Latest Drugwonks' Blog

In April 2004 (when I was an associate commissioner at the FDA), I met with representatives of the major credit card companies.  The focus of these meetings was on how their transactional services were being used to facilitate illegal internet prescription drug deals.  I was roundly denounced by, among others, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, as using “hardball tactics" to stop traffic in low-cost prescription drugs from Canada.”  Political rhetoric aside, it was all about safety.

As it is today. 

According to a story in today’s Financial Times, Search engines pressed over drug ads policy,

“Pressure is building on the major US search engines to stop showing advertising from overseas drug sellers that deliver potentially counterfeit and dangerous products to consumers in violation of federal laws. The US Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration are concerned that the practice is continuing despite the deaths of consumers who ordered drugs without examination by a doctor.”

It was the right thing to do in 2004 and it’s the right thing to do now. 


It’s not easy being a Canadian who is critical of Canada’s government health care system. Even the mildest criticism could mean incurring the wrath of Canada’s politicians and media.
 
I received an email last week from a 19-year old Canadian named Andrew who has expressed a deep dissatisfaction with the level of care (or lack thereof) he has been afforded by the government system.
 
I spoke with Andrew by phone and his story is a compelling one. We hear stories like this all too often from Canadians and this story in particular is a testament to the fact that not only the elderly get the short end of the stick under government-run health systems.
 
For purposes of this posting, I have removed Andrew’s last name to protect him.
 
Here is his email:
 
My name is Andrew, I'm a 19-year old student in Ontario, Canada, currently going through a health crisis which has removed completely my already-damaged faith in Canada's government-run healthcare system.
 
A month ago I was rushed to the hospital with heart failure (ventricular tacchycardia) which nearly killed me. I didn't respond to the medications I was given, so instead I was put under anesthesia, cardioverted (electrical shock) and sent out of the hospital 12 hours after admission, 30 minutes after waking up from the anesthesia (I was told by the nurse that they "needed my bed"), and told to call the hospital's "Urgent Acute" cardiology referral clinic on Monday, two-days later. I did, and I told the nurse receptionist at the clinic what had happened. I was told that given the serious and "urgent" nature of my hospitalization, I would be on the priority list to see a specialist and that I would be called back to set up an appointment that week...I wasn't. About a week after the first occurrence (which I'll add I have no history of, nor does anyone in my family) lo and behold it happened again! Rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, this time I couldn't breathe on my own, 24 hours later I had been sent out, still having never seen a cardiologist, and given no medication or treatment, just told that I "should take it easy, as the next time this could be fatal." I called the clinic again to update them. Apparently a second episode in a week doesn't get you an appointment either.
 
Since then, I've been admitted on yet another occasion, this time it caused a blood clot (deep-vein thrombosis) in my right leg. 12 hours later, after being put on heavy blood thinners, the doctor declared me "good to go" and sent me home again. The only thing I took was his parting quote "you're lucky you didn't have a stroke" (gee golly thanks).
 
So, here I am now walking with a limp and in pain because they didn't catch the clot on my second visit (despite how it had already formed at that time -- I was given antibiotics as it was "probably just an infection"). Additionally, myself, my friends, co-workers and family are constantly on alert for when/if this happens again, because I've still yet to even have my heart examined.
 
I've weight out the options of going to the Cleveland Heart Clinic in Ohio -- but regardless, anywhere in the United States would result in better treatment then I'm getting now. I cannot sit back and see President Barack Obama's "plan" for healthcare infect (no pun intended) the healthcare system in the states, and potentially kill a 19-year old with a bright future as the Canadian healthcare system could do.

Dr. Art Laffer, a member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board for both of his two terms, recently released a report entitled, “The Prognosis For National Health Insurance.”
 
The report goes a long way in debunking the supposed cost-savings of the current health care legislation making its way through Congress so often touted by the Obama administration.
 
From the Executive summary of the report:

In 1960, the private sector funded over three-quarters of the nation’s health care expenditures. Individuals paid nearly one-half of the total national health care expenditures through out-of-pocket expenditures. Beginning in 1967 the way health care is purchased in the U.S. began to completely reverse itself:
  • The private sector has been slowly funding less and less of the total national health expenditures; as of 2007 less than 54 percent of total national health care expenditures are paid for by the private sector.
  • Reciprocally, the public sector has been slowly funding more and more of the total national health expenditures; as of 2007 public expenditures at the federal and state levels now fund nearly one-half of the total health care expenditures in the U.S.
  • Total out-of-pocket expenditures have been plummeting as a share of total health expenditures at an even faster rate; today only a bit more than $1 out of every $10 spent on health care is being funded by individuals through out-of-pocket expenditures.
This has resulted in a large and growing government health care wedge — an economic separation of effort from reward, of consumers (patients) from producers (health care providers), caused by government policies. Rising government expenditures on health care are the main factor driving the growth in the wedge. The wedge is a primary driver in rising health care costs, i.e., inflation in medical costs.

President Barack Obama's principles to drastically alter U.S. health care policy-a public health insurance exchange, mandated minimum coverage, mandated coverage of preexisting conditions, required purchase of health insurance-do not address the growing wedge and its role as the fundamental driver of health care costs. In fact, they will further increase the wedge, and can thus be expected to increase medical price inflation.

To read the full report, click here.
 

In keeping with President Obama’s request that patriotic Americans call out those who are spreading misleading information about healthcare reform, I must call out none other than New York Times columnist, Bob Herbert.

In his column today, “This is Reform?”,  Mr. Hebert writes about “the deal” struck between the White House and the research-based pharmaceutical industry, He writes, “To get a sense of how sweet a deal this is for the drug industry, compare its offer of $8 billion in savings a year over 10 years with its annual profits of $300 billion a year.”

A few points of clarification.  

First of all, the net annual profit of the top 20 innovator pharmaceutical companies is about $110 billion.  Anyone who pays taxes knows the difference between gross and net, so it’s not unfair to ask if Mr. Herbert was trying to be purposefully misleading.

Second, that same industry invests $60 billion a year in research and development.  A fact entirely absent from Mr. Herbert’s analysis.

And, finally, Mr. Herbert omits the fact that on-patent pharmaceuticals represent about only 8% of our entire national healthcare spend.  8 cents on the healthcare dollar.

Madame Defarge, take note and keep knitting.

I was in Atlanta where I was part of America's Health Care Town Hall.  The event ran from 1-4 pm and was up against 95 degree heat, a major hair stylist show, a nationally televised Phillies-Braves game and a Paul McCartney concert about four blocks away.

That's competition for you.

12,000 people showed up. 

They were not angry or unAmerican or part of any lunatic fringe group as Speaker Pelosi would have it.  They were not evilmongers as Senator Reid claims they are.

They were friendly, happy and well-informed about the health care bills pending in Congress.  They were not bitter or clinging to guns.  They had a dry sense of humor as many of the signs suggested.  Obamacare Rx.. " Take two Tylenol and call me when you're dead"(When I was on stage and told the assembled I was Yankee fan, they booed me.  One of the participants reminded me this was a pro-NRA crowd....)

And they had or have their own ideas about how to fix health care, combination of an insistence that no one be left behind,  America's cutting edge science with self-determination:

1.  Get rid of the public plan. 
2.  Eliminate any vestige of government bureaucrats deciding what is valuable or wasteful or cost-effective.
3.  Let people create their own health networks and buying groups around what is best for them based on patient-centered needs and outcomes. 

It's our money, our lives, our choices.  We have given up too much control to government over decisions too important for far too long.

Time to take back control.  

The arrogant effort of a liberal elite to centralize control over the practice of medicine and the capitulation of "stakeholders" in that effort have triggered among many an awakening that health care is a decision we have left in the hands of people and organizations that do not have our interests at heart. 

Simply modifying the public "option" will not do.

Only self-determination will suffice. 

That's what I learned from my fellow Americans in Atlanta.

Read more about the Atlanta Health Care rally here.

Here is a picture of me with extremely poor posture...

Video footage of the rally can be viewed here.

Interesting op-ed in Daily Mail by British columnist Stephen Glover.  The title says it all:

I deeply resent the Americans sneering at our health service  -  but perhaps that's because the truth hurts

Here’s how it begins:

"President Barack Obama's political enemies are rounding on his controversial proposals to extend government involvement in health care. One way in which they are doing so is to hold up our own cherished NHS for ridicule."

And here’s how it ends:

"The President is discovering that people are apt to want to defend and preserve what they have. The same is true of we British and our lumbering health service. The difference, though, is that what the Americans have is, for the most part, better than the NHS."

And
here’s a link to the complete article.

A urine test could help doctors decide which drugs will be most effective for their patients, scientists have shown.In trials the test predicted how well men would respond to paracetamol. The experts from Imperial College London and the drug giant Pfizer report their findings in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers say this kind of "metabolic profiling" could ultimately allow doctors to work out perfect drug matches for individuals, with no risk of side effects. "Pre-clinical studies had suggested it might be possible to predict how individuals would react to drugs by looking at their pre-dose metabolite profiles, but this is the first time that anyone has been able to show convincingly that such a test could work in humans.

"The beauty of the pre-dose metabolite profiling is that it can tap into both genetic and environmental factors influencing drug treatment outcomes."

The full BBC story can be found here

Alta in the Family

  • 08.17.2009

When I was asked to advise President Obama’s FDA transition team, some of the smartest questions came from Alta Charo.  Now she can ask even smarter questions from the inside. Starting on August 31st, she’s joining FDA as a senior advisor, reporting to Assistant Commissioner for Policy David Horowitz.

Charo (a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison) also served on the Institute of Medicine panel that examined the country's drug safety system.  According to the Pink Sheet, “Other issues that Charo has examined include direct-to-consumer advertising and generic testing, and she has also come out in favor of a mandatory vaccination campaign for human papilloma virus.”

Charo told colleagues in Madison that she will be joining "a small group of people who will form a think tank within the commissioner's office." FDA declined to discuss what her exact role will be. Her appointment at the agency lasts for one year but can be renewed for another year.

Spikes Speak

  • 08.14.2009
AARP?  Fish or Foul?  Advocacy Organization or Insurance Company?  For HR3200 or Against ... or Agnostic?

See what Lou Dobbs has to say -- with some help from your's truly.

Click here ... and watch where you sit.



Feel the Burn

  • 08.13.2009
On the Fox program, “Money for Breakfast,” I was asked if America is suffering from “healthcare fatigue."  Short answer – no.  And that’s a good thing.

Here's a link to the short segment.

Not fatigued -- empowered!



CMPI

Center for Medicine in the Public Interest is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization promoting innovative solutions that advance medical progress, reduce health disparities, extend life and make health care more affordable, preventive and patient-centered. CMPI also provides the public, policymakers and the media a reliable source of independent scientific analysis on issues ranging from personalized medicine, food and drug safety, health care reform and comparative effectiveness.

Blog Roll

Alliance for Patient Access Alternative Health Practice
AHRP
Better Health
BigGovHealth
Biotech Blog
BrandweekNRX
CA Medicine man
Cafe Pharma
Campaign for Modern Medicines
Carlat Psychiatry Blog
Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry: A Closer Look
Conservative's Forum
Club For Growth
CNEhealth.org
Diabetes Mine
Disruptive Women
Doctors For Patient Care
Dr. Gov
Drug Channels
DTC Perspectives
eDrugSearch
Envisioning 2.0
EyeOnFDA
FDA Law Blog
Fierce Pharma
fightingdiseases.org
Fresh Air Fund
Furious Seasons
Gooznews
Gel Health News
Hands Off My Health
Health Business Blog
Health Care BS
Health Care for All
Healthy Skepticism
Hooked: Ethics, Medicine, and Pharma
Hugh Hewitt
IgniteBlog
In the Pipeline
In Vivo
Instapundit
Internet Drug News
Jaz'd Healthcare
Jaz'd Pharmaceutical Industry
Jim Edwards' NRx
Kaus Files
KevinMD
Laffer Health Care Report
Little Green Footballs
Med Buzz
Media Research Center
Medrants
More than Medicine
National Review
Neuroethics & Law
Newsbusters
Nurses For Reform
Nurses For Reform Blog
Opinion Journal
Orange Book
PAL
Peter Rost
Pharm Aid
Pharma Blog Review
Pharma Blogsphere
Pharma Marketing Blog
Pharmablogger
Pharmacology Corner
Pharmagossip
Pharmamotion
Pharmalot
Pharmaceutical Business Review
Piper Report
Polipundit
Powerline
Prescription for a Cure
Public Plan Facts
Quackwatch
Real Clear Politics
Remedyhealthcare
Shark Report
Shearlings Got Plowed
StateHouseCall.org
Taking Back America
Terra Sigillata
The Cycle
The Catalyst
The Lonely Conservative
TortsProf
Town Hall
Washington Monthly
World of DTC Marketing
WSJ Health Blog