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The (Medical) Revolution Will Be Televised
Podcast: January 31, 2011

By using ubiquitous technologies such as the Internet, mobile phones, and video conferencing, doctors are bridging the gulf of geography to bring their expertise to patients in remote areas. So called telehealth is addressing issues of access, cost, and delivery, while also improving outcomes for patients. We spoke to Tom Nesbitt, director of the Center for Health and Technology for the UC Davis Health System, about telehealth, how it's addressing critical problems in healthcare today, and how it promises to revolutionize care, not only in developed nations, but in developing nations as well. Read More Here

Stem Cells for Cash, Jobs
California agency touts 25k new jobs, $200M in tax revenue.
California's $3 billion investment in stem cell science is creating thousands of new jobs and millions of dollars in new tax revenue, says an independent study of its impact. The outside validation is good news for California's Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which last year contended with criticism over an alleged lack of transparency and conflicts of interest in the way it has allocated more than $1 billion in grants. Read More Here

Amgen Buys Cancer Vaccine maker BioVex
Deal worth $1 billion with milestones.
Amgen will pay as much as $1 billion to acquire BioVex, the creator of a late-stage cancer vaccine that has shown encouraging results in treating solid tumors. Read More Here

Pfizer Embraces New Model for Drug Development
Leading medical research centers in New York join Pfizer's Center for Therapeutic Innovation.
The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said that seven major research-based medical centers in New York City have joined its Centers for Therapeutic Innovation, a network of partnerships that aims to speed the translation of biomedical research into life-saving medicines. The effort is meant to leverage Pfizer's investment in discovery and early-stage drug development by funding pre-clinical and clinical development at leading centers. Read More Here

Feds Recover $4 Billion in Healthcare Fraud
DOJ and HHS boast record year of recoveries.
The U.S. government recovered more than $4 billion in fiscal 2010 through fraud prevention and enforcement efforts, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Justice. It was the highest annual amount ever recovered from healthcare fraud. Read More Here

Arena Pharmaceuticals Slashes Workforce by 25 Percent
The weekly round-up of failed trials, missed targets, and other business mishaps.
Arena Pharmaceuticals, stung by its inability to win regulatory approval for its experimental obesity drug lorcaserin, said it is slashing its workforce by 25 percent or 66 employees. The company expects to incur restructuring charges, primarily in the first quarter of 2011, of approximately $3.8 million in connection with one-time employee termination costs. Arena expects the reduction to decrease annualized cash expenditures by approximately $13.5 million. Arena will focus its resources on working to obtain regulatory approval of lorcaserin, seeking collaborators for the commercialization of lorcaserin outside of the United States and advancing select earlier-stage research and development programs independently or in partnership. Read More Here

Smoking and Overeating Are Bad for You—Later
Improvements in lifespans in the United States fall behind their peers.
Improvements in lifespans in the United States are growing at a slower pace than in other developed nations, according to a new report from the National Research Council that blames the country's history of heavy smoking as the reason why. Read More Here

Brawl Over Exclusivity Heats Up
Senators push FDA to avoid delays in bringing biosimilars to market.
A high-stakes fight over just how early competitors can begin crafting copies of innovative biologic medicines is underway on Capitol Hill. The winning side stands to reap millions of dollars as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decides whether the word "exclusivity" in health care reform legislation applies to both data and market access, or just market access alone. Read More Here

The Devil's in the Detailing
We should insist on transparency when academics are hired to change prescribing habits.
We should all pay attention to our nomenclature. It's not about "conflict of interest," but it's about "interest." And having an interest is not necessarily a bad thing—as long as you're transparent about it. When it comes to academic detailing, outreach aimed at educating healthcare professionals to make prescribing decisions in line with best practice medical evidence and clinical effectiveness, we need transparency. Read More Here

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