Here are the highlights from the current issue:
An article in Sunday’s New York Times discussed the procedural and ethical issues related to returning genetic results to research study subjects or their families, especially when the results were not envisioned as part of the initial protocol or consent process and treatment options exist.
http://tinyurl.com/8ntm39b <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466819:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
The revised HHS financial conflict of interest regulations became effective on Friday. NIH on Friday issued a notice concerning FCOI reporting of certain awards. According to the notice, “Most grantees have already submitted their annual progress report for FY2012 noncompeting continuation awards and multi-year funded projects, which means that the Annual FCOI Report was due before the FCOI implementation date (i.e., 45 or 60 days prior to the start date). Therefore, out of synch reporting for this subset of FY2012 awards will be necessary to capture FCOI reporting information. This one-time guidance is intended to shift the burden of out of synch reporting from the grantee to NIH staff. Therefore, NIH will not require grantees to submit FCOI reports for FY 2012 noncompeting awards issued on or after August 24 until requested by NIH staff.”
http://tinyurl.com/9ys8jnh <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466820:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
Stanford has posted a podcast featuring Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III, best-known as the pilot who miraculously landed a US Airways flight in the Hudson River, after a flock of geese struck and disabled the plane’s engines. Mr. Sullenberger, who retired in 2010, is now focused on patient safety. According to the posting, “He is among a group of patient-safety advocates calling for an independent agency modeled on the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate and prevent cases of medical harm.”
http://med.stanford.edu/121/2012/sullenberger.html <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466825:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
Two articles posted by the McKinsey Quarterly discuss fundamental changes in the pharmaceutical industry. The publication asserts that the “…’blockbuster’ model of drug development has run its course, and the pharmaceutical industry is now struggling to rediscover its knack for creating value.” One article, “Pharma manufacturing for a new era,” argues that intently focusing on manufacturing innovation is one way to restore the sector’s appeal. Another is by tackling some of the excesses in R&D approaches. “Restoring value to biopharmaceutical R&D” explores several imperatives for pharma executives. (Free registration may be required.) http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/home.aspx <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466830:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
The full list of announcements is below.
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Dr. Ann Bonham, AAMC Chief Scientific Officer, has posted an essay on the Wing of Zock innovation web site titled, “A House Panel’s Outrageous Move to Keep Patients in the Dark.” Dr. Bonham reports, “In a shocking move on July 18, the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee voted to ban any agency of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from supporting any patient-centered outcomes research.” She concludes, “The tragic implication of the subcommittee’s vote is that when the time comes for any American to make a difficult health care choice, an important group of Congress thinks that less information is better. Patients, and members of the House and Senate, not only deserve rigorous patient-centered outcomes research, they should demand it.”
http://wingofzock.org/ <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466817:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
The New Orleans Times-Picayune on Saturday reported that Dr. Fred Cerise, LSU’s Vice President for Health Affairs and Medical Education and the head of Louisiana’s public hospital system was replaced Friday. According to the paper, “The change comes on the heels of clashes between Dr. Fred Cerise and Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration about the future of the safety-net hospital system run by LSU. Dr. Fred Cerise was not fired; a new position has been created for him, a spokesman said. But he didn’t say what that role is.” The paper also reported that “Dr. Frank Opelka, a surgeon who is currently vice chancellor at the LSU Health Sciences Center, will now lead the system, which runs 10 hospitals and 500 clinics statewide, as well as medical schools in New Orleans and Shreveport. While Cerise had the title of vice president for health affairs and medical education, Opelka will be executive vice president for health care and medical education redesign. The change needs approval from the LSU Board of Supervisors, composed largely of Jindal appointees.”
http://tinyurl.com/8dwk8j5 <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466818:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
An article in Sunday’s New York Times discussed the procedural and ethical issues related to returning genetic results to research study subjects or their families, especially when the results were not envisioned as part of the initial protocol or consent process and treatment options exist.
http://tinyurl.com/8ntm39b <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466819:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
The revised HHS financial conflict of interest regulations became effective on Friday. NIH on Friday issued a notice concerning FCOI reporting of certain awards. According to the notice, “Most grantees have already submitted their annual progress report for FY2012 noncompeting continuation awards and multi-year funded projects, which means that the Annual FCOI Report was due before the FCOI implementation date (i.e., 45 or 60 days prior to the start date). Therefore, out of synch reporting for this subset of FY2012 awards will be necessary to capture FCOI reporting information. This one-time guidance is intended to shift the burden of out of synch reporting from the grantee to NIH staff. Therefore, NIH will not require grantees to submit FCOI reports for FY 2012 noncompeting awards issued on or after August 24 until requested by NIH staff.”
http://tinyurl.com/9ys8jnh <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466820:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
The American Academy of Pediatrics on Monday issued a new policy statement concerning newborn male circumcision. The Academy said, “After a comprehensive review of the scientific evidence, the American Academy of Pediatrics found the health benefits of newborn male circumcision outweigh the risks, but the benefits are not great enough to recommend universal newborn circumcision.” The AAP policy statement says the final decision should still be left to parents to make in the context of their religious, ethical and cultural beliefs.
http://tinyurl.com/8k9m3oj <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466821:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
Nature on Friday reported, “Senior officials at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have concluded that a major chimpanzee research centre did not violate the biomedical agency’s breeding moratorium, despite 130 infants being born at the centre to NIH-owned parents between 2000 and 2010.” The finding concerned the New Iberia Research Center (NIRC), part of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
http://tinyurl.com/8j4blmk <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466822:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
Our colleagues at JAMA have posted two important resources related to the West Nile virus (WNV) outbreak. A viewpoint by Robert W. Haley, MD, of UT, Southwestern discusses “Controlling Urban Epidemics of West Nile Virus Infection.” Dr. Haley concludes, “The ability of WNV to mutate and adapt to the environment and the continuing occurrence of large urban epidemics, as seen in Dallas this year, indicate that WNV is likely to remain a serious threat into the foreseeable future. The explosive pattern of WNV epidemics that could affect any US city coupled with the morbidity and mortality attributable to this disease require preparedness and early decisive action. Given the effectiveness and safety of available control measures, this is a good time for all local governments to reevaluate and establish policy for response before it is their turn to be visited by WNV.” JAMA also has posted a “Patient Page” on the West Nile virus.
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1355346 <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466823:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1355345 <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466824:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
Stanford has posted a podcast featuring Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III, best-known as the pilot who miraculously landed a US Airways flight in the Hudson River, after a flock of geese struck and disabled the plane’s engines. Mr. Sullenberger, who retired in 2010, is now focused on patient safety. According to the posting, “He is among a group of patient-safety advocates calling for an independent agency modeled on the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate and prevent cases of medical harm.”
http://med.stanford.edu/121/2012/sullenberger.html <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466825:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
The Dallas Morning News on Sunday reported that “Dr. Kern Wildenthal, who for decades served as president of UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, has resigned from the institution just months after a state-ordered investigation found that he had billed for ‘inappropriate’ expenses in recent years.” (Subscription may be necessary.) http://tinyurl.com/9k6plyn <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466826:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
In an essay in the Indianapolis Star, Indiana University School of Medicine Dean Dr. D. Craig Brater wrote that medical schools are training more physicians, but that an expansion of residency slots is needed is we are to truly meet the need for additional physicians.
http://tinyurl.com/92y4n7r <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466827:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
Victoria J. Fraser, MD, on Friday was named head of the Department of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The appointment becomes effective Sept. 1. Dr. Fraser, the J. William Campbell Professor of Medicine and co-director of the Division of Infectious Diseases, has been interim head of the department since August 2010 when she was appointed to replace Kenneth S. Polonsky, MD, now dean of the Division of Biological Sciences at the Pritzker School of Medicine and executive vice president for medical affairs at the University of Chicago. Dr. Fraser is co-principal investigator of the Washington University Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences and is a principal investigator of the research, education, training and clinical development arm. She also serves as physician-in-chief at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/24145.aspx <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466828:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
Dr. Gary L., Dunnington has been named the Jay L. Grosfeld Professor of Surgery and Chair of the Department of Surgery at Indiana University School of Medicine effective August 2012. An alumnus of the Indiana University School of Medicine, Dr. Dunnington most recently served as the J. Roland Folse Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.
James K. Liao, MD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of vascular medicine research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, has been appointed section chief of cardiology at the University of Chicago Medicine, effective Aug. 21, 2012.
http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2012/20120821-liao.html <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466829:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
Two articles posted by the McKinsey Quarterly discuss fundamental changes in the pharmaceutical industry. The publication asserts that the “…’blockbuster’ model of drug development has run its course, and the pharmaceutical industry is now struggling to rediscover its knack for creating value.” One article, “Pharma manufacturing for a new era,” argues that intently focusing on manufacturing innovation is one way to restore the sector’s appeal. Another is by tackling some of the excesses in R&D approaches. “Restoring value to biopharmaceutical R&D” explores several imperatives for pharma executives. (Free registration may be required.) http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/home.aspx <http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/17466830:20164302279:m:1:1612442508:A8B58835630E3EEECF533EED3B7015BD:r>
Tony Mazzaschi
AAMC
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