproportionate to any concept of their performance, and especially to any concept of the effect of their conduct on patients' or the public's health.  Most of these cases have been pretty anechoic, but for some reason, the case of the huge golden parachute given to the outgoing CEO of Massachusetts Blue Cross Blue Shield despite a tenure  marked by financial losses and no particularly brilliant advances in patients' care or outcomes, (see this post) continues to generate responses.  One editorial suggested that should the non-profit health insurance company continue to pay so lavishly, it should lose its tax exemption.  Another noted that the company should start put... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4592326 Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:50:00 +0100 4592326 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4592371&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FJAVZY3Aq0cM%2F By Michael F. CannonIn a March 4 article for National Review Online titled, “Mitch Daniels’s Obamacare Problem,” I explain how Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) is undermining the effort to repeal ObamaCare, and how he might do even more damage to that movement as the Republican nominee for president.  My article came under fire from Daniels' policy director Lawren Mills (in the comments section of my article), Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute, and Bob Goldberg of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. Today, NRO runs my response.  An excerpt: In brief, the trio believes that Daniels’s expansion of government-run health care is a conservative triumph. I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation... Daniels has an ObamaCare problem that could hurt the ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4592371 Mon, 14 Mar 2011 12:40:37 +0100 4592371 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4575244&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FyX0B1GekJDo%2F Earlier this week, we wrote how the European Association for the Study of the Liver had difficulty maintaining an embargo on abstracts to be reviewed at its upcoming annual conference, even though the material is freely available on the Internet (see here). Then Embargo Watch notes that the public relations firm for the EASL is Cohn & Wolfe, which also represents various drugmakers, such as Allergan, Genzyme, Sanofi-Aventis, Boehringer-Ingelheim and Merck (see this). This raises a question: how can a public relations firm equitably run the media operations for a professional society conference and simultaneously represent drugmakers who may have a great deal at stake at these conferences? You know, abstracts from one or more clients could be on display at the gathering. How can the EA... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4575244 Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:36:35 +0100 4575244 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4575034&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Fcases-against-cryonics.php In a recent post at Depressed Metabolism Aschwin de Wolf discusses arguments against cryonics - the low temperature storage of the deceased that aims to preserve the data contained in the brain. For example, what would be needed to make a rational, scientific case against cryonics? What is striking about cryonics is that those who have taken serious efforts to understand the arguments in favor of its technical feasibility generally endorse the idea. Those who have not made cryonics arrangements usually give non-technical arguments (anxiety about the future, loss of family and friends, etc), lack funding or life insurance, or are (self-identified) procrastinators. In contrast, those who reject cryonics are almost invariably uninformed. They do not understand what happens to cells when they... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4575034 Fri, 11 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4575034 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4570758&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2Fy1VW3WAJzGI%2F Last year, the World Health Organization was criticized for refusing to disclose the identities of panel members who helped make decisions about the H1N1 pandemic and their declared conflicts of interest, such as paid work for drugmakers. It was not until the pandemic was declared officially over last summer that the WHO released their names and pertinent info (see this). The issue threatened to stain the WHO because of concerns that its Emergency Committee members were unduly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry. Now, though, the WHO Review Committee on the Functioning of the International Health Regulations, another group of outside advisors, has released a draft report saying there is no proof industry swayed WHO decision making on the pandemic. “The WHO performed well in man... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4570758 Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:43:03 +0100 4570758 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4570513&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Fthe-short-end-of-the-gender-stick.php The data for you to mull over today - the not so great odds that come with being male: [The] disparity in mortality rates for males and females does not just occur in late adolescence/young adulthood. Males have a higher mortality rate at young ages (e.g. ages 1-4 the death rate for males is 12% higher than it is for females the same age) and older ages (e.g. ages 65-74 the death rate is 33% higher than it is for females that age). Considering the inequality in mortality rates between the genders across the lifespan makes it clear that it is not "nurture" alone that explains why males are more likely to die in every single age category, from the first year of life to age 85+. The disparity between male and female life expectancy is well known and widely studied, but not definitively unde... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4570513 Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4570513 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4565905&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Findependent-peer-reviewed-scientific-journals-just-how-independent-are-they%2F2011.03.09 On September 27, 2010, the peer-reviewed scientific journal Europace published online-before-print a case report entitled “Spontaneous explosion of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator” by Martin Hudec and Gabriela Kaliska. In the pdf of that case report a figure containing a color photo of the affected patient’s chest, chest X-ray, and two pictures of the extracted device (one seen here) were included. The pictures and case presentation were dramatic and the case very rare. Both were perfect reasons to report such an important case to the medical literature. And so these doctors sent the case to Europace on June 29, 2010, and the article was accepted after revision on August 16, 2010, with the article appearing online September 27, 2010. The authors must have felt v... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4565905 Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0100 4565905 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4549725&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Fis-prevention-of-aging-within-our-grasp.php Yes, prevention of aging is within our grasp - in the sense that a package of foreseeable medical technologies could enable repair of the low-level biochemical damage that causes aging, and those technologies might take only twenty years or so to develop. Unfortunately, that timeline is dependent on a large amount of funding and a dedicated research community, neither of which presently exists for many of the essential parts of this research program. While the regenerative medicine and cancer research communities are populous, well funded, and achieving progress, very few researchers are presently working on other goals necessary to halt the aging process - such as repair of mitochondrial DNA. So when I say "within our grasp," I mean "if we all get up and do our part to make it happen." I... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4549725 Fri, 04 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4549725 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4540542&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Fa-review-of-the-future-of-aging.php Over at Depressed Metabolism, you'll find a review of The Future of Aging, a book that covers the high points of longevity research and development pretty much from end to end. That includes viewpoints on transhumanist ideals of an ageless society, present work on rejuvenation biotechnology, the cryonics industry, as well as mainstream work on understanding calorie restriction and slowing aging through metabolic manipulation. Editor-in-chief, cryobiologist, and aging researcher Gregory M. Fahy and his associate editors Michael D. West, L. Stephen Cole and Steven B. Harris have compiled what might be the most impressive collection of articles on interventive gerontology to date in their 866 page collection The Future of Aging: Pathways to Human Life Extension. The book is divided into 2 pa... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4540542 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4540542 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4536027&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F03%2Fonce-more-with-feeling-another-defense.html Despite increasing recognition of the adverse effects of health care professionals' and health care institutions' conflicts of interest on health care, such financial relationships continue to have their prominent defenders.  The latest example was an article in Medscape General Surgery by Frank J Veith MD, entitled "Physicians and Industry: Fix the Relationships, but Keep Them Going."  Dr Veith is a prominent vascular surgeon who "received numerous awards and honors as a leader, outstanding teacher, and innovator in vascular surgery," according to New York UniversityWe have noted before how defenders of conflicted professionals and professional societies often employ logical fallacies to support their arguments.  Some recent examples were discussed here,... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4536027 Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:10:00 +0100 4536027 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4532567&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FsAQS7vachLg%2F Japan’s Osaka District Court late last week ordered AstraZeneca to pay 60.5 million yen - or about $733,000 - to nine of 11 plaintiffs for failing to include proper warnings about serious side effects on the labeling for its Iressa lung cancer med when it was approved in the country in July 2002. However, the three-judge panel ruled the Japanese government was not liable for any damages. At issue was interstitial lung disease, or ILD, which was cited in 810 deaths through March 2010, according to Medwatcher Japan, a non-profit watchdog, and attorneys who represent the plaintiffs. They argued AstraZeneca downplayed safety issues by failing to prominently note on the labeling the potential for ILD at the time of approval and then advertised Iressa as “anti-cancer drug with little... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4532567 Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:53:37 +0100 4532567 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4532572&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FJhdgNC8Xh6E%2F The European Medicines Agency is being criticized for not objecting to a pharma industry consulting gig taken by its former executive director, Thomas Lonngren, who left at the end of the December. However, he only told the EMA board of his intention to pursue consulting in a December 28 letter - and his new consulting job was to begin on January 1. Instead of asking questions, the EMA chair, Pat O’Mahony, responded that the agency had no objections to Lonngren’s new position, according to consumer advocacy groups, which wrote a letter to the EMA to complain about its decision (here are the letters between Lonngren and O’Mahony, although the Lonngren letter is misdated). The groups charge in their own letter that the EMA board did not request details from Lönngren about his cons... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4532572 Mon, 28 Feb 2011 15:43:18 +0100 4532572 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4532174&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2Fto-die-in-order-to-live-thoughts-on-cryonics-and-legal-hurdles.php Here and there, I'll post on the topic of cryonics, economics (in the broadest sense of the term) and the presently very restrictive legal frameworks surrounding death. Cryonics is the low-temperature storage of the brain, and usually the rest of the body as well, preserving the data encoded in the fine structure of the tissue. In the future, advanced and foreseeable technology will make it possible to restore to life these cryopreserved people. The physics of it all is comparatively settled in comparison to the uncertainties introduced by human nature and human society, however. A brief summary of the points I've discussed in the past are as follows: You don't have to be wealthy to afford cryopreservation. Most people who are preserved are of modest means and funded their procedure and ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4532174 Mon, 28 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4532174 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4522086&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FzN9pJ3TR6_Q%2F By Tad DeHavenOver at Downsizing Government, we focused on the following issues this week: On getting out of Afghanistan. $61 billion in spending cuts amounts to less than a third of what taxpayers will pay in interest on the debt alone this year. The political stakes in the latest debt ceiling game are high. The consequences of failing to use it as an opportunity to start reining in the federal government are even higher. The IRS is handing out "free" candy. New data from the Federal Aviation Administration shows that reported air traffic control errors have increased by 81 percent since 2007. This Week in Government Failure is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4522086 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 22:26:28 +0100 4522086 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4495202&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fwhy-negative-medical-studies-are-good%2F2011.02.18 This is a guest column by Ivan Oransky, M.D., who is executive editor of Reuters Health and blogs at Embargo Watch and Retraction Watch. One of the things that makes evaluating medical evidence difficult is knowing whether what’s being published actually reflects reality. Are the studies we read a good representation of scientific truth, or are they full of cherry-picked data that help sell drugs or skew policy decisions? That question may sound like that of a paranoiac, but rest assured, it’s not. Researchers have worried about a “positive publication bias” for decades. The idea is that studies showing an effect of a particular drug or procedure are more likely to be published. In 2008, for example, a group of researchers published a New England Journal of Medicin... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4495202 Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:20:24 +0100 4495202 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4489930&cid=t_138861_136_f&fid=37852&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdonnatrussell.com%2F2011%2F02%2F17%2Fjustice-clarence-thomas-he-did-it-his-way%2F New cartoon by Trussell & Trussell on Politics Daily. Justice Clarence Thomas: He Did It His Way. Fun, fun, fun till Congress takes the freebies away. Filed under: Politics Tagged: clarence thomas, conflict of interest, ginny thomas, robert donna trussell, scotus, supreme court (Source: Donna Trussell) Donna Trussell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4489930 Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:36:56 +0100 4489930 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4482721&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F02%2Funiversity-of-minnesota-where-nothing.html As noted on the Periodic Table blog, the administration of the University of Minnesota continues to believe all is well with its clinical research activities.  A recent internal review said there was nothing more to investigate about the unfortunate death of a psychiatric patient years before. So should we all be relieved? It will take an extensive review of the case to ultimately suggest we should not at all be relieved.  The case raised important concerns about the validity of clinical research, and whether it violates the trust of its patient-subjects.  These concerns had not been addressed before the university's most recent review, and thus seem even more pointed after its recent non-investigation.Background: the Untimely Death of Dan Marki... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4482721 Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:01:00 +0100 4482721 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4459941&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FQR3poXuB5DM%2F By Juan Carlos HidalgoThe new Brazilian government of President Dilma Rousseff has announced spending cuts of 50 billion reais (approximately $30 billion) this year. This amounts to approximately 1.3% of the country’s estimated GDP for 2011. Despite good intentions, that is still a very timid effort in curbing the size of government in Brazil: Total government spending (including state and local levels) runs at almost 40% of GDP. Perhaps the timidity of the proposal is explained by the fact that curbing the size of government is not the motivation for the spending cuts. Nor is it to avoid a looming fiscal crisis. Brazil’s estimated budget deficit for 2010 was 2.3% of GDP; not good, but still a far cry from the fiscal woes of Europe or the U.S. Dilma’s reason for cutting spending lies... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4459941 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:57:02 +0100 4459941 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4450252&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F02%2Fafter-publicity-about-losses-from.html Over the last few weeks a series of stories appeared about how corruption siphons off money from worthy global health initiatives.  Corruption Depletes Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and MalariaThe story that first got attention was from AP:A $21.7 billion development fund backed by celebrities and hailed as an alternative to the bureaucracy of the United Nations sees as much as two-thirds of some grants eaten up by corruption, The Associated Press has learned.Much of the money is accounted for with forged documents or improper bookkeeping, indicating it was pocketed, investigators for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria say. Donated prescription drugs wind up being sold on the black market.The fund's newly reinforced inspector general's office, which unco... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4450252 Tue, 08 Feb 2011 21:05:00 +0100 4450252 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4436723&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2Four-beauteous-but-destructive-heritage-of-myth-legend-and-stories.php I have to say that I agree with this fellow when he makes the following point: "It is my contention here," Ball writes, "that all of the current debates about human embryo research, stem cells, cloning, genetic modification, and bioethics and biotechnology generally, regardless of whether they have any direct link to the creation of artificial humans, cannot be interpreted without understanding the cultural history of that idea and its relation to themes of 'naturalness'. Only by examining the old myths, legends and stories and the ways that they have been modified and mutated by the ages can we grasp the fears and preconceptions that teem beneath the surface of these discussions." Do people mistrust what their legends and tall tales tell them to be wary of, or does myth, ancient and mod... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4436723 Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4436723 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4405728&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F01%2Fbig-door-keeps-on-turning-bi.html Recently we noted some complex examples of the health care "revolving door," cases of health care corporate leaders who came from government heading back into government.  The first was reported by Politico:California Rep. Mary Bono Mack has hired PhRMA’s former chief spokesman as a senior adviser, adding another Republican lawmaker to the list of those who have recruited staff members with K Street ties.Ken Johnson will serve as a senior policy and communications adviser to Bono Mack, chairwoman of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee. Johnson has deep ties to the committee, having worked for former Republican Rep. Billy Tauzin when he headed the Energy and Commerce Committee.When PhRMA hired Tauzin months after the Louisiana congressman helped pass the industry-supported ... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4405728 Thu, 27 Jan 2011 19:47:00 +0100 4405728 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4405741&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Fnova-on-longevity-science.php An edition of the PBS popular science series NOVA that aired today looks at a little of present day longevity science: This provocative episode of NOVA scienceNOW examines whether we can slow down the aging process, looks at the latest on human hibernation, and checks in with bioengineers and a computer scientist inventing ways to keep us "going forever." Neil deGrasse Tyson also takes a lighthearted look at whether the tricks that have kept a 1966 Volvo running for 2.7 million miles can also help the human body go the extra mile. You can watch it online, and one of the embedded section of the show is provided below. This isn't earthshaking stuff, and should all be familiar old news to readers here, but I'm all for seeing more high quality productions that aim to introduce the public to ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4405741 Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4405741 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4382749&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FvbTJ4BCKkfc%2F By Christopher PrebleThe calls for cutting the federal budget continue to build in Congress as the new GOP members try to make good on their promise to rein in the deficit.  And, right on time, the latest issue of the Weekly Standard features an article by Robert Kagan critiquing the chorus of calls for cuts to military spending.  I think Kagan’s critique is reasonably fair, certainly more so than others of the recent past.  But his basic premise, that national security spending is unrelated to the national debt, simply is not true.  At the The Skeptics, I address this: It is of course true that entitlements and mandatory spending pose the greatest threat to the nation’s fiscal health, but $700+ billion [in defense spending] isn’t chump change. The question of what we should spe... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4382749 Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:48:42 +0100 4382749 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4377789&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FaVe4cHW2HSM%2F In a move that some may consider long overdue, more than a dozen of the most prestigious medical journals will consider requiring doctors who submit studies to disclose any payments received from hedge funds and other large investors. The proposal is expected to be discussed at the next annual meeting of The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, which is scheduled for June, according to a spokeswoman for the New England Journal of Medicine. The possibility follows ongoing concerns about conflicts of interest between researchers and the pharmaceutical industry and the extent to which undisclosed financial relationships may unduly influence medical research and, from there, medical practice. But the issue is also encompassing financial ties to large investors, given the growing... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4377789 Thu, 20 Jan 2011 15:21:05 +0100 4377789 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4377545&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Fa-world-without-sleep.php Removing the human need to sleep will undoubtedly happen at some point in the decades ahead of us. The potential economic benefits are vast, and so as soon as it becomes remotely plausible we will see tremendous investment in realizing whatever biotechnology ultimately makes it feasible. You might look at the present large and ongoing investment into developing sleep suppressant drugs that are free from significant side effects as a small foretaste of what is to come. A life without sleep would be a life effectively made 30% longer. There's a thought for the day - not all methods that might be experienced as life extension involve your body being alive for more calendar years. For example, one of the advantages of the very long term goal of incrementally replacing brain cells with nanomac... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4377545 Wed, 19 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4377545 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4575133&cid=t_138861_117_f&fid=37824&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.doctorkalitenko.com%2Fblog%2Ffda-cure-obesity-dangerous-weight-loss-surgery-surgery-option%2F Where do we stop when it comes to getting skinny? That’s often the question we ask when looking at a picture of a gaunt supermodel that we will never know, whose look we will never achieve. Or, we ask it when we hear about Hollywood and eating disorders. But recently, the government is jumping in on trying to cure the obesity problem in the United States, not with methods to improve our diets, healthier and safer options, and guidelines, but instead, by looking into approving lap band procedure for millions more Americans. According to this article in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/business/02obese.html?_r=2&ref=health) the potentially deadly surgery is now an option for people with a BMI (body mass index) of 40% or 35% is there is another medical condition, s... Doctor Kalitenko antiaging blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4575133 Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:21:04 +0100 4575133 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4361308&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FGTi6GBLv1fs%2F Hello, everyone, and nice to see you again. We hope your extended weekend - on this side of the pond, that is - was pleasant. Now, of course, the routine resumes with all those meetings and deadlines. So please join us for a cup of stimulation as we dust the snow off the Pharmalot corporate campus, ready the short people for the school house and prowl around for interesting items. Hope your day goes well and do stay in touch… FDA Staff Questions Lilly Alzheimer’s Drug (Reuters) Teva Will Lay Off 200 California Workers (Orange County Register) Pfizer Sued Over Dilantin Side Effects (Madison-St. Clair Record) Ariad Stock Pops After Sarcoma Drug Meets Study Goal (Bloomberg News) Servier Chief Called To Mediator Court Hearing (The Telegraph) EU Will Ask Sanofi To Write Docs About M... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4361308 Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:52:21 +0100 4361308 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4343096&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F01%2Fwho-undermined-these-wonderful.html The rise and fall of yet another esteemed health care institution provides another cautionary tale about health care dysfunction.  The Tragic Fall of the Picower FoundationTwo years ago, a highly-regarded charitable foundation had to close its doors, apparently one of the biggest victims of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme.  Here is the Boston Globe version of the story:The unfolding scandal surrounding the alleged Ponzi scheme run by Bernard L. Madoff yesterday claimed as a victim one of the largest foundations in the country, which has funded groundbreaking brain research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and diabetes research at Harvard Medical School.The Picower Foundation of Palm Beach sent an e-mail to 'colleagues and friends' late yesterday saying that it was a v... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4343096 Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:11:00 +0100 4343096 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4343331&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FMzN0NGIvnh4%2F In 2008, the US Senate Finance Committee charged that Stanford University failed to properly monitor alleged conflicts of interest involving Alan Schatzberg, the former chair of its psychiatry department, who owned a substantive amount of stock in Corcept Therapeutics, which was studying the development of mifepristone, or RU-486, for treating psychiatric depression. Beyond his stock holdings, Schatzberg was also listed as a co-patent holder for the drug, which is best known for inducing abortion, and he received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to oversee the research. The allegation was part of a lengthy probe into the wider issue of taxpayer-funded research and undisclosed and unmonitored conflicts involving universities, academic researchers and the pharmaceutical industr... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4343331 Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:26:00 +0100 4343331 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4343100&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Faubrey-de-grey-in-gq-magazine.php An article on the work and vision of biomedical gerontologist and longevity science advocate Aubrey de Grey was published last year in the May 2010 issue of GQ. Unfortunately, the GQ folk decided not to get around to reprinting the article online - which is irritating, to say the least. Why go to the trouble of producing something in the first place if you are just going to throw it away, never to be seen by the thousands who might read it in the years ahead? Fortunately, a kind fellow at Reddit recently posted scans of the article to Flickr, and here it is: "Life Begins at 140." Jump on in and read the piece before these vanish from the Flickr servers. Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Some quotes: De Grey likes to compare the future of treating aging to the time line of human-powered flig... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4343100 Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4343100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4337919&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FkHbk2m319fQ%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThanks to decades of reckless spending by European welfare states, the newspapers are filled with headlines about debt, default, contagion, and bankruptcy. We know that Greece and Ireland already have received direct bailouts, and other European welfare states are getting indirect bailouts from the European Central Bank, which is vying with the Federal Reserve in a contest to see which central bank can win the “Most Likely to Appease the Political Class” Award. But which nation will be the next domino to fall? Who will get the next direct bailout? Some people think total government debt is the key variable, and there’s been a lot of talk that debt levels of 90 percent of GDP represent some sort of fiscal Maginot Line. Once nations get above that level... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4337919 Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:53:45 +0100 4337919 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4330970&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F01%2Fblogscan-attention-to-medtronics.html On the HealthBeat blog, Maggie Mahar takes up the case of huge royalty and consulting payments to spine surgeons by medical device company Medtronic.  We had discussed the case recently here, followed by Howard Brody on the Hooked: Ethics, Medicine and Pharma blog (see link in this post).  Ms Mahar was notably optimistic because of the continued attention to this case by the main stream media.  She argued that the increased emphasis on aspects of health care dysfunction shown by the media means "health care reform is moving ahead on the ground."  I hope she is right, but I would feel more hopeful if ill-informed, mission-hostile, self-interested, conflicted, and corrupt health care leadership was less anechoic, if health care dysfunction actually got some atte... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4330970 Mon, 10 Jan 2011 20:02:00 +0100 4330970 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4318291&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F01%2Fwhy-would-directors-of-health-care.html We recently posted about 36 well-paid top executives in the University of California system, including leaders of medical schools, academic medical centers, and public health, who threatened a lawsuit if their pensions were not increased according to what they claim was a promise made to them in 1999.Riddle me this: why would a group of directors of for-profit corporations that provide health care goods and services. plus a director of a leading biotechnology trade group, and the director of a leading mutual fund family band together to support this demand, thus to push for bigger pensions for these top managers of the University of California system?Here is a list of the directors, and their corporations:-  Mark R Laret, director of Varian Medical Systems and Nuance Communicatio... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4318291 Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:35:00 +0100 4318291 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4313991&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Faw60fC-0PNA%2F By Mark A. CalabriaAfter proponents of the Federal Reserve’s second round of quantitative easing (QE2) abandoned the argument that QE2 would spur growth by bringing down interest rates (only after rates increased), the new defense became “we intended for rates to go up all along, as a result of increased inflation expectations.”  Since few would argue for increased inflation, or expectations of such, as an end in itself, the claim was that increases in inflation expectations would drive households to consume more, which would in turn causes businesses to hire more, bringing down the unemployment rate.  But does this chain of reasoning withstand empirical scrutiny? It turns out looking at the historical data on inflation expectations, as collected at the University of ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4313991 Wed, 05 Jan 2011 16:08:01 +0100 4313991 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4309576&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Fthe-simulation-argument-maybe-youre-already-either-immortal-doomed-or-dead.php The Simulation Argument as advanced by (Source: Fight Aging!) Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4309576 Mon, 03 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4309576 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4302851&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F01%2Fblogscan-on-device-companys-obfuscation.html On the Hooked: Ethics, Medicine and Pharma blog, Dr Howard Brody analyzed further the case of the huge royalties paid to spine surgeons by Medtronic (see our most recent post here).  He wondered why surgeons would get such sizable payments for "intellectual property" related to devices that they neither seemed to use or to research?  I would note that the lack of clarity about the reason for Medtronic's payments to these surgeons is just part of a larger lack of clarity about most of the payments made to physicians and medical and health care academics for "consulting" or serving on advisory boards.  If such professional-industrial collaboration is so important for "innovation," one wonders why the people engaged in it are almost never willing to disclose the topics of these... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4302851 Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:19:00 +0100 4302851 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4302106&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fformer-nih-director-spins-trhough.html ConclusionsSo the revolving door just keeps spinning, its revolutions suggesting how closely tied together big government and big corporations have become in what is now the health care business.  Whatever the motivations of Doctors Zerhouni, von Eschenbach, and Geberding were, the message to every person in a leadership position in health care in the US government has to still be: you too can earn big corporate compensation soon after you leave here.  Who knows how much that siren song will lead current government leaders to avoid antagonizing the leaders of big health care corporations during their government "service."  That is, of course, not what we want them to be thinking about if government agencies ae to serve the people, not the CEOs of big corporati... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4302106 Thu, 30 Dec 2010 21:15:00 +0100 4302106 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4300524&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fformer-nih-director-spins-trhough.html ConclusionsSo the revolving door just keeps spinning, its revolutions suggesting how closely tied together big government and big corporations have become in what is now the health care business.  Whatever the motivations of Doctors Zerhouni, von Eschenbach, and Geberding were, the message to every person in a leadership position in health care in the US government has to still be: you too can earn big corporate compensation soon after you leave here.  Who knows how much that siren song will lead current government leaders to avoid antagonizing the leaders of big health care corporations during their government "service."  That is, of course, not what we want them to be thinking about if government agencies ae to serve the people, not the CEOs of big corporati... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4300524 Thu, 30 Dec 2010 21:15:00 +0100 4300524 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4300527&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F12%2Fone-example-of-the-pace-of-biotechnology.php Biotechnology these days mimics the computing hardware industry: some areas are moving with blazing speed, making other fields that are only progressing rapidly seem slow in comparison. Costs of tools and procedures are falling rapidly, whilst reliability and capabilities are improving by leaps and bounds. The bulky, lab-bound machineries of ten years ago are becoming desktop machines now, and by 2020 they will be hand-held devices that cost little more than a pricey smartphone does today. (By 2020, smartphones of that capacity will be next to free, and what you carry around in your pocket will have more processing power than one of today's high-end rack mount servers). As an illustration: The Personal Genome Machine (PGM) by Ion Torrent is a DIY biologist's fantasy: it's fast, compact, ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4300527 Thu, 30 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4300527 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4298600&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fspine-surgeons-reticent-about.html Starting in 2007, we posted (here, here, here, here and here) about the payments, often huge, that five manufacturers of prosthetic joints (Biomet, DePuy Orthopaedics (a unit of Johnson & Johnson), Stryker Orthopedics,a unit of Stryker Inc, Zimmer Holdings, and Smith & Nephew) revealed they made to orthopedic surgeons and various academic and other organizations. We also noted that some of the leadership of the major orthopedic societies have received substantial amounts from these companies, as have the societies themselves. In 2008, our post on this subject noted the minimal disclosure some of the surgeons receiving these huge payments made when writing scholarly articles on related topics.  In 2009, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that alm... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4298600 Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:28:00 +0100 4298600 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4294579&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fhow-marketing-mixes-into-medical-school.html Misery loves company, so here is an interesting case reported by the Canadian Press, via CTV News, about how students in a pain management course at the University of Toronto complained that marketing seemed to have been mixed into their curriculum:The complaint centered around students being provided a book on managing chronic pain that was funded and copyrighted by the maker of the prescription pain killer OxyContin. The book had been brought in by a non-faculty lecturer with financial ties to the drug company. It turned out that:From 2002 to 2006, the pain course was funded by donations, included $117,000 in unrestricted educational grants from four drug companies -- Merck-Frosst, Purdue Pharma, Pharmacia Canada and Pfizer -- although they had no input into course content. Since 20... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4294579 Tue, 28 Dec 2010 21:32:00 +0100 4294579 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4294580&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fhackensack-university-medical-center.html Last year was an embarassing one for Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC), a large academic medical center affiliated with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.  In April, former state senator Joseph Coniglio was convicted of fraud (against the public) and extortion for a scheme that involved him being paid $5000 a month for undefined consulting work for HUMC while he promoted the hospital's interests in the state legislature (see post here).  A subsequent investigative report revealed widespread self-dealing on the part of the HUMC board (see post here).  Soon after, the HUMC CEO, John Ferguson, announced his retirement, per the Newark Star-Ledger.Scandal Leads to Apparent ReformsSo when I read an article from last week on NorthJersey.com entit... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4294580 Mon, 27 Dec 2010 22:47:00 +0100 4294580 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4294598&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F12%2Fa-little-nihilism-for-a-cold-monday.php It is fairly easy to slide from the question "why live longer?" to the question "why live?" If you're not so sold on being alive at the present time, it may follow that you're also not so much in favor of being alive for longer in the future. Sadly, many people are on the fence when it comes to their continued existence as thinking, conscious entities: ambivalent until threatened with impending death, at which point deep-seated survival instincts take over, but ultimately vaguely looking forward to their end. Others call into question the morality of creating new people when they are doomed to inevitable suffering and death, and this cheerful topic leads us to a brace of posts at Depressed Metabolism. Non-existence is hard to do Even the antinatalist position that it is better never to ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4294598 Mon, 27 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4294598 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4294584&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fblogscan-charels-ferguson-inside-job.html On the Naked Capitalism blog, there is a video clip of an interview with Charles Ferguson, who directed Inside Job (see this post).  It is highly recommended, if as disturbing as the movie.  Look for the parallels with health care, and think about how the health care crisis is interlinked with the global financial crisis.  See the movie if you haven't already. (Source: Health Care Renewal) Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4294584 Fri, 24 Dec 2010 20:11:00 +0100 4294584 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4287386&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fblogscan-charels-ferguson-inside-job.html On the Naked Capitalism blog, there is a video clip of an interview with Charles Ferguson, who directed Inside Job (see this post).  It is highly recommended, if as disturbing as the movie.  Look for the parallels with health care, and think about how the health care crisis is interlinked with the global financial crisis.  See the movie if you haven't already. (Source: Health Care Renewal) Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4287386 Fri, 24 Dec 2010 20:11:00 +0100 4287386 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4287387&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fthese-pharma-paid-key-opinion-leaders.html At "The Lancet Emphasizes the Threats to the Academic Medical Mission" Roy Poses summarized the major categories of ills affecting healthcare today.The list reads like a list of the Ten Plagues of Egypt visited upon the Pharaohs (actually thirteen categories are listed, but plagues they are indeed to patients and conscientious medical practitioners).This list, with keyword-hyperlinked examples, can serve as an index to the threats to healthcare's core values covered at the Healthcare Renewal blog:1. Abandonment of traditional prohibitions of the commercial practice of medicine2. Making money takes precedence over education3. The medical school re-imagined as a biotechnology company4. Faculty become employees of industry5. Academics become "key opinion leaders" paid to market drugs and devi... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4287387 Fri, 24 Dec 2010 14:48:00 +0100 4287387 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4277799&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fblogscan-medtronics-multi-million.html Starting in 2007, we discussed the huge payments made by four medical device companies to orthopedic surgeons and medical organizations related to the use of hip and knee prostheses.  (See post here with links backward.)  Payments, in the millions of dollars per year range, went to surgeons including noted academics, and leaders of the main orthopedic physicians' society.  Payments went to medical schools, teaching hospitals, and professional societies.  Many of these financial relationships were not disclosed, and the disclosures that were made rarely indicated the amounts involved.Now the Wall Street Journal reports millions being paid to spine surgeons by Medtronic in connection with devices used in spinal fusion.  See Dr Howard Brody's discu... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4277799 Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:10:00 +0100 4277799 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4275294&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fdrug-companies-are-now-no-1-when-it.html A new report from Public Citizen, as summarized by National Public Radio:Drug companies are now No. 1 when it comes to defrauding the government, leaving defense contractors in the dust.A report from the consumer group Public Citizen says financial penalties against drug companies under the federal False Claims Act far outstripped defense contractors between 2007 and 2010.The problem has been getting worse recently:Documented pharma fraud has been accelerating lately, Public Citizen says. It looked at fines and settlements paid by drug companies over two decades. Since 1991 those penalties totaled $19.8 billion. But three-quarters of those occurred over the past five years.Regarding the biggest offenders:Just four giant drug companies – GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Schering-Plo... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4275294 Mon, 20 Dec 2010 22:20:00 +0100 4275294 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4272603&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FpB1YDacfltc%2F Over the past few years, the growing debate over pharmaceutical industry influence on medical academia has prompted numerous schools to issue policies for monitoring conflicts of interest. Yet some are failing to adequately police their own faculty when it comes to paid speaking engagements on behalf of drugmakers, according to an analysis by ProPublica. The issue remains hot because critics say such talks can bump up against independental educational discourse if drugmakers control the topic of the lecture, train the speakers and require them to use slides presented by the company. Drugmakers say the requirement is designed to ensure speakers comply with FDA regulations and only discuss approved uses for drugs, the news service writes. Yet, adhering to such can put speakers in violation ... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4272603 Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:02:21 +0100 4272603 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4272600&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=34889&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmamkting.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fmedical-schools-dont-ask-faculty-dont.html ProPublica -- the non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest and which received a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting -- recently published a story revealing that physicians from Stanford, Penn and the Universities of Pittsburgh and Colorado Denver have faculty members who have accepted money to promote drugs despite the fact that these universities have conflict of interest policies that restrict their doctors from accepting pharma money (see "Medical Schools Don't Verify Faculty Compliance with Ban on Pharma Speaker Fees").This is just the latest revelation made possible by comparing names in ProPublica’s Dollars for Docs database of payments publicly reported by seven drug companies with names of faculty members at a dozen medical schools ... Pharma Marketing Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4272600 Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:32:00 +0100 4272600 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4265743&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=39261&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvactruth.com%2F2010%2F12%2F18%2Ftake-off-the-billion-dollar-blindfold%2F Would you buy an unlabeled bottle of vitamins from a health food store? Would you give those vitamins to your child? Would you trust a stylist who didn’t ask about your own wishes for your appearance? Would you have confidence in a salesperson’s ability to give you sound advice about a purchase if you knew they received huge perks from the company they are promoting? Most of us would not walk blindfolded into a salon and allow the stylist to cut or color our hair without our input. We would not consider giving our child a mystery pill from an obscure bottle of vitamins or a prescription with an unintelligible label. Yet many parents continue to accept vaccines and their long-lasting, dangerous effects without question, permitting doctors and nurses to inject their son or daughter with ... vactruth.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4265743 Sat, 18 Dec 2010 07:01:34 +0100 4265743 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4265628&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fwhy-i-shouldnt-read-non-systematic.html I usually resist looking at non-systematic review articles in medical journals, but because the title interested me, and things seem to be getting slow this holiday season, prompted by an update email from the American Journal of Medicine, I looked at Ram CVS. Beta-blockers in hypertension. Am J Cardiol 2010: 106: 1819-1825. (Link here.)The Ram Article in Praise of Vasodilating Beta-BlockersThe article focused on the results of meta-analyses:Concerns have also been raised by meta-analyses in which β blockers were reported to have a suboptimal effect on reducing stroke risk and increasing the risk for new-onset diabetes compared with other antihypertensive agents.The article discussed several meta-analyses in which beta-blockers, [a specific class of blood pressure lowering drugs] but most... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4265628 Thu, 16 Dec 2010 21:22:00 +0100 4265628 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4258821&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F12%2Fadvancing-biotechnology-means-that-the-utility-of-savings-is-increasing-rapidly.php We stand in the early years of a rapid, sweeping revolution in biotechnology. Every few months we see researchers demonstrate an entirely new capability, never before seen: controlling cells; spurring healing where the body would not heal on its own; building the basic elements of organs from scratch; depopulating donor organs and repopulating them with the patient's own cells - and more. As the cost of tools and knowledge in the life sciences continues to plummet, the pace of development accelerates. This rapid progress in applied biotechnology is the true grail of the computer age, enabled by cheap processing power and all the associated technologies that come with it. Not so far down the road are organs grown to match our needs, stem cell transplants that heal our age-damaged tissues f... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4258821 Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4258821 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4259202&cid=t_138861_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2F5-ways-of-flirting%2F What Type of Flirt Are You?How You Flirt Says a Lot About You and Your Chances at Love, Researchers SayEver wondered what kind of flirt you might be? Researchers have identified five styles of flirting and they say understanding how you communicate romantic interest may help you improve your chances in love.Jeffery Hall, an assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, and colleagues found five main styles of flirting. Although they did not find any major gender differences in flirting styles, women scored higher on all styles except for playful.Physical, sincere, and playful styles were associated with greater dating success. The physical and sincere styles were more likely to lead to deeper relationships with stronger emotional connection and physi... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4259202 Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:31:05 +0100 4259202 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4249005&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fon-interconnectedness-of-leadership-of.html We just posted about some misbehavior by Abbott Laboratories: a physician Abbott paid as a "key opinion leader" to help market its cardiac stents was accused of inserting stents in many patients who had no need for them; Abbott settled for over $400 million a lawsuit alleging the company defrauded Medicare and Medicaid; and it settled an unrelated suit for over $40 million alleging the company paid kickbacks to physicians for prescribing its drugs.  I thus thought it would be interesting to see how well paid are the corporate leaders who presided over these activities, and who are the board members who were supposed to be providing stewardship of this company.According to the company's 2010 proxy statement, the five highest-paid executives were:Miles D White, Chairman of the... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4249005 Fri, 10 Dec 2010 21:24:00 +0100 4249005 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4249010&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F12%2Fa-paper-on-global-aging-wellordered-science-and-prospection.php Via in Search of Enlightenment I notice that the sole open access treat buried in the latest edition of Rejuvenation Research is a paper on the future of aging research. Along the way it also examines presently widely held beliefs that are at odds with the reality of scientific progress - to the point of holding things back, in fact. It makes the case for reviving the Aristotelian conception of political science (namely, that it is the architectonic science). It also makes the case for prioritizing the imperative to tackle the inborn aging process and, most importantly, the obstacles that impede our ability to accurately perceive the importance of tackling aging. Long time readers will know that I disagree with this author on a number of fundamental axioms regarding political organizati... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4249010 Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4249010 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4237848&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fboards-who-ought-to-be-accountable-for.html I recently posted about the multiple conflicts of interest affecting a university health sciences leader.  While he was supposed to be running a medical school and an academic medical center, he was also responsible for the stewardship, as a board member, of three health major health care corporations, and a food and beverage corporation (whose products have bearing on nutrition and public health.)  .This one case suggested how pervasive are conflicts of interest affecting the people at the top of health care leadership in the US, and also how such conflicts may be associated with problems for all the organizations involved.  The story originally came to my attention because students were demonstrating against the lavish compensation given the health sciences leade... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4237848 Tue, 07 Dec 2010 17:44:00 +0100 4237848 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4233133&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fduke-divinity-students-protest-pay-of.html This may be a first.  A small group of Duke University divinity students publicly protested the compensation given to some top university leaders, specifically including the Chancellor for Health Affairs.  According to the Raleigh-Durham News-Observer:Theo Luebke strolled the plaza outside Duke's Bryan Center on Thursday afternoon with a bucketful of apples and a tale of woe.'Come on! Everyone's in this together! Get your apples!' he exhorted students passing by during the lunchtime rush. 'With all the cuts we have around here and all the bonuses we have to give to the big guys, we need to raise all the money we can.'Luebke isn't really the Depression-era fruit peddler his costume suggested. Luebke and a couple of other Duke divinity students hawked apples, ostensibly to raise mo... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4233133 Mon, 06 Dec 2010 22:58:00 +0100 4233133 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4206036&cid=t_138861_133_f&fid=35124&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Faspergerwoman%2F%7E3%2FvoWr6_HJVlM%2Flight-in-darkness.html The past week I realised how stressful things have been lately. For months lots of serious things came upon my path. It was useful to deal with them. Now, finding my way to a new beginnning, my focus is set on finding Light in the Darkness. It's time to think things over and realise that what life is about. These days I have to deal with a special interest. After having the life experience in dealing with special interests, I know now what to expect. Somehow everytime this phrase of Aspergers shows itself with all his beautiful but also dark sides, I keep surprised by the impact this special interest might have. It is like a knock down, strangely enough a knock down which makes me get lots of extra energy. As we call those autism related special interest in Dutch "Fieps", my "Fiep" see... The Art of Being Asperger Woman blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4206036 Sat, 27 Nov 2010 10:11:00 +0100 4206036 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4197002&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fof-drug-talks-deception-and-denial.html A month ago, we discussed a series of reports by Pro Publica and multiple other respected news organizations about payments by seven pharmaceutical companies to thousands of doctors.  Industry often claims that they only pay the best and the brightest physicians and academics to provide education relevant to their products.  However, the ProPublica et al report suggested that they mainly recruited physicians who already showed their favor to their products by prescribing them often, but soothed their consciences by dubbing them "thought leaders" or "key opinion leaders."  While some of the physicians were well-known academics, others had notably blemished records.  Since then, a series of local or regional news organizations have reported on physicians in... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4197002 Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:31:00 +0100 4197002 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4179286&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fwho-you-gonna-call-how-should-young.html To prepare a workshop on conflicts of interest in health care, I wrote a case of a faculty member offered a proposition that might provide a conflict of interest:Consider a health care researcher called by a commercial health care corporation's marketing department. The department representative proposes paying the researcher as a consultant to write a scholarly article on a specific policy topic of interest to the company. The implication is that the article should be favorable to the interests of the corporation in this arena. The corporation would be delighted to give the researcher editorial and staff assistance in writing the article and getting it published.Who you gonna call?The researcher is concerned that getting this consultancy might be a conflict of interest. What organization ... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4179286 Thu, 18 Nov 2010 20:17:00 +0100 4179286 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4167923&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fliving-high-life-on-money-to-treat-poor.html Here is another story that has developed over the last week about questionable goings on at a not-for-profit health care organization.  The organization in question this time was the not-for-profit, but state government supported Medicaid managed care organization/ health insurer for the Louisville, Kentucky region.  The details came from a Louisville (Kentucky) Courier-Journal article about a state auditor's report on the Passport Health Plan:The organization providing Medicaid services in Jefferson and surrounding counties has spent lavishly on such things as travel, meals, salaries, bonuses and lobbying in recent years, the state auditor’s office said in a report released Tuesday.The scathing report, which Gov. Steve Beshear described as 'disheartening,' said two Passpo... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4167923 Mon, 15 Nov 2010 21:49:00 +0100 4167923 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4159241&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fmore-doctors-are-refusing-industry-perks-and-gifts%2F2010.11.12 Physicians and particularly primary care doctors are reporting fewer industry ties than five years ago, according to a survey. While 94% of doctors reported some type of perk from a drug or device maker in 2004, 83.8% did in 2009, researchers reported in the Nov. 8 Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers surveyed a stratified random sample of 2,938 primary care physicians (internal medicine, family practice, and pediatrics) and specialists (cardiology, general surgery, psychiatry and anesthesiology) with a 64.4% response rate. (more…) *This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist* (Source: Better Health) Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4159241 Fri, 12 Nov 2010 15:00:00 +0100 4159241 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4151701&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fwhat-conflicted-web-we-weave-more-about.html The issue of conflicted academic economists providing public policy recommendations just got bigger.  As discussed by Felix Salmon in his blog for Reuters, and by Nancy Folbre in the Economix blog for the New York Times,  a new study by Epstein and Carrick-Hagenbarth showed that some very prominent economists who frequently make pronouncements about financial policy often failed to disclose some major conflicts of interest.  In summary, they identified "two groups of economists that were prominent in the field of financial economics and which had taken a public stance on financial regulation."  Some of these economists also had prominent advisory roles for government economic agencies, including the US Federal Reserve, the US Council of Economic Advisers, the ... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4151701 Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:37:00 +0100 4151701 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4151724&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F11%2Fradical-life-extension-on-the-radio.php Biomedical gerontologist and advocate for engineered human longevity Aubrey de Grey appeared on Southern California Public Radio today: How old is too old? Some scientists think the body has a metabolic stop-sign at about age 122; others think that through new technologies, genetics, and robotics we can expand our longevity to a quarter millennium. And one man thinks immortality is possible - that the first human who will reach 1000 years of age has already been born. But with great age our assumptions of life, family, work, taxes, government, health, sex… our humanness…would change. Are you ready for the long life? You can listen to the program and leave comments at the SCPR website. I am interested to note the overwhelmingly negative nature of the comments - people pretty much lini... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4151724 Tue, 09 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4151724 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4133610&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fthere-you-go-again-richard-epstein-says.html Richard Epstein, a professor at the New York University and University of Chicago law schools, isjust authored a report on the perils of conflict of interest rules.  In his blog, "The Libertarian," he summarized his beliefs that strict conflict of interest (COI) rules and restrictions on pharmaceutical marketing "spell lower rates of innovation and slower dissemination of new products."  Prof Epstein is extremely prominent.  The Manhattan Institute, of which he is a fellow, claimed, "Professor Epstein's influence is profound: he is one of the three most cited law professors in the United States and the most cited professor writing largely in private law." Thus, it is disturbing that it appears that his objections are based on a series of&nb... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4133610 Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:55:00 +0100 4133610 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4133680&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FjENdY8y6muk%2F By Gerald P. O'DriscollWithin the Federal Reserve System, there is a tug of war over QE2 (2nd Quantitative Easing).  Some, mostly outside the system, are calling for $1 trillion-plus purchases of long-term bonds.  Within the Fed, there is little taste for purchases that large. I expect a compromise, with an initial purchase perhaps as low as $100 billion. There is widespread doubt as to the efficacy of further purchases of long-term bonds. They will supply additional liquidity, but liquidity isn’t what is needed. Businesses and banks are suffering from fear and uncertainty: new taxes, new regulations, new mandates, and, for financial services, the uncertainty of the Dodd-Frank banking bill.  Lower interest rates on long-term bonds will do nothing to diminish fear and uncertaint... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4133680 Wed, 03 Nov 2010 16:00:45 +0100 4133680 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4133682&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FX7xp36z6zwo%2F The objective of QEII would be to reduce long-term interest rates, with the belief that such a reduction would spur investment and consumption, thus increasing employment.   Estimated impacts on rates range from zero to 80 basis points (80/100s of one percent).   Given the large excess reserves in the banking system, it is likely that much of the monetary stimulus provided by QEII will simply be added to bank reserves, which would correspondingly have little to no impact on either lending or interest rates.  So its likely that we will get very little bang out of QEII. Even if QEII did lower rates as much as some Fed leaders claim, the impact would still be relatively small, under one percent.  Given that mortgage rates have already fallen by that much over the last six months... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4133682 Wed, 03 Nov 2010 15:43:39 +0100 4133682 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4133637&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F11%2Forgans-of-the-future-dont-have-to-look-like-those-of-the-past.php We're all vaguely familiar with what a kidney looks like, where it resides, and what it does. It's a blob of specialized tissue that sits somewhere in the lower torso and works to filter blood and maintain fluid balance - that sort of thing. It performs a function. But the evolved form of the kidney is far from the only way to achieve this goal, and a kidney is also far removed from the best conceivable ways of performing the its function. Consider dialysis as a crude example that shows the function of the kidney doesn't have to be performed by a kidney, and nor does it have to be performed in the present location of the kidneys in the body. As this age of biotechnology advances, more and more people are going to purchase and make use of artificial kidneys. At the one end of the scale, yo... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4133637 Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4133637 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4125283&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2Fz4r5rINz09I%2F Much attention has been paid to conflicts of interest relating to the pharmaceutical industry, but where do medical journals fit in this equation? A new study notes that journals also have vested interests that warrant disclosure. Specifically, industry-supported clinical trials can boost a journal’s so-called impact factor by generating greater distribution of reprints that increase citation rates and, of course, revenue. The trials are often supported by drugmakers, which purchase reprints. What is an impact factor? The researchers defined it this way: a measure of a journal’s importance based on how often its articles are cited. This is not just about prestige, of course, but the potential for greater circulation (there is a formula contained in the study, which was publishe... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4125283 Mon, 01 Nov 2010 12:41:53 +0100 4125283 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4119713&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2Fiqx9Ideosb4%2F There’s nothing like a nasty battle over the rights to a drug under development to make for interesting reading. And so we present you with some intense legal haggling over a molecule known as WZ4002, which was discovered by researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston for combating non small-cell lung cancer with specific gene mutations. The compound is potentially quite valuable because it may be able to treat patients who don’t respond to existing cancer pills. The dispute, however, is not your run-of-the-mill spat over development rights. Instead, the lawsuit peels back the curtain on some of the jockeying that occurs among universities, drugmakers and scientists when potentially lucrative intellectual property rights are in play. Here’s why: the legal ba... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4119713 Fri, 29 Oct 2010 14:35:42 +0100 4119713 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4106062&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FPTSfGsg6psw%2F In his latest effort to probe conflicts of interest in the drug and device industry, US Senator Chuck Grassley has written FDA commish Margaret Hamburg to ask how the agency determines whether the financial interests of clinical investigators may adversely affect patients in clinical trials and the “integrity and reliability” of the studies submitted for product approval. As Grassley notes in his October 22 letter, the FDA requires manufacturers that submit applications and clinical studies for product approvals to file disclosure statements about the financial interests of investigators who are not full-time or part-time employees, but are or were involved in conducting studies submitted to the FDA. Specifically, disclosures should include info about financial arrangements bet... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4106062 Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:03:45 +0100 4106062 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4097858&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F10%2Fnot-best-and-brightest-drug-marketers.html A combined investigative reporting effort by Pro Publica, partnering with the Boston Globe, Consumers Reports, the Chicago Tribune, National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting System on seven major pharmaceutical companies' payments to doctors who make speeches on the companies' behalf has gotten a lot of press.  It inspired several separate reviews by news organizations in Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio,Washington, etc on local doctors who were paid to talk.  Many of my fellow health care skeptic bloggers, including the Carlat Psychiatry Blog, Hooked: Ethics,Medicine and Pharma blog, the Health Beat blog, have been all over this story.Yet I think it is reasonable to underline three important points.Not the BrightestPharmaceutical and other health care... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4097858 Fri, 22 Oct 2010 19:49:00 +0100 4097858 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4098458&cid=t_138861_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FWhw08OSezIA%2F In the latest chapter in the Stephen Ondra saga, US Senator Chuck Grassley has written both the US Department of Veterans Affairs and Medtronic in search of still more information about the prominent spinal surgeon and his dealings with device maker both before and after he accepted his current government position as the VA’s senior policy advisor for health affairs. The backdrop is an inquiry begun late last month, when Grassley - the ranking Republican the Senate Finance Committee who has undertaken numerous conflict-of-interest probes into drug and device makers - noted that Ondra was paid about $4 million in royalties by Medtronic in the two years before joining the VA in 2009. And the senator cited emails in which Medtronic officials are attempting to secure a position for Ondra... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4098458 Fri, 22 Oct 2010 19:30:26 +0100 4098458 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4086229&cid=t_138861_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F10%2Ftoxic-and-dangerous-watchdog-vs.html An odd story that appeared earlier this month linked several people we have discussed on Health Care Renewal.On one hand, we posted about how Dr David Polly, a spine surgeon at the University of Minnesota, testified before the US Congress in support of research on treatments of bone injuries afflicting US soldiers.  He did not then reveal that he had been paid more than one million dollars for consulting by Medtronic, the manufacturer of a bone growth product used to treat such injuries, also the source of payments of his expenses for the trip to Washington.  At the time, we suggested this case was a reminder to be skeptical about academics who are really stealth health policy advocates for industry.On the other hand, in a post about renewed payments... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4086229 Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:23:00 +0100 4086229