According to the Pink Sheet, “When faced with unpleasant news, people often try to change the subject or even pretend the thing didn't happen. Both of those coping strategies were on display during a June 11 hearing on biologics competition by the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee.”
Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone (D, NJ) said the panel would hold additional hearings that would include FDA and address product safety issues.
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D, CA) “wrangled with Pallone about submitting into the record a letter written by FDA's then Chief Medical Officer Frank Torti that raised serious questions about the approvability of follow-on biologics.”
"These are the ones from the previous administration?" Pallone asked. "We've asked them again in the current administration."
Does Mr. Pallone realize that the career officials who answered his questions the first time are the ones who will answer him once again? Is he hoping that politics will trump science and the FDA will give him a different answer to the same question? Obviously so.
And hurrah for Representative Eshoo for sticking to her guns. We’re big fans – especially since she graced the recent launch of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest’s Odyssey Project -- a new initiative to ensure that support for medical innovation remains a top priority in any healthcare reform effort.
Representative Eshoo took the opportunity to speak about follow-on biologics with great intelligence, passion, and poise – three things we could use of as we debate this important topic. To view her remarks, go to www.cmpi.org and click on the video still of the woman in the stylish pink suit.
Eshoo? Gesundheit.
Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone (D, NJ) said the panel would hold additional hearings that would include FDA and address product safety issues.
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D, CA) “wrangled with Pallone about submitting into the record a letter written by FDA's then Chief Medical Officer Frank Torti that raised serious questions about the approvability of follow-on biologics.”
"These are the ones from the previous administration?" Pallone asked. "We've asked them again in the current administration."
Does Mr. Pallone realize that the career officials who answered his questions the first time are the ones who will answer him once again? Is he hoping that politics will trump science and the FDA will give him a different answer to the same question? Obviously so.
And hurrah for Representative Eshoo for sticking to her guns. We’re big fans – especially since she graced the recent launch of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest’s Odyssey Project -- a new initiative to ensure that support for medical innovation remains a top priority in any healthcare reform effort.
Representative Eshoo took the opportunity to speak about follow-on biologics with great intelligence, passion, and poise – three things we could use of as we debate this important topic. To view her remarks, go to www.cmpi.org and click on the video still of the woman in the stylish pink suit.
Eshoo? Gesundheit.
