Keynote Address by Dr. John Abramson:
"Access to What? A Critical Review of the Evidence in Evidence-Based Medicine" (available in PPT format)
- The issue of drug pricing is of critical importance, but at least as important component of drug costs is the question of who should be taking what drugs. Commercial influence now permeates the articles published in even our most respected medical journals. Dr. John Abramson, author of Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine, and a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School, will illustrate the pernicious consequences of this commercial influence with examples including the painkillers Vioxx and Celebrex and cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.
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A legislators? roundtable addressed several recent state initiatives, including:
- District of Columbia Excessive Pricing Legislation (D.C. Councilmember David Catania)
- Report on USTR correspondence October 20 meeting with the Legislative Working Group on Prescription Drugs & Trade (CT Rep. Kevin Ryan & AZ Rep. Meg Burton Cahill)
- Connecticut Medicare Part D wrap-around legislation (CT Senator Edith Prague)
- Maine importation and marketing detailer legislation (ME Senator Art Mayo)
- ME Rep. Arthur Lerman, sponsor of CHAPTER 392, 2005 (L.D. 1618), An Act Regarding Advertising by Drug Manufacturers and Disclosure of Clinical Trials and Jude Walsh, Pharmacy Advisor to ME Governor John Baldacci, on the implementation of that law
- A report from Laura Metune, California legislature consultant, on the two propositions on the ballot there
Jude Walsh, Pharmacy Advisor to ME Governor John Baldacci, reported on the Sovereign States Interstate Purchasing Collaborative.
West Virginia legislators and members of the WV Pharmaceutical Cost Management Council presented on implementation of the reference pricing and advertising disclosure provisions of West Virginia law including:
- WV House Speaker Robert Kiss
- Prof. Kevin Outterson, WV University Law Professor and member of the Council
- Scott Brown, WV Pharmaceutical Advocate
Nancy Atkins, Director of State Medicaid Directors Association and Member, Medicaid Commission reported on WV Medicaid initiatives and proposals from the Federal Medicaid Reform Commission
