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IFPMA R&D Status Report 2009: Industry Research Increasing In Less Well-known Tropical Diseases
The IFPMA has just published the 2009 edition of its Status Report on Pharmaceutical Industry R&D for Diseases of the Developing World(1). This documents research and development projects by IFPMA member companies(2), alone or with partners, to develop medicines and vaccines for the 10 diseases of the developing world (DDW)(3) prioritized by the United Nations" TDR tropical disease research and training organization(4). Member company DDW medicine and vaccine projects have increased from 67 last year to a total of 84 this year. While the number of tuberculosis and malaria projects has grown slightly, projects for the remaining eight tropical diseases have increased markedly from 11 in 2008 to 25 in 2009.
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RCN Responds To New Report Into Nursing Regulation
Responding to the annual report from the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE), Dr. Peter Carter, Chief Executive & General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said:
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Washington, D.C., Officials Expand STI Testing Program To All Public High Schools
Washington, D.C., officials are planning to make testing for sexually transmitted infections available at all public high schools in the coming school year, adding D.C. to a growing list of cities that test students for STIs, the Washington Post reports. All 50 states and the district allow minors older than age 12 to be tested for STIs without parental consent.The new program requires all students to attend a lecture about STIs, after which they are escorted into restroom areas in groups of 15 to 20. They are then given paper bags with urine collection cups and go into the stalls, at which point they can decide whether to provide a sample. All students return the paper bags, regardless of whether they provided samples. Students give a password and can call a week later to receive their confidential results and, if necessary, treatment at the school or an STI clinic, which is paid for by the city. The district first offered the program two years ago at two charter schools, and eight high schools were included during the past school year.A 2007 study by the D.C. public school system found that 60% of high school students and 30% of middle school students reported having sex. According to the study, 20% of high school students reported having sex with four or more partners and 12% of middle school students reported having three or more partners.According to the D.C. Department of Health, the program at eight high schools last year found that 13% of 3,000 students tested positive for an STI, most commonly chlamydia or gonorrhea. Fifty percent of the chlamydia and gonorrhea cases in the district are among teenagers.According to the D.C. Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, the new program is an important step toward curbing the district"s HIV/AIDS rate, which is among the highest in the U.S. Walter Smith, executive director of D.C. Appleseed, said, "If 13% of these students are testing positive for [STIs], those same kids could get HIV," adding, "A lot needs to be done to get the message out to the schools, ... and this very high [STI] rate is an indication that what we"ve been doing is not effective" (Fears/Hernandez, Washington Post, 8/5).
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Consensus Forming Among Most Democrats

Democratic leaders have begun moving the rank and file closer to acceptance of basic tenets of health reform proposals, but concerns remain among the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats on how it will be paid for, Politico reports. "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer are double-teaming powerful chairmen and rank-and-file members to save health care reform from a repeat of the Democratic Party infighting that helped kill it in 1994. In a closed-door session Tuesday, Pelosi assured rank-and-file Democrats that she won"t move forward on a bill without their consent. "We have to hear from you," one participant quoted Pelosi as saying." In other meetings, Pelosi and Hoyer asked Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to engage moderate Democrats. "Moderate Democrats have been warning their leaders for weeks against pushing proposals that undermine the private market, particularly a so-called public option that could dissuade consumers or businesses from purchasing private insurance. In a letter to their leaders last week, fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats said a public option should be created only if insurance market reforms and increased competition don"t lower costs on their own" (O"Connor and Frates, 6/10). "Mr. Rangel said "there won"t be any consideration" of that approach in the House. "We have to have a public plan" from the start," Mr. Rangel said. "We are not going to wait two, three or five years to see what happens and then trigger it,"" The New York Times reports. The plan goes against some moderate Democrats" wishes that a public plan be triggered only if the private insurance market doesn"t "rein in costs and offer affordable coverage to everyone" (Pear, 6/9). Roll Call: "Waxman said a trigger did not have broad support in the Democratic Caucus, although he noted that the chairmen"s draft incorporated other Blue Dog principles, including that any public option compete on a level playing field with private plans. "The consumer should be able to make a choice, and that"s what we"re going to be pushing for," Waxman said. "I don"t see why it should be objectionable to anybody for the consumer to have a choice." Waxman said each side is going to have to compromise" (Dennis and Newmyer, 6/10). But Kaiser Health News says the Blue Dogs could still have a role in shaping the bill: "That"s because the administration would need two-thirds of the coalition members to pass a bill in the House without any Republican support, a growing possibility in light of Republican opposition to creation of a government insurance entity and imposition of employer mandates to provide insurance" (Pianin, 6/9). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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