Analysis of:
Physician report card validity (physiciansnews.com)
Physician ranking systems will certainly be a part of medical practice. But the real utility is not going to be in allowing patients to choose the "best" doctors--that will perpetuate the fallacy of drawing conclusions about a specific case from the general data. And the ability of this information...
Analysis of:
Novartis Menveo® vaccine shows superior immune response against four types of meningitis disease in pivotal phase III trial (www.novartis.com)
Menveo appears to have some statistical advantages over the currently available product, Menactra (sanofi aventis.) Whether the higher antibody levels translate into better or more lasting protection remains to be seen. Given recent FDA action approving meningococcal vaccine for younger pediatric age...
Analysis of:
FDA Approves ROTARIX(R) Rotavirus Vaccine (www.pipelinereview.com)
-Rotateq and Rotarix are the only two approved rotavirus vaccines in the US. It's unclear how Rotarix will be priced, and since it is a 2-dose series vs. Rotateq's 3-dose series, the cost will be very important. -However, there are other factors as well, such as Merck being first to market...
Analysis of:
Federal Court Sides With GlaxoSmithKline, Strikes Down Rules Issued by Patent Office (biz.yahoo.com)
The proposed PTO rules, while logical on the surface, suffer from the all too common defect of over-generalization. In patent applications, as in so many other fields, there is usually not a one size fits all approach.
Analysis of:
FDA Approves ROTARIX(R) Rotavirus Vaccine (www.pipelinereview.com)
Yes, rotavirus disease is common, but overall, it is low on the worry scale for pediatricians in the US. Adoption of the Rotateq (Merck) product has been relatively slow, and I do not expect anything more for Rotarix.
Analysis of:
FDA Clears Glaxo Diarrhea - Virus Vaccine (www.nytimes.com)
-Glaxo's Rotarix vaccine was approved last week for prevention of rotavirus infection in infants -Merck's product, Rotateq, on the market for 2 years in the US, already has an established pipeline to essentially all pediatric primary care providers -There are small differences between the 2 vaccines,...
Analysis of:
Molecular Testing for Respiratory Viruses (www.aacc.org)
While it is often "nice" to know specifically what virus might be causing symptoms, this knowledge generally has little effect on patient treatment. It might have a public health benefit, in terms of reducing contacts and spread, but this benefit is not generally considered to be cost-efficient (the...
Analysis of:
Molecular Testing for Respiratory Viruses (www.aacc.org)
While it is often "nice" to know specifically what virus might be causing symptoms, this knowledge generally has little effect on patient treatment. It might have a public health benefit, in terms of reducing contacts and spread, but this benefit is not generally considered to be cost-efficient (the...
Analysis of:
FDA Investigating Possible Link Between Singulair and Suicide (www.foxnews.com)
Post marketing studies, required by the FDA, are the lowest form of study. There is no blinding of the investigator, no control group and no ability to quantify risk vs. benefit. There is also no denominator to the numerator of alleged side effects reported, so true risk cannot be assessed.
Analysis of:
The Outlook on Home, Direct Access Testing (www.aacc.org)
Sometimes I wonder what I got out of all the years I spent in training?