HEALTH CARE
The over-prescription of statins is costing Americans billions, and the media is complicit with the problem. An independent national institute that compared the effectiveness of treatments could reduce unnecessary spending.
One out of every four dollars Americans spend goes toward products the safety of which rests in the hands of the Food and Drugs Administration. But as Virginia Cox points out in her chapter on the agency in the forthcoming book Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President, “Consumers today are understandably skeptical about the safety of their food and medical products, yet the [FDA] is struggling to keep pace with breakthroughs in science, an expanding global market, and years of underfunding.”
Three big pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer, Merck, and Eli Lilly, announced last week that they will join forces and create a joint venture called Enlight BioSciences that will help speed drug development. A look at profits and drug approvals.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently decided to no longer hold pharmaceutical companies to the standards of the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki while conducting human drug trials. The change poses bioethical dilemmas when U.S. companies conduct trials on foreign soil. Merrill Goozner is currently reporting from Russia, which could become “ground zero” for discussion about the shift in policy.
From an online survey of Nature readers comes data suggesting that a significant number of scientists and engineers use drugs for the non-medical purpose of increasing productivity and brain power.
Allegations of professional baseball players abusing human growth hormone have raised the profile of this heavily regulated substance. The House on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing yesterday to sift through misinformation on HGH and get the scientific facts.
Healthcare professionals helping patients with mental health problems have an increasing array of treatment and prevention tools at their disposal. But on the horizon is a preventative tool that poses challenging public policy questions about ethics and privacy: personal genomic sequencing.
The University of Virginia is being accused of encouraging doctors to prescribe Johnson & Johnson’s anti-seizure and migraine drug Topamax “off-label” to treat alcoholism. But is the medicine safe for treating alcoholics without FDA approval?
Science Progress and American Progress's Doing What Works project teamed up to produce a set of policy proposals that the Obama administration and Congress can adopt to reinvest in the building blocks of American science, innovation, and economic competitiveness. Read the overview of the five reports.
Science Progress proceeds from the propositions that scientific inquiry is among the finest expressions of human excellence, that it is a crucial source of human flourishing, a critical engine of economic growth, and must be dedicated to the common good. Scientific inquiry entails global responsibilities. It should lead to a more equitable, safer, and healthier future for all of humankind.