[Ip-health] Comparative-Effectiveness Bill to Hit U.S. Senate

[James Love]

Relevant to the IGWG proposals for funding clinical trials as public
goods is this report.  Jamie

http://fdanews.com/newsletter/article?issueId=3D11490&articleId=3D105789

FDAnews Drug Daily Bulletin
April 14, 2008  | Vol. 5 No. 73

Comparative-Effectiveness Bill to Hit Senate

A bill establishing a comparative-effectiveness research institute is
scheduled for introduction in the Senate this week, congressional
staffers say.

The Comparative Effectiveness Research Act of 2008, sponsored by Sens.
Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.), would establish an
institute to evaluate the effectiveness of different drugs and medical
devices that exist for the same treatment.

The creation of such an organization was the subject of a public meeting
held last week by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), an
independent agency that advises Congress on issues affecting Medicare.
The group supports a comparative-effectiveness program and recommends
that Congress establish an independent entity to sponsor and disseminate
such information. The entity would conduct prospective, head-to-head
clinical trials of competing products as well as clinical reviews.

In a report last June, MedPAC said not enough credible, empirically
based information is available for providers and payers to make
decisions on alternative treatments and diagnostics for the most common
conditions. New services become routine medical care without their
comparative effectiveness being taken into account, the commission said.

Recently, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services=E2=80=99 Chief Medical
Officer Barry Straube said Medicare would have to address
comparative-effectiveness and cost-effectiveness issues to achieve
greater value for the program. MedPAC agreed. One committee member said
the research needed today is not to support another device or "me-too
drug" but to promote value. The commission also advised that the
institute have no role in making or recommending coverage or payment
decisions.
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_____________________________
James Love, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
http://www.keionline.org, mailto:james.love@keionline.org
voice +1.202.332.2670, fax +1.202.332.2673, US mobile +1.202.361.3040, Gene=
va mobile +41.76.413.6584

When everyone thinks the same, no one thinks.  Bill Walton remix of Walter =
Lippmann