Drug & Device
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Posts from Health Reform Watch have been cited by media sources throughout the country, including The New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, Kaiser Health News, The Health Care Blog, NPR's Planet Money Blog, Duke Univ. Med. Center News, American Health Line Alerts, BusinessWeek.com, Concurring Opinions, Balkinization, The New England Journal of Medicine, Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Las Vegas Sun, Maggie Mahar, Ezra Klein, Tom Geoghegan, and the official homepage of the Office of the Democratic Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Steny Hoyer.
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Study Law Abroad
Kaiser- The Commonwealth Fund
- The Care Coordination Imperative: Responding to the Needs of People with Chronic DiseasesThe Commonwealth Fund's Anne-Marie Audet, M.D., and Shreya Patel, M.P.H., call for changes in health care delivery to respond to the growing prevalence of chronic illness in the U.S.
- Who Are We Reaching Through the Patient Portal: Engaging the Already Engaged?This Commonwealth Fund–supported study investigated the common assumption that such online access can engage patients and encourage them to take active roles in their health and care.
- Why Does Patient Activation Matter? An Examination of the Relationships Between Patient Activation and Health-Related OutcomesThis Commonwealth Fund–supported study sought to investigate the extent to which patient activation, as assessed by the Patient Activation Measure (PAM), is related to health and utilization outcomes among a large group of insured patients.
- Overuse of Health Care Services in the United States: An Understudied ProblemOveruse of health care services contributes to poor-quality care and drives up medical costs. In this Commonwealth Fund–supported study, researchers conducted a literature review to better understand the scope of overuse and spot trends over time.
- The Relationship Between Geographic Variations and Overuse of Health Care Services: A Systematic ReviewIn this Commonwealth Fund–supported study, researchers conducted a review of the professional literature to examine the relationship between geographic variations and overuse of health care services.
- The Care Coordination Imperative: Responding to the Needs of People with Chronic Diseases
- RWJF Health Reform News
- How Small Businesses Are Coping With Health InsuranceOccasionally in the coming weeks and months, The Agenda will introduce you to small-business owners who are wrestling with how to provide health insurance to their employees.
- Adult Vaccination Rate Still Too LowThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a substantial increase in immunizations is needed to avoid vaccine-preventable deaths.
- Healthcare Reform’s Missing Link – Nurse PractitionersWithin the next two years, if federal healthcare reforms proceed as expected, roughly 30 million of the estimated 50 million uninsured people in the United States — 6.9 million in California — will be trying to find new healthcare providers.
- High Court Health Care Argument Extended to 6 HrsThe Supreme Court has added another 30 minutes to upcoming arguments over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
- Feds Jump-Start Health Insurance Co-Ops With LoansSeven organizations will receive a total of $639 million in federal low-interest loans to launch new, consumer-governed health insurance plans in eight states, the federal government announced Tuesday.
- How Small Businesses Are Coping With Health Insurance
- ACA Litigation Blog
- Court-appointed amicus brief
- What's left in the briefing
- Argument time allocated
- Amicus briefs supporting the United States on the Medicaid issue
- Video of the National Press Club event
- More amicus briefs supporting respondents on the minimum coverage provision
- More briefs due tomorrow
- National Press Club event
- NY Times Health Policy
- Growth of Catholic Hospitals May Limit Access to Reproductive CareSome financially strong Catholic-sponsored medical centers are joining with smaller secular hospitals, in some cases limiting access to treatments like contraception and abortion.
- F.D.A. Approves Imports Amid Shortage of 2 Cancer DrugsDoxil and methotrexate are among the drugs whose shortfall is threatening lives in the United States.
- Virginia Bill Requiring Ultrasound Before Abortion Nears VoteThe controversial bill requiring a woman to get an ultrasound before having an abortion is poised to pass the legislature this week.
- New Rules Planned on School Vending MachinesThe Obama administration, in a continuation of its efforts to curb childhood obesity, plans to set nationwide guidelines to promote healthy choices in schools.
- Lives Forever Linked Through Kidney Transplant Chain 124A donation by a Good Samaritan, Rick Ruzzamenti, upper left, set in motion a 60-person chain of transplants that ended with a kidney for Donald C. Terry Jr., bottom right.A record chain of kidney transplants resulted from a mix of medical need, pay-it-forward selflessness and lockstep coordination among 17 hospitals over four months.
- Growth of Catholic Hospitals May Limit Access to Reproductive Care
- WaPo Health
- MovNat: Learning how to move as we were intended toUnder most circumstances, if I did an activity that left me with multiple bruises and such sore muscles that lifting my arms was agony, I’d guess that I’d done something very stupid. But after getting roughed up in Silver Spring earlier this month, I couldn’t help but feel smart — or, at least, smarter than the average gymgoer. Read full article […]
- Not up for a marathon? Try a relay race.On New Year’s Day, when you vowed to run a marathon this year, it probably seemed like an awesome idea. And then the champagne wore off. Maybe you researched some training programs and realized you just can’t devote the time. Or you saw that as many as 90 percent of folks training for marathons get injured. Or your background is in team sports and the […]
- Redskin London Fletcher’s fitness regimenLet’s say your job is to take off at a sprint, get moving about 20 mph and slam yourself full speed into a brick wall — 60 times in a single afternoon. We’d give you a helmet and lots of padding to protect yourself. Because of the toll this would take on your body, we’d make you do it only once a week. And we’d reward you handsomely. Read full art […]
- Keep your New Year’s fitness resolution without hitting the gymThis is it. This is the year you finally get in shape, shed those pounds or meet that fitness pledge you made at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 31. But do you have to build the new you in a hot, stuffy gym, cheek by jiggly jowl with a dozen other sweaty resolutionaries awaiting their turn on the elliptical machine? Read full article >>
- Ways to get kids to eat quinoaWhen people ask me to list my favorite healthy foods, quinoa always tops the list. And not just because the National Restaurant Association named it the hottest trend in side dishes in 2010. My boys think I like quinoa because when it was first discovered it was named “the mother grain.” Yes, I am proud to be a mother myself, but check out all the real […]
- MovNat: Learning how to move as we were intended to
- Fierce Healthcare
- FDA panel overwhelmingly backs Vivus' diet drugWho said this panel vote would be close? Non-agency experts gave strong support to Vivus' ($VVUS) quest to gain FDA approval for its diet pill Qnexa, voting 20-2 this afternoonto support thedrug getting a green light to hit the U.S. market, TheStreet reported. The Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee vote comes ahead of the FDA' […]
- Eisai co-developing cancer drug fueled by bacteria; U.S. trials launch soon Tokyo's Anaeropharma Science is launching U.S. clinical trials as early asMarch for a new stomach cancer drug fueled by bacteria. The biotech is partnering with Japanese drug giant Eisai to bring the treatment to market, according to the Daily Yomiuri. Testing will involve 60 patients over 3 years. Anaeropharma loads the drug with bifidobacteria, whi […]
- Venture backer makes $7M bet on cardio drug tech that could rival stentsWith drug delivery tech from a children's hospital in Philadelphia, Vascular Magnetics has pocketed a $7 million Series A round from lone investor Devon Park Bioventures. And the startup has ambitious plans to advance magnetic drug-loaded particles for the huge market to treat peripheral artery disease--offering a potential alternative to a range of exi […]
- Collegium Pharma scores $22M round for abuse-preventing painkiller in Phase IIIVenture backers have rallied behind Collegium Pharmaceutical to continue a late-stage trial for its extended-release version of oxycodone. The investors--led by Longitude Capital and Skyline Ventures, and including Frazier Healthcare Ventures and Boston Millennia Partners--are betting $22.5 million in the developer's Series B round. With traditional oxy […]
- Biotech VCs wait for big checks from string of buyout dealsHolding most of the cards in M&A deals, drugmakers have increasingly scored biotech buyouts with much of the payments to startup investors delayed unit certain goals are met. The danger of the deals is that investors face slim odds of raking in all the milestone payments tied to the buyouts, as many of the programs that must succeed in order for payment […]
- Genomics revolution ignites new M&A talk, showstoppersRoche's $5.7 billion hostile bid to scoop up DNA sequencing machine maker Illumina ($ILMN) has triggered talk of further merger targets in the promising genomics arena. And the race to invent faster and cheaper ways of decoding the genome has pushed small companies to the cutting edge of the field, giving industry leaders such as Illumina and Life Techn […]
- Lee Hood startup grabs $10M to advance class of protein-capture agentsBiotech visionary Lee Hood's startup Integrated Diagnostics has reeled in fresh capital to roll into commercial mode with its novel protein-catalyzed capture (PCC) agents. The molecules are in development as diagnostic and therapeutic agents, with the bold goal of being able to simultaneously detect myriad markers in a patient's blood to detect dis […]
- FDA staffers advise agency to deny Chelsea's key drugThere's no ambiguity about this FDA staff review. In briefing docs on Chelsea Therapeutics' ($CHTP) bid to gain approval of its hypotension drug Northera (droxidopa), agency staffers recommended against approval, confirming investors' worries about the drug's prospects in the U.S. market. The FDA staff noted the "worrisome" saf […]
- FDA raises cardio concerns on Forest's new COPD drugForest Laboratories ($FRX) and Almirall got a thumbs up from the FDA for their efficacy data on a COPD drug candidate. But regulators want an upcoming panel review to closely explore cardio risks linked with the entire drug class it belongs to. One big issue is whether the companies designed large enough trials to accurately gauge the cardio risk. Story
- Novartis snags preclinical hep C drug in $440M Enanta pactNovartis ($NVS) has stepped up to the plate in thebig hepatitis C game, signing a $440 million pact to license a preclinical NS5A drug from Enanta Pharmaceuticals. As part of the deal, Watertown, MA-based Enanta will get $34 million upfront, $406 million on a full slate of milestones, potential double-digit royalties on EDP-239 and some fresh backing on it […]
- FDA panel overwhelmingly backs Vivus' diet drug
- Boston Globe Health Blog
- MIT professor wins prestigious chemistry prizeBy Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff Robert Langer, a biomedical engineer at MIT best known for his contributions in the fields of tissue engineering and drug delivery, has been named the winner of the 2012 Priestley Medal, a prestigious prize...
- Daily check up: New York Times points to Mass. public opinion on health care mandate as a modelIn an editorial today, the Times says support for the national mandate could follow the recent trend in Mass. and grow
- Brigham and Women's performs face transplant on woman mauled by chimpJonathan Wiggs / Globe Staff Photo Steve Nash, brother of Charla Nash, who received a full face transplant at Brigham and Women's Hospital late last month, appeared at a press conference today with his wife, Kate. Charla Nash did not...
- Poll: Public supports mandatory physical educationIn a survey of 501 Mass. residents, 87 percent said the state should require 30 min. of physical activity each school day
- Immigrant health care back in courtImmigrant advocates had hoped for a quick decision, but the state plans to file a motion that would delay the process
- MIT professor wins prestigious chemistry prize
- LA Times Health Blog
- If Qnexa gets the green light, who would get the drug?An advisory committee's hearty 20-to-2 vote to recommend approval of the obesity drug Qnexa on Wednesday means it's highly likely the FDA will allow the medication to be marketed when the agency issues its final report later this year. If approved, Qnexa will be the first new prescription weight-loss medication in 13 years.
- Colonoscopic polyp removal prevents cancer deaths, study saysColon cancer is the third deadliest cancer in the U.S.; it is expected to kill more than 51,000 Americans this year, according to the American Cancer Society. Physicians have long assumed that removing precancerous polyps during patient colonoscopies reduces the numbers of such deaths. Now researchers have proved it.
- Diet drug Qnexa should be approved, panel saysThe diet drug Qnexa has cleared a major hurdle toward eventual Food and Drug Administration approval. An independent panel of medical experts who advise the agency voted Wednesday that Qnexa's significant weight-loss benefit outweighed its potential risks.
- If Qnexa gets the green light, who would get the drug?
- Health Affairs Blog
- The Latest Health Wonk ReviewIf you haven’t already, take a look at the latest Health Wonk Review posted last week at the Healthcare Economist. Jason Shafrin presents a stellar line-up of health policy blogging. He includes Tim Jost’s Health Affairs Blog post on the Supreme Court briefs filed by the states challenging the Affordable Care Act; Tim examines the [...]
- The Melody Of Quality Measures: Harmonize And StandardizeWith unsustainably high costs and tremendous gaps in quality and patient safety, the health care system is ripe with opportunities for improvement. For years, many have seen quality measurement as a means to drive needed change. Private and public payers, public health departments, and independent accreditation organizations have asked health care providers […]
- Implementing Health Reform: Essential Health Benefits And Medical Loss RatiosOn December 16, 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a bulletin describing the approach that it intended to take to defining the essential health benefits (EHB) that individual (nongroup) and small group plans must cover under the Affordable Care Act. In that bulletin, HHS indicated that each state will select a benchmark [...]
- ACOs And Inequity: Lessons From No Child Left BehindThe Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that 32 health care organizations from around the country had signed on to the new Pioneer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) initiative, part of a broader push to incentivize ACOs in the Affordable Care act. ACOs provide financial incentives for healthcare teams—including primary […]
- Assessments Of Community Health Centers As Medical Homes May Be FlawedOne of the initiatives in the Affordable Care Act of 2010 is the expansion of community health centers to provide primary care to millions of newly insured, low-income Americans. The same law promotes the patient-centered medical home model. A community center’s qualifications to be classified as a patient-centered medical home are evaluated through an ass […]
- The Latest Health Wonk Review
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