Prescription Project Conference: Drug Free Zones

Finally, the White House and the U. S.Capitol Building have become “drug-free” zones from the corrosive and corrupting influence of lobbyists for the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.  State Senator Richard Moore, MA

This was the undercurrent of the recent conference of the Prescription Project held last month in Washington DC.

Presentations included “Reform of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),” by Bruce Psaty, M.D. and Steven Nissen, M.D., both unofficial candidates for the job of FDA Commissioner, and “Incentivizing Drug Discovery and Drug Safety,” by Alastair Wood, M.D.  These presentations are actually quite balanced.

Barbara Barnes, M.D., of the University of Pittsburg and Chairman of Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) Board of Directors, gave a presentation on “Interactions between Industry and Academic Medical Centers: Managing the Boundaries.”

They also included their typical list of industry bashers, including Daniel Carlat, M.D., whose presentation was “Industry Funding of continuing medical education (CME): How Drug Companies Have Taken Over Medical Education,” (I am not certain what year he is living in, but it is certainly not 2008 or 2009). 

Remarks by Henry Waxman, the newly elected Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, gave some insight on the direction he will be taking.

State Senator Richard Moore, of Massachusetts, the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Healthcare Financing titled his presentation “Never Trust the Lamb to the Custody of the Wolf” (this one is worth looking at, because he will be sitting in as Chairman of any additional industry bills that Massachusetts may want to pass this year.

Overall this was an interesting conference and worth downloading many of the remarks and presentations. 

Full presentations, remarks, a list of organizations that attended, and agendas are available online at the Prescription Project Website.