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News and Updates
New York Times: “Harnessing the U.S. Taxpayer to Fight Cancer and Make Profits”
December 19, 2016 Matt Richtel and Andrew Pollack Enthusiasm for cancer immunotherapy is soaring, and so is Arie Belldegrun’s fortune. Dr. Belldegrun, a physician, co-founded Kite Pharma, a company that could be the first to market next year with a highly anticipated new immunotherapy treatment. But even without a product, Dr. Belldegrun has struck gold. […]
News and Updates
US News: “The Harm of High Drug Prices”
December 12, 2016 Hagop Kantarjian and Vivian Ho The problem of high cancer drug prices in the United States was highlighted in 2013, following a decade during which the average annual price of newly introduced cancer drugs increased from less than $10,000 to more than $100,000 in 2012. In a for-profit health care industry, drug […]
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New York Times: “Lives and Profits in the Balance: The High Stakes of Medical Patents”
December 11, 2016 Clyde Haberman “The West Wing,” Aaron Sorkin’s television series about a fictional White House, had a knack for crisply summarizing complex real-life issues. In an episode from 2000, pharmaceutical executives and leaders of an AIDS-plagued African country are summoned to the White House. The purpose is to see if reluctant businessmen can […]
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December 1, 2016 David S. Hilzenrath At an August 15, 2016, public forum convened by the Food and Drug Administration, panelist Marc Boutin introduced himself as CEO of National Health Council and said his organization provides “a united voice for people with chronic disease and disabilities.” Speaking at the agency’s invitation, he proceeded to praise […]
News and Updates
November 30, 2016 Bryant Furlow Drugmakers contribute $50 million each year to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, more than a sixth of the group’s overall funding. Colon Cancer Alliance receives more than half of its funding—more than $1 million a year—from industry.1 PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry’s lobby, asserts that drugmakers have a “natural alliance” with […]
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Mayo Clinic: “Industry Funding of Cancer Patient Advocacy Organizations”
November 16, 2016 Matthew V. Abola, BA, Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH Cancer patient advocacy organizations (PAOs) often demand faster drug approval and easier access to cancer medications with uncertain benefits and harms.1 Previous research has found that a sizable percentage of PAOs across all disease types receive funding from the biopharmaceutical industry2, 3; as such, […]
News and Updates
Washington DC — When Abigail Bostwick, 36, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2013, she never thought it would hit her as hard as it has — not physically — but financially. “Our savings quickly drained. We’ve sold a lot of our things. We live paycheck to paycheck,” said Bostwick. Like many people living with […]
News and Updates
Public Citizen: “Patients’ Groups and Big Pharma”
Key Finding Out of 147 patients’ groups that sided with the pharmaceutical industry against the Medicare Part B demonstration project, at least 110 (75%) received funding from the industry. Patients’ Groups and Big Pharma Funding When patients’ groups side with the pharmaceutical industry against proposed policy reforms, they lend credibility and a sympathetic voice to […]