OpenMarket: Drugs and Medical Devices

Is this a story from The Onion? It’s a question we often ask ourselves these days when we encounter stories online that seem too ridiculous to be true. Sadly, Cheantay Jensen’s recent article about why she returned to smoking is not satire.

Regulators at the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) had an opportunity in 2016 to move marijuana into a less restrictive category of controlled substances. This could have ended the ongoing conflict between federal law, which considers the sale of marijuana illegal in all cases, and the laws of the states, almost all of which consider some form of marijuana legal. The DEA, however, rejected petitions to reclassify marijuana.

The Food and Drug Administration has failed to approve a single reduced-harm nicotine product in the past year, despite unveiling a new “roadmap” in July 2017 that emphasized the role such products can play a reducing tobacco-related illness. That lapse does a huge disservice to millions of smokers who could benefit from switching from cigarettes to a far less harmful product.

Our friends at Freethink Media have an excellent new video out about medical innovation—in this case, how a new company is developing genetically modified pigs that can grow human organs. 

The House of Representatives will soon vote on a companion bill to S. 204, the Right to Try Act. This bill would prevent the federal government from impeding patients’ access to treatments that have successfully completed the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) first phase of trials. For terminally-ill patients, these treatments are their last hope when nothing else works. 

Lawyers and allied interest groups have long enriched themselves at taxpayers’ expense. But usually, it has been by bringing lawsuits, not defending them.

The Ohio Drug Price Standards Initiative might change that. If passed by voters, it would give its sponsors taxpayer money to hire...

Hans Rosling, the Swedish doctor and professor who saved countless lives in the world’s poorest countries (and gave TED talks), has died of pancreatic cancer. In December, Nature had an interesting feature with him, discussing his life’s work.

Rosling was an antidote to uninformed pessimism.  As Nature...

This week on RealClear Radio Hour, Drs. Debra Patt and Kerry Emanuel discuss the politics of cancer care, chaos theory, and climate science.

We open the show with Dr. Debra Patt, practicing oncologist and Vice President of Texas Oncology. Debra explains how the well-intentioned federal 340B Drug Discount Program is actually driving up cancer care costs. With preferred vendor hospitals applying their 30-50% drug discounts to all patients, not just the underserved, industry-wide prices are being forced up to subsidize the program. On the whole, however, she is optimistic about the diagnostic innovations, therapeutic success, and a drastic drop in cancer mortality rates. 

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Democrats in the Senate have blocked a bill that would have provided federal funds to combat the spread of the Zika virus, reports The Hill. As a result, supporters were unable to assemble the 60 votes necessary to end debate and move...