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gdpawel · 02-12-2009, 05:16 PM

The venue at a recent Institute of Medicine forum on assessing and improving value in cancer care, was the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry's efforts to beat back efforts at cost control in cancer care, which is increasingly seen as the next big income generator for Big Pharma. No wonder the "industry" is worried.

They put together a coalition, the so-called Partnership to Improve Patient Care, which includes the lobbying arms of the drug, device and biotechnology industries as well as patient-advocacy groups, most of which accept pharmaceutical industry donations, and medical-professional societies, to lobbying Congress to give the "industry" a major say over how it will be run.

The drug and medical device industries are mobilizing to gut a provision in the stimulus bill that would spend money on research comparing medical treatments. The research funding would be doled out to the National Institutes of Health and other government bodies to focus on producing the best unbiased science possible.

Comparative research has the potential to tell us which drugs and treatments are safe, and which ones work. This is not information that the private sector will generate on its own, or that the "industry" wants to share. Companies want to control the data, how it is reviewed, evaluated, and whether the public and government find out about it and use it. Just about the way they are controlling data now.

Do publicly traded companies have a seat on the governing board of the Securities and Exchange Commission? Should Boeing and Airbus be given the right to determine the scope of the National Transportation Safety Board's inquiry into airplane crashes? It is simply bad governance to give "industry" a seat at the table when officials decide what comparative effectiveness studies will get done.

02-12-2009, 05:16 PM	#8
gdpawel Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,080	Comparative Research: Rationing of Health Care? The venue at a recent Institute of Medicine forum on assessing and improving value in cancer care, was the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry's efforts to beat back efforts at cost control in cancer care, which is increasingly seen as the next big income generator for Big Pharma. No wonder the "industry" is worried. They put together a coalition, the so-called Partnership to Improve Patient Care, which includes the lobbying arms of the drug, device and biotechnology industries as well as patient-advocacy groups, most of which accept pharmaceutical industry donations, and medical-professional societies, to lobbying Congress to give the "industry" a major say over how it will be run. The drug and medical device industries are mobilizing to gut a provision in the stimulus bill that would spend money on research comparing medical treatments. The research funding would be doled out to the National Institutes of Health and other government bodies to focus on producing the best unbiased science possible. Comparative research has the potential to tell us which drugs and treatments are safe, and which ones work. This is not information that the private sector will generate on its own, or that the "industry" wants to share. Companies want to control the data, how it is reviewed, evaluated, and whether the public and government find out about it and use it. Just about the way they are controlling data now. Do publicly traded companies have a seat on the governing board of the Securities and Exchange Commission? Should Boeing and Airbus be given the right to determine the scope of the National Transportation Safety Board's inquiry into airplane crashes? It is simply bad governance to give "industry" a seat at the table when officials decide what comparative effectiveness studies will get done.