Newsroom RX

• The data dos and don'ts for Medicaid: a fact sheet 05/12/2008

  The Prescription Project has released a fact sheet for Medicaid departments, consumers, advocates, policymakers on Medicaid prescription data mining.  While forbidden by CMS policy, there is at least one known case of a state Medicaid department selling prescription information to private companies. 

  The fact sheet summarizes how Medicaid prescription data may be legally used, clarifies how policymakers can protect it, and outlines the impact of data mining on public health, health care costs and patient privacy. 

• West Virginia legislator, RxP discuss med school gifts with Gazette 05/09/2008

  West Virginia state Sen. Dan Foster talked with The Charleston Gazette this week about  steps the state has taken the ones it could to cut out conflicts of interest from medical education and prescribing.

  "Clearly, prescription drugs have great positive impact," Foster told the Gazette.  "But we need to restore proper balance in terms of how people get information and how physicians make their decision in what they prescribe."

  Both Foster and RxP member Marcia Hams were in Charleston for a meeting of the National Legislative Association to Reduce Drug Prices.

• New York Times: AAMC recommends medical schools ban gifts, speakers bureaus 04/27/2008

  In a new report, the Association of American Medical Colleges recommends banning gifts and other channels of pharmaceutical influence in all 129 of its member medical schools, according to today's report in the New York Times.

  "Most medical schools do not have strong conflict-of-interest policies," Prescription Project director Rob Restuccia told the Times, "and this report will change that."

• RxP Releases Toolkits to Guide Hospitals and Medical Schools with Conflicts of Interest 04/25/2008

  The Prescription Project today released a package of toolkits designed to help hospitals and medical schools create strong policies to avoid conflicts of interest resulting from aggressive pharmaceutical and medical device marketing to physicians. Developed in response to a growing wave of concern over this issue throughout the medical industry, the toolkits address a number of marketing practices that can cause conflicts of interest.

  The toolkit documents provide an overview of the impact of various pharmaceutical marketing tactics on patient care, outline key policy areas to be considered to address those issues and summarize exemplary existing policies at leading institutions.  Among the hospitals and medical schools whose policies are incorporated into the toolkits are:  Boston University, Stanford, University of Pittsburgh, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Yale University, University of Michigan, and UMass Memorial Medical Center.  

  Toolkits are available on the following topics (access via the links below):

  Continuing Medical Education

  Drug and Medical Device Procurement

  Pharmaceutical Samples

  Gifts, Meals and Entertainment

  Ghostwriting and Speakers Bureaus

  Vendor Relations

• RxP and Others Urge FDA Not to Loosen Off-Label Marketing Rules 04/24/2008

  The Prescription Project, National Physicians Alliance, Prescription Access Litigation (PAL) and US PIRG have submitted public comments opposing an FDA Draft Guidance that would allow drug companies and their salespeople to distribute reprints of medical journal articles discussing off-label uses to physicians.
  
  The groups outline numerous reasons why the distribution of reprints by pharmaceutical representatives does not facilitate evidence-based decision making and could jeopardize patient safety and public health. They urge the FDA not to issue the Draft Guidance in its current form and to hold public hearings on industry marketing of products for off-label purposes.
  
  Off-label prescribing, the prescribing of drugs for non-FDA approved purposes, is legal. However, the marketing of drugs by pharmaceutical companies for off-label purposes is not legal. Currently, pharmaceutical companies can provide medical journal articles discussing off-label uses to physicians only if the physician asks for the information. The FDA guidance would loosen that restriction.

  See the complete version of submitted comments:
  
  RxP and Others Urge FDA Not to Loosen Off-Label Marketing Rules