Monthly Archives: August 2012

The Next Face of the Biopharmaceutical Industry

Today’s biopharmaceutical companies arguably face more research and development (R&D) challenges than ever before. Despite an industry-wide surge in the past decade that has nearly doubled investments in R&D, the FDA has approved considerably fewer new drugs. Add in brand names going off patent, increased competition with generics, upsets in late-phase clinical trials and dwindling pipelines, and biopharmaceutical companies are in a rough place, often finding that they don’t have enough revenue to sustain levels of R&D. It’s no wonder why in the last five years we have been witness to several large biopharmaceutical companies buying out the entrepreneurial talent of smaller biopharmaceutical companies with more promising pipelines. At the same time, public trust and confidence in the industry (as evidenced by ample research on the topic) has steadily been declining.

Posted on Monday, August 27th, 2012 By HealthScope
Catogories Health Policy | Tagged biopharmaceutical, FDA, R&D, ROR Indicator | Leave a comment

Pharmacies Have Potential to Increase Adult Vaccine Immunizations

While we have gotten better at inoculating our kids from vaccine-preventable disease (rates for most of the long-standing recommended vaccines have increased to 90 percent or higher), we still have a ways to go when it comes to adult immunizations. Pneumococcal vaccination coverage, for example, among high-risk adults is just 18.5 percent overall, according to the CDC. One viable strategy on the table for increasing adult vaccination rates is offering immunizations at neighborhood pharmacies.

Posted on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012 By Chrystine Zacherau
Catogories Infectious Disease | Tagged adult vaccine, APCO Insight, CDC, immunizations, vaccine | Leave a comment

Who is responsible for the weight of the nation? Depends on how you vote

Earlier this month there was an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine as a follow up to the Weight of the Nation events that took place in May. It suggested that the public health advocacy community and liberals are ready to take action on obesity, but unfortunately entrenched business interests and conservative politicians are getting in the way. This editorial is largely built around the graph featured below, which is based on public opinion data collected by Bleich and Blendon in 2011.

Posted on Friday, August 10th, 2012 By Melissa Musiker
Catogories Health Policy Nutrition | Tagged Health Policy, obesity | Leave a comment

The Role of Science and Politics in Public Policy Decision Making

Back in February, Alec MacGillis wrote an excellent piece for The Washington Post's Outlook section titled "Everything Is Political," in which he argued that it's okay for politics to be involved in our national policy-making. At a time in which it seems that someone's always complaining that a decision was "political," his view was a refreshing one. And it helped to highlight an important question -- how should science and politics interact in public policy decision-making?

Posted on Monday, August 6th, 2012 By Bill Pierce
Catogories Health Policy | Tagged BPA, climate change, Health Policy, Huffington Post, politics, public policy, science, vaccines | Leave a comment

Obesity and the Olympics: Rethinking What it Means to Look Like an Athlete

We live in the age of information, and we are being inundated by a never-ending torrent of information about obesity and health. There is no way to avoid it; it is part of our daily lives. And it is nearly impossible to make sense of it all. The International Food Information Council (IFIC), a repository of fantastic information about food and nutrition, has been keeping tabs on media impressions on obesity for more than a decade. The interest in obesity has been at a sustained and high level for more than two years with no signs of slowing down. Obesity is personal, compelling and complex. New news and new angles on the topic can be found on a daily basis.