The Latest from the NPA
COVER PENNSYLVANIA'S UNINSURED
The NPA’s Pennsylvania Action Network is fighting for coverage of ALL Pennsylvanians. Learn more and sign a letter of support for critical pending legislation.
NPA LAUNCHES UNBRANDED DOCTOR CAMPAIGN
Join our network of UNBRANDED DOCTORS--physicians committed to reducing the influence of pharmaceutical marketing on our profession!
The NPA Issues Report Card of Presidential Candidates’ Health Care Plans
The NPA has issued a Report Card of the Presidential Candidates’ Health Care Plans.
The NPA Supports the Physician Payments Sunshine Act
NPA Executive Director Dr. Jean Silver-Isenstadt joined representatives of the American Medical Student Association and the Prescription Project in briefing Capitol Hill staff members on the importance of S.2029, The Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Learn more about the act and why it’s important.
New In Our Reading Room
- Hearing Focuses on Direct-To-Consumer Ads for Prescription DrugsOfficials for Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck Schering-Plough on Thursday testified at a House Energy and Commerce Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee hearing that Democrats hope will "lay the groundwork for future legislation to tighten controls....
-- Kaiser Family Foundation, May 8, 2007 - Senate Finance Committee Holds First in Series of Congressional Hearings on U.S. Health System OverhThe Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday held the first of at least eight congressional hearings focusing on strategies to reform the U.S. health care system, featuring testimony by former HHS secretaries Tommy Thompson and Donna Shalala....
-- Kaiser Family Foundation, May 7, 2007 - Ban Urged on Gifts at Medical SchoolsDrug and medical device companies should be banned from offering free food, gifts, travel and ghost-writing services to doctors, staff and students in all 129 of the nation’s medical colleges, an influential college association has concluded.
-- NYT, April 28, 2008 - Health Coverage Expansion Efforts in Connecticut, Illinois, MinnesotaKaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights Health Coverage Expansion Efforts in Connecticut, Illinois, Minnesota....
-- Kaiser Family Foundation, April 25, 2008 - F.D.A. Plan on Medical Articles Takes More HeatA report indicating that Merck used ghostwriters to produce medical journal articles in support of its subsequently discredited drug Vioxx has galvanized opponents to a federal proposal that would relax some restrictions on drug promotion.
-- NYT, April 19, 2008 - Ghostwriters Used in Vioxx Studies, Article SaysThe drug maker Merck drafted dozens of research studies for a best-selling drug, then lined up prestigious doctors to put their names on the reports before publication, according to an article to be published Wednesday in a leading medical journal.
-- NYT, Apr 15, 2008 - Frontline Documentary To Look At Universal Health Care Systems in Five Capitalist Countries PBS on Tuesday will air a documentary titled "Sick Around the World" that examines the universal health care systems of Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United Kingdom and how those systems are funded...
-- Kaiser Family Foundation, Apr 15, 2008 - Drug Makers Near Old Goal: A Legal ShieldDoes FDA approval of a drug pre-empt a patient's right to sue the drugmaker in the event of harm?
-- NYT, Apr 6, 2008 - Prescription Drug TV Ads Should Include Toll-Free Number for Adverse Effects ReportingReps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) on Wednesday asked FDA to mandate that all prescription drug television advertisements include information for consumers to report serious side effects to the agency....
-- Kaiser Family Foundation, April 3, 2008 - Learning the Lessons of ENHANCESurprising results have led experts to propose many possible explanations, but the most obvious possibility is that cholesterol lowering by ezetimibe does not retard the progression of atherosclerosis. There is much to learn from this study....
-- Journal Watch, March 30, 2008