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

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 March.  The selections feature topics ranging from the reporting compliance of trial results to ClinicalTrials.gov, to the impact of risk evaluation and mitigation strategy-mandated medication guides on patient knowledge, to the cost-effectiveness of the novel hepatitis C virus medications.  A full posting of abstracts/summaries of these articles may be found on our website.

  1. Anderson ML, Chiswell K, Peterson ED, Tasneem A, Topping J, Califf RM. Compliance with results reporting at ClinicalTrials.gov. N Engl J Med. 2015 Mar 12;372(11):1031-1039.
  2. Gopal AD, Desai NR, Tse T, Ross JS. Reporting of noninferiority trials in ClinicalTrials.gov and corresponding publications. JAMA. 2015 Mar 17;313(11):1163-1165.
  3. Greene JA, Riggs KR. Why is there no generic insulin? Historical origins of a modern problem. N Engl J Med. 2015 Mar 19;372(12):1171-1175.
  4. Kesselheim AS, Polinski JM, Fulchino LA, Isaman DL, Gagne JJ. Modified Regulatory Pathways to Approve Generic Drugs in the US and a Systematic Review of Their Outcomes. Drugs. 2015 Mar 31. [Epub ahead of print]
  5. Knox C, Hampp C, Willy M, Winterstein AG, Pan GD. Patient understanding of drug risks: an evaluation of medication guide assessments. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2015 Mar 23. [Epub ahead of print]
  6. Najafzadeh M, Andersson K, Shrank WH, Krumme AA, Matlin OS, Brennan T, Avorn J, Choudhry NK. Cost-effectiveness of novel regimens for the treatment of hepatitis C virus. Ann Intern Med. 2015 Mar 17;162(6):407-419.
  7. Parekh A, Buckman-Garner S, McCune S, ONeill R, Geanacopoulos M, Amur S, Clingman C, Barratt R, Rocca M, Hills I, Woodcock J. Catalyzing the critical path initiative: FDA’s progress in drug development activities. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2015 Mar;97(3):221-233.
  8. Sarpatwari A, Choudhry NK, Avorn J, Kesselheim AS. Paying physicians to prescribe generic drugs and follow-on biologics in the United States. PLoS Med. 2015 Mar 17;12(3):e1001802.
  9. Weissman JS, Westrich K, Hargraves JL, Pearson SD, Dubois R, Emond S, Olufajo OA. Translating comparative effectiveness research into Medicaid payment policy: views from medical and pharmacy directors. J Comp Eff Res. 2015 Mar;4(2):79-88.

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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