Fake Drugs Spurring Increase In Drug-Resistant Malaria.

The NPR (12/19, Beaubien) "Shots" blog reports, "Counterfeit drugs are a growing scourge around the world. They're generating millions of dollars in revenue for organized crime and fueling the rise of drug-resistant parasites. Anti-malarials are among the most popular drugs to fake," and they are "particularly dangerous because malaria can kill a person in a matter of days." Although some of the "fake drugs are nothing more than repackaged sugar pills or chalk," sometimes they "contain small amounts of anti-malarial drugs." That can cause a drug resistance "to develop," which is what "appears to be happening now in Southeast Asia with one of the most powerful anti-malarials, artemisinin."

 

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Study on targeted medicines shows different front of cancer battle - from NPR & NewsWorks

Dr. Yael Mosse at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia with patient Mya who is being treated for neuroblastoma, and is also one of the patients in the Children's Oncology Group trial. Mya is 2 ½ years old. (Photo courtesy of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia)

Dr. Yael Mosse at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia with patient Mya who is being treated for neuroblastoma, and is also one of the patients in the Children's Oncology Group trial. Mya is 2 ½ years old. (Photo courtesy of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia)

Researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia are reporting success with a new targeted anti-cancer therapy. Experts say the small study shows the ways doctors are fighting cancer differently.

For some conditions, there are now anti-cancer drugs that zero in on DNA-level miscues that allow cells to grow uncontrollably. A targeted medicine from drug-maker Pfizer Inc.has been successful in fighting a particular kind of adult lung cancer. Researchers thought the drug, called crizotinib, might also work in children against aggressive and uncommon types of lymphoma and neuroblastoma.
The researchers weren't sure what dose of medicine might work best, so as a first step, Children's Hospital oncologist Yael Mosse and the team signed up children in urgent need of another option.
"These are patients that, by the time the physician talks to them about a Phase 1 trial, it means there's no known cure. It means they've had all the best available treatment that we know of in the year 2012," Mosse said.
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If The Health Care Overhaul Goes Down, Could Medicare Follow?, from Julie Rovner of NPR

A growing number of health experts are warning of potential collateral damage if the Supreme Court strikes down the entire 2010 Affordable Care Act: potential chaos in the Medicare program.

"The Affordable Care Act has become part and parcel of the Medicare system, encouraging providers to deliver better, more integrated, better coordinated care, at lower cost," says Judy Feder, a public policy professor at Georgetown University and former Clinton administration health official. "To all of a sudden eliminate that would be highly disruptive."

Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health law and policy at George Washington University, puts it a bit more bluntly: "We could find ourselves at kind of a grand stopping point for the entire health care system."

And it's not just Democrats warning of potential problems. Gail Wilensky, who ran Medicare and Medicaid under President George H.W. Bush, says she doesn't think it's likely that the court will strike down the entire health law. But if it does, she says, "it seems like it takes everything with it, including those aspects that are only very peripherally related to the expansion of coverage."
So why are experts so worried?

One reason is that the law changed the payment rates for just about every type of health care professional who treats Medicare patients. Every time Medicare sets a payment rate, it needs to cite a legal authority. And for the past two years, says Rosenbaum, that legal authority has been the Affordable Care Act.

So if the law is found unconstitutional, she says, every one of those changes "doesn't exist anymore because the law doesn't exist."

And the result? "You have agencies sitting on two years of policies that are up in smoke," she says. "Hospitals might not get paid. Nursing homes might not get paid. Doctors might not get paid. Changes in coverage that have begun to take effect for the elderly, closing the doughnut hole might not happen. We don't know."

more...

FDA To Fund Controversial Research Foundation : Shots ...

All Things Considered

FDA To Fund Controversial Research Foundation : Shots ...

April 03, 2012 In 2007, Congress created a public-private foundation to support research of interest to the FDA. ... FDA To Fund Controversial Research Foundation. ... By Nell Greenfieldboyce  

 

A nonprofit foundation set up to support scientific research of interest to the Food and Drug Administration is finally starting to take off after years of struggling financially — and it's about to get some long-promised funding from the FDA.

But some critics worry that this foundation, which will also raise money from private sources including industry, could provide a way for the food and medical industries to sway FDA decisions.
The Reagan-Udall Foundation was created by Congress back in 2007. "The foundation was formed because of some bipartisan interest in supporting the scientific mission of the FDA," says Mark McClellan, who was commissioner of the FDA under President George W. Bush and who now heads the foundation's board of directors...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/04/03/149931282/fda-to-fund-controversial-research-foundation
 

Like The U.S., Europe Wrestles With Health Care, NPR Shots

by Corey Flintoff

The U.S. has been absorbed by the Supreme Court case this week on the future of health care. But Americans are not alone.
Several European nations, where universal health care has been the norm for decades, have been waging their own intense debates as they also deal with aging populations and rising costs.
Britain passed a new health care measure earlier this month, after more than a year of rancorous debate. Can the European experience cast some light on the American debate over health care?
"There are some common problems," says British analyst Chris Ham, "but we're coming to this debate from very different starting points. In the States, it's about how to extend coverage to more people, whereas [in Britain], it's about how to get more bang for the buck out of our current system."
  Ham is the chief executive of The King's Fund, an independent health policy think tank in London.

The British Debate
Britain's debate is still going on, with critics charging that the Conservative-led government is trying to privatize the more than 60-year-old system in an effort to cut the nation's budget deficit.
The government says the reforms will trim a bloated health care bureaucracy and give doctors more control over health care management.

for full article:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/03/28/149564583/like-the-u-s-europe-wrestles-with-health-care

Health Insurers Move Ahead, With Or Without Individual Mandate, NPR shots

Moving away from "sick care" to "health care"...


For the health policy world, the Supreme Court's tough questioning of the individual mandate last week was a seismic event.

But in Hartford, Conn., the city sometimes called the epicenter of the insurance industry, David Cordani isn't quaking.

Cordani is the CEO of Cigna, the nation's fourth-largest health insurer. He says the insurance industry started changing itself before the Affordable Care Act became law in 2010. And the changes will continue regardless of what happens at the high court.
"The broader health care debate is way larger than the individual mandate," Cordani said during an interview in his sunny corner office, just a few hours after some of the justices seemed ready to strike down the mandate.
  Cigna, like the broader insurance industry, hasn't taken a position on whether or not the mandate requiring Americans to buy health coverage is constitutional. Cordani points out that it really only deals with expanding care to people in the small-group and individual markets. That's a fraction of the total number of people insured, and it's not a major market for Cigna.
Cordani says the act does a fair enough job at expanding access to care, but it doesn't do as much to improve the quality of care and drive down costs. That's his focus: changing the way we think about insurance, from paying for "sick care" to paying for "health care," driving consumers to stay healthy and giving doctors incentives to keep them that way.

for full article:


listen to the audio:

New Law Raises Funding Hopes For Startups, Worries Over Fraud

Please see article/audio from NPR.ORG
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/03/29/149620312/new-law-raises-funding-hopes-for-startups-worries-over-fraud

The Jobs Act would clear the way for new companies to advertise that they're looking for investors, and it would let anyone invest in privately held businesses, making it a lot easier for startups like Space Monkey to raise money and for new sites like AngelList to get off the ground.

Business

National Trend 'Mobs' Local Businesses With Cash WBFO

The new law also opens the door to online crowd-funding sites where startups can strut their stuff and jockey for small investors' attention. Dozens of entrepreneurs, like Sara Hanks, see a big opportunity in that. But as a securities lawyer, Hanks is also skeptical.
"I think we can expect to see the African princes inventing cold fusion any second now," she says. "Wherever there's money, there's going to be fraud. I think we have to stipulate that up front."
Hanks is the former general counsel for the congressional oversight panel charged with keeping an eye on the federal banking bailout, so she knows a thing or two about financial shenanigans.
But that's not stopping her from launching her own online crowd-funding portal. Unlike most of her potential future competitors, her plan is to hire securities lawyers to sift through the startups that want to raise money on her site and weed out the crooks. Still, none of those companies will be a sure thing.

Supporter, Opponent Of Health Law Weigh In, NPR, All Things Considered link

		Supporter, Opponent Of Health Law Weigh In (click for full transcript) NPR Colorado Attorney General John Suthers is among 26 state attorneys general who have sued the federal government over implementation of the health care law. Former US Solicitor General Walter Dellinger has been a vocal proponent of the law.	Copyright © 2012 National Public Radio®.  ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: Well, now two prominent lawyers on opposite sides of this issue. John Suthers is the attorney general of Colorado. He's a Republican. He's one of the 26 state attorneys general who brought suit against the Affordable Care Act and he's been inside the court this week listening to the arguments. Welcome to the program. JOHN SUTHERS: Glad to be with you. SIEGEL: And Walter Dellinger, who's a senior Justice Department official, assistant attorney general and acting solicitor general during the Clinton administration. He filed a Friend of the Court brief in support of the act on behalf of Democratic leaders of Congress. Welcome to the program once again. WALTER DELLINGER: Thank you. Glad to be here. SIEGEL: First, briefly, I'd like to from both of you what - today, we heard Ari Shapiro mention the poll that was taken before arguments. Having heard arguments today, does it change your expectation of the outcome? John Suthers, are you heartened, disappointed, what would you say?