Reading Room
Welcome. Below you will find our growing collection of readings relevant to the NPA's mission.
Drug Industry to Announce Revised Code on Marketing
The pens, pads, mugs and other gifts that drug makers have long showered on doctors will be banned from pharmaceutical marketing campaigns under a voluntary guideline that the industry is expected to announce Thursday.
-- NYT, July 10, 2008
NPR Series Examines Health Care Systems in Five European Nations
NPR, in series titled "Health Care for All," recently examined the health care systems in five European nations, which have lower health care costs than the U.S. and provide a higher quality of care on several measures. Links available.
-- Kaiser Family Foundation, July 10, 2008
NEJM Editorial: "Why Doctors Should Worry about Preemption"
A leading drug company may be poised to win a landmark legal victory next fall. If...Wyeth, prevails in a case soon to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court ... drug companies could effectively be immunized against state-level tort litigation....
-- NEJM, July 3, 2008
Medicaid reaches more in Maryland
Maryland is patching together expanded coverage for the low-income uninsured
-- Baltimore Sun, July 1 2008
Key opinion leaders: independent experts or drug representatives in disguise?
The pharmaceutical industry routinely taps well-paid and highly respected doctors to act as sales people for their medications, according to an investigation published in the British Medical Journal last week.
-- British Medical Journal, June 21, 2008
Report Finds 32% Increase in Drug Industry Lobbying Spending in 2007
The pharmaceutical industry spent $168 million on lobbying in 2007, a 32% increase over the previous year, according to a report released Tuesday by the Center for Public Integrity....
-- Kaiser Family Foundation, June 25, 2008
Report Issued on Probe Into Improper Payment Disclosures by Three Harvard Psychiatrists
Three well-known psychiatric researchers from Harvard Medical School may have violated federal and educational institution regulations by failing to properly disclose drug industry payments and other conflicts of interest....
-- Kaiser Family Foundation, June 9, 2008
Survey of Medical Schools Is Critical of Perks
Most medical schools in the United States fail to police adequately the money, gifts and free drug samples that pharmaceutical companies routinely shower on doctors and trainees, according to a ranking by the American Medical Student Association.
-- NYT, June 3, 2008
Bill would let pharmacies sell medical records
Pharmacies in California would be allowed to sell confidential patient prescription information to third-party marketing firms working for drug companies under a bill expected to be voted on Thursday by the state Senate.
-- San Francisco Chronicle, May 28, 2008
S.E.C. Backs Health Care Balloting
The Securities and Exchange Commission, shifting its position, has told companies they must allow shareholders to vote on a proposal for universal health insurance coverage.
-- NYT, May 27, 2008
Merck Agrees To Pay $58M To Settle Multistate Lawsuit
Merck on Tuesday agreed to a $58 million settlement with 29 states and the District of Columbia to end investigations over allegations that it downplayed cardiovascular risks caused by the COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx in direct-to-consumer advertisements....
-- Kaiser Family Foundation, May 21, 2008
Google Offers Personal Health Records on the Web
After a year and half of development, Google began offering online personal health records to the public on Monday.
-- NYT, May 20, 2008
Hearing Focuses on Direct-To-Consumer Ads for Prescription Drugs
Officials 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 Overh
The 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 Schools
Drug 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, Minnesota
Kaiser 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 Heat
A 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 Says
The 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 Shield
Does FDA approval of a drug pre-empt a patient's right to sue the drugmaker in the event of harm?
-- NYT, Apr 6, 2008