Medical Costs: Why Target the Drug Industry Now

The pharmaceutical industry may indeed be a major factor in the future success of reducing workers' compensation treatment costs and improve the success rate of care. Such action will reduce the cost of medical treatment and likewise reduce permanent disability awards.

This week several landmark announcements were made regarding the treatment of mesothelioma and Hepatitis C. The pharmaceutical industry is making great strides if treatment and cure.

Perhaps targeting the drug industry at this time merely to reduce costs is short sighted. The entire program needs to be encouraged. 

US FDA: Designation for CRS-207 in Mesothelioma Treatment

Merck Announces Results from Phase 2/3 Study of Investigational Chronic Hepatitis C Therapy Grazoprevir/Elbasvir in Patients with Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease

Doctors Say Heart Drug Raised Risk of an Attack

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.nytimes.com

Cardiologists have accused a small drug company of withholding data from a clinical trial showing that the company’s drug, meant to reduce the risk of heart attacks, increased the risk instead. The cardiologists said that the company, Anthera Pharmaceuticals, did not turn over data to academic investigators, as it was required to do, for more than a year. “Despite a contract that required transfer to the academic authors, the company stonewalled every attempt to acquire the data,” Dr. Steven Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said in an email on Tuesday. Dr. Nissen was the senior author of a report on the data that was published online Monday by The Journal of the American Medical Association and presented at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Dallas. In unveiling the results there, the lead investigator, Dr. Stephen Nicholls, publicly admonished the company. Dr. Colin Hislop, the chief medical officer at Anthera, denied the accusations, saying it simply took time to gather and organize the data. “I don’t think the timeline was particularly protracted, nor were we being difficult,” he said in an interview Tuesday. Studies and lawsuits have shown that many clinical trial results, particularly negative ones, are not published. Critics say that hampers medical practice and violates an obligation to patients, who try experimental treatments in part to advance knowledge. “We think that when you enter...

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Exposures Caused by Dampness in Office Buildings, Schools, and Other Nonindustrial Buildings

Office buildings, schools, and other nonindustrial buildings may develop moisture and dampness problems from roof and window leaks, high indoor humidity, and flooding events, among other things. For this Alert, we buildings [AIHA 2008]. This can lead to the growth of mold, fungi, and bacteria; the release of volatile organic compounds; and the breakdown ofice bn wet materials. Outdoors,molds live in the soil, on plants, and on dead or decaying matter. There are thousands of species of molds and they can be any color. Different mold species can adapt to different moisture conditions. Research studies have shown that exposures to building dampness and mold have been associated with respiratory symptoms, asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, rhinosinusitis, bronchitis, and respiratory infections. Individuals with asthma or hypersensitivity pneumonitis may be at risk for progression to more severe disease if the relationship between illness and exposure to the damp building is not recognized and exposures continue. NIOSH Alert: Preventing Occupational Respiratory Disease from Exposures Caused by Dampness in Office Buildings, Schools, and Other Nonindustrial Buildings [PDF - 1.25 MB]

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CDC - NIOSH Update - NIOSH Study of Firefighters Finds Increased Rates of Cancer

Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.cdc.gov

A combined population of 30,000 firefighters from three large cities had higher rates of several types of cancers, and of all cancers combined, than the U.S. population as a whole, researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and colleagues found in a new study. The new findings are generally consistent with the results of several previous, smaller studies. Because the new study had a larger study population followed for a longer period of time, the results strengthen the scientific evidence for a relation between firefighting and cancer, the researchers said. The findings were reported in an article posted on-line on Oct. 14, 2013, by the peer-reviewed journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The article is available online at http://oem.bmj.com/content/early/2013/10/14/oemed-2013-101662.full . The researchers found that: Cancers of the respiratory, digestive, and urinary systems accounted mostly for the higher rates of cancer seen in the study population. The higher rates suggest that firefighters are more likely to develop those cancers. The population of firefighters in the study had a rate of mesothelioma two times greater than the rate in the U.S. population as a whole. This was the first study ever to identify an excess of mesothelioma in U.S. firefighters. The researchers said it was likely that the findings were associated with exposure to asbestos, a...

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Mesothelioma, Other Cancers Higher Among Firefighters

Today's post was shared by Linda Reinstein and comes from ohsonline.com

Occupational Health & Safety Mesothelioma, Other Cancers Higher Among Firefighters A new study involving 30,000 firefighters strengthens the scientific evidence for a relation between firefighting and cancer, the researchers said. A new study involving a total of 30,000 firefighters from three large cities found they had higher rates of several types of cancers, and of all cancers combined, than the U.S. population as a whole. The findings are consistent with earlier studies, but because this one followed a larger study population for a longer period of time, the results strengthen the scientific evidence for a relation between firefighting and cancer, the researchers said. The findings by NIOSH researchers and colleagues were reported online Oct. 14 by the peer-reviewed journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The article is available at http://oem.bmj.com/content/early/2013/10/14/oemed-2013-101662.full. The researchers found that cancers of the respiratory, digestive, and urinary systems accounted mostly for the higher rates of cancer in the study population. The firefighters had a rate of mesothelioma two times greater than the rate in the U.S. population as a whole. The researchers said it was likely that the findings were associated with exposure to asbestos, and NIOSH noted this is the first study ever to identify an excess of mesothelioma in U.S. firefighters. The study analyzed cancers and cancer deaths through 2009 among 29,993 firefighters from the Chicago,...

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Shutdown’s science fallout could last for years

Today's post was shared by RWJF PublicHealth and comes from www.politico.com

The government may finally be on a path to reopening, but the shutdown’s effects will linger for scientists studying everything from climate change to cancer. Antarctica-bound field researchers stuck in budget limbo over the past three weeks fret that decades of data on penguins and ice sheets will end up with a glaring gap, undercutting their documentation of global warming. Doctors operating federal-funded clinical studies on Alzheimer’s, cocaine addiction and heart disease worry they’ve lost the trust of patients. Public health officials warn the country is still “flying blind” for the start of the flu season. “Even if the government opens tomorrow, a significant amount of damage has been done,” said Mary Woolley, president of Research!America, a nonprofit advocating for science-minded agencies. “This isn’t about a few people who can’t go to the labs like they’re on vacation or something. The whole research enterprise depends on operating 24/7.” Thinking more of the big picture, there’s also the little matter of keeping the best and brightest researchers working in, and for, the United States or seeing them flee to the private sector. It’s a realistic expectation after nearly three years of stop-and-go budget battles resulting in sequestration and now the cruel reality of laboratories ordered to keep the lights out. (WATCH: Who won the shutdown? Top 5 quotes) “Would you...

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