June Edition
Articles: Public Perception on Prescription Drugs: Survey Released
Public Perception on Prescription Drugs: Survey ReleasedA recent study, “The Public on Prescription Drugs and Pharmaceutical Companies,” conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, the Kaiser Family Foundation and USA Today, surveyed a random sample of about 1,700 adults from January 3-23, 2008 to discover how Americans feel about current issues in health care. Dr. Robert J. Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, discussed the findings with Spectrum. “Until you do the study, you are never completely sure what people think. This study looks at a broad range of issues facing health care in the country,” Blendon said. Among its conclusions, the study found that despite controversies surrounding drug safety testing procedures, 55 percent of Americans believe pharmaceutical companies adequately test and monitor the safety of their drugs. “There has been a lot of attention paid to drug safety and the ethics of testing – so it was not surprising that a significant number of people are concerned with safety issues. But what the study also found was a confidence in the pharmaceutical companies.” Blendon went on to discuss the relationship between patients and their wallets. “Price issues have been in the news, and (in the study) we saw that price is a driving concern, which was not surprising. The study also found people believe their quality of life and health has been improved by prescription drugs in general,” he said. The study also showed that nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of the survey respondents say prescription drugs developed over the past 20 years have improved the lives of people in the U.S. “But,” Blendon said, “there are concerns about how high prices are and that threatens the political health of the pharmaceutical industry.” KEY FINDINGS
HHS and CDC: Into the BlogosphereKey government officials, including Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Michael Leavitt, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Chief of Strategy and Innovation, Brad Perkins, are using blogs to supplement traditional methods of communication. Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, is also planning to write weekly updates. Secretary Leavitt, one of the most frequent bloggers, had this to say in a recent post: “Government needs to understand the blog world better, and factor it into the way we interact with people. A growing part of the world relies on bloggers for unvarnished information; something they are not sure they always get from us in government.” Leavitt, who began blogging in August 2007, uses his lunch break, sometimes over a bowl of soup, to talk about his work. Visit his blog to read everything from a recap of how the HHS prepares for an influenza pandemic, to the discussion of SCHIP (and why he believes the President vetoed the latest proposal). Also, don’t be shy when it comes to leaving comments. He is known to answer several, but once that soup is gone, the Secretary is back to work. Government Blogs
Food and Drug Administration Expands Agency to China, India Possibly NextOn March 14th, the FDA announced an expansion of the agency into the People’s Republic of China. According to an FDA press release, the State Department has approved eight full time, permanent FDA positions in China. The announcement came after several American deaths were linked to the use of contaminated heparin – a blood thinner manufactured and imported from a Chinese plant. On March 18th, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Michael Leavitt, said the effort to expand the FDA presence globally is “part of a larger strategy where we are going to be putting people into various regions of the world.” At the same event, Secretary Leavitt encouraged the agency to establish a similar structure in India. To subscribe to the ongoing feed of FDA press releases, click here. |
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