Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: It's Time To End Animal Drug Testing; Could More Covid Vaccine Options Ease Hesitancy?
The Baltimore Sun: Stop Mandatory Testing Of Drugs On Animals
Data show that animal tests are unreliable predictors of the human response to drugs (”Johns Hopkins University can continue barn owl testing after permit battle with PETA,” July 14). Many drugs found safe in nonclinical tests fail during human clinical trials due to toxicities not predicted by traditional animal tests or lack of efficacy. Yet the Food and Drug Administration requires animal testing even if there are superior non-animal methods. (Scott A. Schulman, 9/24)
The Baltimore Sun: More Vaccine Options Critical To Addressing COVID
Right now, we are at a critical turning point in the fight against COVID. Vaccines remain an important weapon in preventing the spread of the infection, but there is still much work to be done to build vaccine confidence both here in the U.S. and around the world. More vaccine options are needed to ensure all Americans are able to decide how to best protect themselves and their loved ones. (Gregory M. Glenn, 9/23)
Dallas Morning News: MADE In America Act Is Critical For The Pharmaceutical Industry
When supply chains are down and global shipping is at a standstill, waiting on decorations, toys and other consumer goods can be frustrating. But when it comes to prescription drugs, waiting can be life-threatening. (Victoria Ford, 9/24)
Los Angeles Times: Prevent A Legal Catch-22 That Could Push Thousands Of Generic Drugs Off The Market
Carvedilol could be the poster child for how to lower drug prices. Since 2007, over 20 million patients with cardiovascular conditions have enjoyed generic versions of the popular beta-blocker, which cost 2 cents a dose compared with $4.81 for the brand-name product. Patents on the drug Coreg, dating back to 1978, have long expired, enabling these price-saving generics. (Michael A. Carrier, Charles Duan and S. Sean Tu, 9/21)
New England Journal of Medicine: Product Hopping In The Drug Industry — Lessons From Albuterol
any patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) rely on albuterol, a short-acting β2-agonist, to relieve acute symptoms of bronchospasm. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first two albuterol inhalers — Ventolin (Glaxo Wellcome) and Proventil (Schering–Plough) — in 1981. Each went off patent in 1989, and by 1997 there were four generic albuterol inhalers on the U.S. market, typically priced at $15 or less. (Oliver J. Wouters, Ph.D., et al, 9/24)
Stat: FDA: Ignore The False Racial Equity Argument For Keeping Makena
In an effort to sway the Food and Drug Administration not to withdraw accelerated approval of Makena, a drug developed to prevent preterm birth that does no such thing, a pharmaceutical company owned by a private equity company is making the specious argument that the drug should be kept on the market because it may — the emphasis is mine — work in Black people. (Adam C. Urato, 9/26)
Newsweek: It's Time To Undo The Harm The CDC Has Done To Pain Patients | Opinion
After the U.S. Centers for Disease Control suggested dosage thresholds for patients receiving pain medication in 2016, 38 states rushed to pass legal limits on opioid prescribing and dispensing. (Jeffrey A. Singer and Josh Bloom, 9/21)
Newsweek: On Drug Prices, Big Pharma Is In Charge—Not Joe Biden
President Joe Biden recently flaunted having "beat Pharma this year." But on a policy that would immediately lower drug prices for millions of Americans, he is losing—and badly. (C. Boyden Gray and Simone Marstiller, 9/27)
