Medical News Week

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I totally missed this earlier this week and it’s so much more important than the fact that it was Valentine’s Day. Sandefur has an excellent post on what made Douglass so special. His writings should be part of any American history and civics class.

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Many said it would never happen so call February 16, 2008 ‘historic’ because there’s been a science debate here in Boston at AAAS (the largest science conference on the planet) between the presidential campaigns!

With a day’s notice, conference organizers invited representatives from all the candidates in both parties to come to a session moderated by Claudia Dreifus of the NYTimes. The Clinton and Obama camps took the invitation very seriously demonstrating they not only care, but indeed, they want to be engaged in discussing the significance of science and technology on the campaign trail. By yesterday afternoon, AAAS put out an announcement that the event would happen at 3:30 Saturday–and today’s venue was PACKED! (Whoever said scientists aren’t interested in politics?)

The debate was a 90-minute format and I sat alongside friends and fellow SD’08 steering committee members Lawrence Krauss, Matthew Chapman, and Austin Dacey. Each campaign representative was first given eight minutes to introduce their candidate’s platform on science and technology followed by a question and answer period. Claudia did an extraordinary job of introducing why this is so necessary and choosing the questions we all want to ask…

What are the candidates plans if elected regarding science and technology? Both promised enormous increased funding for research and education, and Claudia followed by asking about the details on how they plan to do it. How do they feel about investing on projects like exploring Mars and what sets them apart from the other candidates and the current administration? The audience had the opportunity to submit questions as well which included inquiring what their administration’s priorities would be, how science will be utilized to better inform policy decisions, who the candidates will look to for honest information, and much, much more. The list goes on and on and will shortly be available on the AAAS website. [Check back here soon for details on what was said and how each side performed–including photos and possibly video.]

And the best part? The climax that launched a round of tremendous applause from the audience: Claudia asked both representatives: Will your candidate be at ScienceDebate2008 on April 18th in Philidelphia?

‘Time will tell‘ from Clinton’s camp, to which Obama’s rep reported it’s being very seriously considered, followed with an enthusiastic, ‘I endorse it!‘

So… A Presidential Debate on Science and Technology? Well, it sure doesn’t seem all that outlandish anymore! Clinton and Obama have certainly demonstrated in a very public way that they care and are prepared to make a strong case for science in their candidacy.

Just think, in two months nearly the entire scientific community has embraced ScienceDebate2008 along with leaders in business, politics, and beyond. And the campaigns are listening–Boston today serves as evidence! We hope you’ll help make it happen: Contact the campaigns and tell them you want the presidential candidates to attend ScienceDebate2008!

And stay tuned, because this is only the beginning… the prelims for the main event on April 18th!

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EAST HANOVER, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb 14, 2008 - Reacting to the release of the ENHANCE trial results that showed Vytorin, a combination of the statin simvastatin (Zocor) and ezetimibe (Zetia), provides no benefit over simvastatin alone in preventing the progress of arterial plaque buildup, physicians indicate they will shift Vytorin heavily to third-line, rather than first- or second- line use, in treating patients at risk for coronary heart disease, according to new research by GfK Market Measures.

While the research showed universal awareness of the ENHANCE results across all specialties–internists, general/family practitioners and cardiologists–general/family practitioners assert the most negative response to the trial findings. Respondents in this group anticipate nearly double the decline in first-line use of Vytorin (net change of -20 percent of patients), compared to those intended first-line prescribing figures reported by cardiologists (-9 percent of patients) and internists (-7 percent of patients). Use of Vytorin as second-line therapy is anticipated to decrease across all specialties, ranging from -8 percent to -14 percent of patients. Conversely, all specialties indicated an increase in third-line use of Vytorin, with a positive net change ranging from +20 percent to nearly +30 percent of patients.

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2008 – Extensive gaps in price information seriously hamper the effectiveness of state drug price comparison Web sites, according to a study released today by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).

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- Expects to Recover Investments in Dedicated Assets -

LIONVILLE, Pa., February 13, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. today announced that it has concluded an agreement with Nektar Therapeutics, Inc., relating to the manufacture and assembly of components for the Exubera(R) inhalable insulin device. Production of the device was suspended in October 2007 following Pfizer, Inc.’s decision to discontinue marketing the product, returning the marketing rights to the Company’s customer, Nektar. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

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GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Feb.12, 2008–Cellartis today announced it has entered into a collaborative research agreement with Pfizer for the development of a novel model system for the detection of human toxicity in vitro. The collaboration aims to generate a predictive developmental screening model for new chemical entities using the unique patented Cellartis human

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