Monthly Round-Up of What to Read on Pharma Law and Policy

Ameet Sarpatwari Aaron S. Kesselheim, Ameet Sarpatwari, PORTAL Round-Up

By Ameet Sarpatwari and Aaron S. Kesselheim

Each month, members of the Program On Regulation, Therapeutics, And Law (PORTAL) review the peer-reviewed medical literature to identify interesting empirical studies, in-depth analyses, and thoughtful editorials on pharmaceutical law and policy.

Below are the papers identified from the month of January.  The selections feature topics ranging from the trend in lag-time between FDA approval of drugs and published cost-utility evidence; to practical, legal, and ethical issues with expanded access to investigational drugs; to the use of tiered formularies to discriminate against patients with HIV in the federal marketplace.  A full posting of abstracts/summaries of these articles may be found on our website.

  1. Aliferis L. Variation in prices for various medical tests and procedures. JAMA Intern Med. 2015 Jan 1;175(1):11-12.
  2. Chambers JD, Thorat T, Pyo J, Neumann PJ. The lag from FDA approval to published cost-utility evidence. Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res. 2015 Jan 12:1-4.
  3. Darrow JJ, Sarpatwari A, Avorn J, Kesselheim AS. Practical, legal, and ethical issues in expanded access to investigational drugs. New Eng J Med. 2015 Jan 15;372(3):279-286.
  4. Drazen JM. Sharing individual patient data from clinical trials. New Eng J Med. 2015 Jan 15;372(3):201-202.
  5. Jacobs DB, Sommers BD. Using drugs to discriminate—adverse selection in the insurance marketplace. New Eng J Med. 2015 Jan 29;372(5):399-402.
  6. Moses H 3rd, Matheson DH, Cairns-Smith S, George BP, Palisch C, Dorsey ER. The anatomy of medical research: US and international comparisons. BMJ. 2015 Jan 28;350:h522. JAMA. 2015 Jan 13;313(2):174-189.
  7. Rajan PV, Kramer DB, Kesselheim AS. Medical device postapproval safety monitoring: where does the United States stand? Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2015 Jan;8(1):124-131.
  8. Ryskina KL, Halpern SD, Minyanou NS, Goold SD, Tilburt JC. The Role of Training Environment Care Intensity in US Physician Cost Consciousness. Mayo Clin Proc. 2015 Jan 26. pii: S0025-6196(14)01083-1090.
  9. Sharfstein J. FDA Regulation of Laboratory-Developed Diagnostic Tests: Protect the Public, Advance the Science. JAMA. 2015 Jan 5. [Epub ahead of print]

Ameet Sarpatwari

Ameet Sarpatwari is an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, an Associate Epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Assistant Director of the Program On Regulation, Therapeutics, And Law (PORTAL) within the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics. His research draws upon his interdisciplinary training as an epidemiologist and lawyer and focuses on the effects of laws and regulations on therapeutic development, approval, use, and related public health outcomes.

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