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November 9, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

Dr. Henry Miller, M.S., M.D. talks about the impact of a pending vaccine in the United States. Miller also talks about continuing treatments like remdisivir, zinc, and other common treatments to help fight the COVID-19 and how they will play an important role as more vaccine are developed. Larson and Miller also talk about how COVID-19 has been found to impact the immune system and what hospitals and health care officials can do to lessen the impact of the coronavirus. Lars...

November 3, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus

President Trump’s COVID-19 recovery has thrust into the spotlight the possibilities of novel, experimental therapies for this potentially deadly disease.  During his stay at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, he was treated with at least three drugs that have since received substantial attention in the media: the anti-viral remdesivir, the glucocorticoid steroid dexamethasone, and the monoclonal antibody cocktail REGN-COV2. While evidence suggests these drugs may be effective (and remdesivir just received full marketing approval from the FDA), there are other potential game-changers...

October 29, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate, Innovation

For the more than 7 million Americans who inject insulin, Friday will mark an important anniversary: 38 years since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of human insulin synthesized in genetically engineered bacteria. This momentous event launched a revolutionary new era in pharmaceutical development, and, as the FDA medical reviewer of the product and the head of the evaluation team at the time, I had a front-row seat. To commemorate the event, I open a bottle of champagne every...

October 26, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

PRI's Dr. Henry Miller joins the John Batchelor Show to discuss the lateset updates on a coronavirus vaccine. Dr. Miller talks about President Donald Trump's treatment with remdisivir during his positive coronavirus diagnosis. Batchelor and Miller talk about the push by the American government decades ago to use advertising to influence the public to take the polio vaccine and what the government can do now to encourage everyone to take a COVID-19 one. Miller also breakdowns how effective a vaccine...

October 26, 2020 Coronavirus-Alternate2

By Henry Miller, M.S., M.D. and Andrew Fillat Americans -- so desperate to end the need for masks, social distancing, and limited access to restaurants, salons, concerts, and schools -- will surely be clamoring for a vaccine as soon as it’s available. Or will they?  Recent polls suggest that only about 40% of Americans would take the vaccine. It is vital that this number be increased. But how? Let's explore this issue. There is widespread anticipation of vaccines to prevent COVID-19 infections so that...

October 20, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified various political and economic flashpoints. From health care to housing, drug pricing to food pricing, the societal strain of the pandemic has renewed the urgency and raised the stakes for long-standing issues. The increasingly heated debate about the rules and regulations governing medical device servicing is an exemplar of this new reality. Although the dispute between independent aftermarket repair businesses and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) isn’t new, it has shifted from auto repair, farm equipment, and...

October 13, 2020 Briefs, Innovation, Price and Costs

A new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute shows that counterfeit drugs put patients in harm’s way, hinder drug innovation, and lead to job losses. Proposals like drug importation or price controls, if implemented, would exacerbate the problem and result in more health and economic consequences. Click here to download the brief “Counterfeit drugs expose patients to potentially lethal contaminants, and may also increase public health risks by failing to effectively...

October 7, 2020 Coronavirus-Alternate2

“Don’t Fight the Fed” is an old saying that advises business investors to align their choices with the actions of the Federal Reserve System, the U.S. central banking system which has several potent tools at its disposal to influence stock prices. When it comes to understanding and preventing the spread of infectious diseases, an analogous maxim might be, “don’t fight science,” or, more specifically, epidemiology. A pertinent example is the outbreak of COVID-19 among President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, senior presidential advisor Hope...

October 5, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

Dr. Henry Miller and John Batchelor break down President Donald Trump's positive coronavirus diagnosis. Miller also looks at the different pillars that are in place to help reduce the spread of coronavirus in crowded areas. Miller also talks about the pending flu season, what the stress of more flu cases could mean for hospitals, and any changes the public should make to their health protocols. ...

September 29, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

Ex-FDA Doc: Agency Suffering ‘Unprecedented’ Loss of Trust By Adam Smith Early this year, when the novel coronavirus that was devastating China began to spread to other countries, hope came in the promise of a quick vaccine, one that doctors and scientists bet could be created in just a year and a half if all went well. But some were cautious, such as Dr. Henry I. Miller, who for many years worked at the Food and Drug Administration and who was a founding director of the agency's...

September 29, 2020 Blog, Policy Proposals

Title: Big Pharma Backs Joe Biden, But People Don't Think He'll Fix Drug Pricing By Darragh Roche Former Vice President Joe Biden is winning the race for donations from Big Pharma but experts and industry stakeholders doubt his plans will successfully lower drug prices or address underlying issues in the industry. The pharmaceuticals and health products industry has donated more than $5.9 million to Biden's presidential campaign, according to OpenSecrets.org, a site run by the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political donations....

September 29, 2020 Briefs, Price and Costs

A new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the Pacific Research Institute found that reforms mandating drug rebates benefit patients rather than payers would lower overall health care costs and help patients with expensive out-of-pocket drug costs. Click here to download the brief “Ironically, the current drug concession system is raising patient costs,” write the briefs authors, Wayne Winegarden and Robert Popovian. “Mandating that all drug concessions must benefit the patients purchasing the medicines is a...

September 28, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus-Alternate2

Politicians continue perpetuating the myth that drug price controls are the necessary cure for the country’s healthcare affordability problems. Whether it is Speaker Pelosi’s “The Lower Drug Costs Now Act”, or President Trump’s Most Favored Nation (MFN) and Drug Importation Executive Orders, these policies are destined to fail. Undoubtedly, there are problems with the drug pricing system that harms patients, and reforms that fix these problems are urgently needed. But, adopting the ill-fated price controls that are implemented in other industrialized countries will create new...

September 24, 2020 Coronavirus - Alternate

Dr. Henry Miller and Lars Larson review the many confusing statements that have come out of the U.S. Center for Disease Control, or CDC, since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Miller and Larson talk about the recent development that the CDC released around COVID-19 being transmitted in the air, but then walking back that information. Miller also explains a new standard being introduced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, that could change the timeline for approving a COVID-19...

September 21, 2020 Coronavirus-Alternate2

PRI Senor Fellow Dr. Henry Miller joins the John Batchelor Show for a two-part discussion on what can go wrong with a November vaccine for the coronavirus. Miller talks about how safe a vaccine would be this fall and discrepancies between comments from Dr. Anthony Fauci and other federal experts, noting that more data is needed from the testing and clinical trials. Miller also talks about the consistency needed to produce and distribute the vaccine and how the vaccine should...

September 17, 2020 Coronavirus

There is widespread anticipation of the availability of vaccines to prevent COVID-19 infections so that Americans can get their lives back to some semblance of normal. Some four dozen vaccines, made with a variety of technology platforms, are now in clinical trials; nine are in large-scale safety/efficacy testing. Several of the more promising development programs have been accelerated by a White House crash program, “Operation Warp Speed,” which was launched in May. It was no secret that there would be intense pressure...

September 17, 2020 Policy Proposals

So far in his campaign for president, Democratic nominee Joe Biden has assiduously avoided endorsing Medicare for All — much to the chagrin of a growing number of Democrats. A recent Hill-HarrisX poll finds that 87 percent of Democrats favor Medicare for All. And numerous delegates to the convention voted against the Democratic platform because it didn’t call for a federal takeover of the country’s health insurance system. But don’t be fooled. This intraparty squabble is more a matter of style than...

September 17, 2020 Coronavirus

Dr. Henry Miller and Lars Larson talk about who could be eligible for an early vaccine and what data could tell us about how effective the vaccine will be on different age groups. Miller also talks about having insufficient data on vaccine clinical testing for seniors or those more at risk of COVID-19 due to those not involved in the study and sheltering at home. Miller and Larson also discuss concerns from health experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci about the coming...

September 15, 2020 Policy Proposals

President Trump and senior advisor Jared Kushner claim that the most favored nation executive order signed by the President over the weekend is necessary for drug pricing because “the U.S. shouldn’t pay more than other European countries for the same treatments.” This policy will make things worse, not better. If the president and his son-in-law applied their flawed logic consistently, then there is an even greater economic disparity that requires fixing. People living in Manhattan or San Francisco are paying more than other...