Author: Peter

Is cancer-related, direct-to-consumer advertising beneficial?—No...In the current communications era, cancer medications, cancer-related genetic testing, and even cancer centers are often marketed directly to the public. While there is little evidence so far that it generates inappropriate treatment recommendations in oncology,  cancer-related, direct-to-consumer advertising is prone to cause harm in many other ways. These include potentially fostering patient misinterpretations of expected efficacy and toxic effects of drugs with concomitant harm to the patient-physician therapeutic relationship; encouraging patient interest in new drugs when their toxic effects are not fully appreciated; and failing to present alternative treatment approaches that may be less toxic or costly.

The state’s first public medical school launched a new look complete with updated logo and branding identity...The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine in July officially added “Reno” to its name after a decades-long history of being the University of Nevada School of Medicine, following approval of the new name by the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents...“An organization’s branding is far more than a name or logo; branding is the perception of our school in the minds of our many constituents,” said Thomas L. Schwenk, M.D., dean of the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine. “Our new name and logo represent the stunning and positive changes taking place as we build a full clinical, teaching and clinical research campus in Reno...The new branding rollout campaign will take place over the next several months...

Denying a petition to loosen marijuana restrictions, U.S. officials said regulations on the drug’s use will remain in place, although more of it may be available for research into potential medical therapies...The Drug Enforcement Administration will maintain marijuana’s status as a schedule 1 drug, the most restrictive of five agency classifications, which means it’s considered highly addictive and without medical benefit. However, the agency will permit new suppliers to boost the quantity of marijuana available for study. Currently, researchers can only study marijuana overseen by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which contracts with the University of Mississippi to grow supplies..."Not everyone agrees marijuana should be legal, but few will deny that it is less harmful than alcohol and many prescription drugs," Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement. "Removing barriers to research is a step forward, but the decision does not go nearly far enough. Marijuana should be completely removed from the CSA drug schedules and regulated similarly to alcohol."

Eli Lilly recently opened a 48,000-square-foot research facility near Indianapolis that’s operated by its animal health division, Elanco, and that has one overriding goal: to develop vaccines that food producers can use in place of the antibiotics that they’re under increasing pressure to eliminate. In January, mandatory rules instituted by the FDA will prohibit companies from selling antibiotics for non-medical uses like promoting growth, and they will require farmers who want to use antibiotics in their animals to get the drugs from veterinarians...Elanco predicts the new rules will shift the food industry’s mindset from treating diseases to preventing it--and the company wants to be on the forefront of that transition, offering a range of new vaccines for farm animals...The new antibiotics rules were developed in response to growing global concerns about the rise of drug-resistant infections in people...the FDA and other regulatory agencies are stepping up their surveillance of antibiotics use on farms. That could cause the market for vaccines to explode, experts say...

For the fourth consecutive time, the Drug Enforcement Administration has denied a petition to lessen federal restrictions on the use of marijuana...While recreational marijuana use is legal in four states and D.C., and medical applications of the drug have been approved in many more, under federal law, it remains a Schedule 1 controlled substance, which means it's considered to have "no currently accepted medical use" and a "high potential for abuse."...Just this week, the National Conference of State Legislatures, a group representing state lawmakers, called on the federal government to move marijuana from Schedule 1 to Schedule 2. The group criticized federal law for imposing "substantial administrative and operational burdens, compliance risk and regulatory risk that serve as a barrier to banks and credit unions providing banking services to businesses and individuals involved in the cannabis industry."...Despite this, the DEA says it cannot change the legal status of marijuana unless the FDA determines it has a medical use. The FDA cannot determine it has a medical use in part because of the highly restrictive legal status of the drug. It's a classic bureaucratic Catch-22...The only body that can truly resolve this conflict, now, is Congress — by amending the Controlled Substances Act to treat marijuana differently. Most federal lawmakers seem to agree that this needs to happen, but there's disagreement on how to do it...

Justin Gallagher, associate publisher of The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care, From the Managed Markets News Network.

If you ask a life sciences chief executive to gaze into a crystal ball, he or she will tell you there is good reason to be optimistic about the future. Or so a new survey would have us believe....All 38 executives who participated in the survey reported that they are confident about what lies ahead; 79 percent are convinced their products will remain relevant for the next few years; and 97 percent are certain that they are staying on top of coming trends...What might explain such a bullish view of the world? Well, chief executives...by their very nature, tend to be optimistic people and the industry is coming to terms with its challenges...This may be a case, however, of seeing the world through the proverbial rose-colored glasses...Why? At the same time these chief executives are so upbeat, a whopping 89 percent also confessed they are concerned they will not be able to increase market share. And 74 percent expect top-line growth of between just 2 percent and 4 percent over the next three years...We wonder if their investors know how they feel about such prospects.

UNLV School of Medicine...says it will take over four Clark County school-based health facilities with plans for innovation...The medical school, which says it will assume control of the health centers run by the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, wants to focus on “prevention, primary care and behavioral health” at the facilities…UNLV previously announced plans to assume control of the Reno school’s Las Vegas-based residency programs and much of the Southern Nevada staff over the next year as the Northern Nevada institution changes it focus...The centers are targeted to reach students from low-income and underserved areas, operating half the day, once a week at each school during the standard Clark County School District year... the centers were based at West Prep Academy, Grant Sawyer Middle School, Kermit R. Booker Sr. Elementary School and Matt Kelly Elementary School...Tracey Green, UNLV School of Medicine vice dean for clinical affairs, said the medical school has multiple long-term goals for the facilities...

Cate Douglass, PTNN. This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Many medications are broken down before making it to the bloodstream, preventing their arrival at the site of infection, but researchers think they've found a way to improve drug delivery by bypassing certain bodily processes...Researchers...have created a method of delivering drugs using the lymphatic system in order to bypass the liver and create a route directly to the bloodstream, increasing the amount of a substance making it to target areas...The advantage of our system is that drugs are shielded from degradation in the liver but are ultimately released when they reach their site of action, ensuring that the drug given to the patient goes where it is supposed to...researchers created a technology to modify drugs so they mimic dietary lipids, which are absorbed into the lymph system -- unlike other nutrients...No matter how good the drug is, it needs to be absorbed [into the bloodstream] and to avoid this first pass metabolism in order to get to the general circulation where it acts...