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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...

September 15, 2020 Policy Proposals

By: Henry Miller, M.S., M.D. and Andrew Fillat Recently, we co-authored an article about the thorny issues surrounding who would get access to the earliest doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. As we discussed, there are many possible options for setting priorities in terms of who should be vaccinated first. One obvious solution one would be to prioritize the people who are instrumental in mitigating the pandemic, with front-line medical personnel and staff at long-term care facilities going to the head of the line....

September 15, 2020 Industry Trends

Pacific Research Institute senior fellow and economist Dr. Wayne Winegarden talks free market energy, California rolling power blackouts, and optimistic solutions to energy policy on The Roth Effect with Carol Roth. Winegarden also discusses his recent studies that challenge green energy, fracking, electric vehicles, and more. [embed]https://mp3.ricochet.com/2020/09/Roth_Effect_66.mp3[/embed]...

September 14, 2020 Coronavirus

Title: Here’s what you need to know about clinical trials as drug makers push forward with coronavirus vaccine studies By: Jaimy Lee Whether you’re new to investing in pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies or simply paying close attention to the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, questions may have occurred about how clinical trials work — here’s what you need to know to understand the process. The first thing is that we’ve never seen vaccines developed as quickly as what is happening right now....

September 12, 2020 Policy Proposals

Earlier this month, the California legislature passed a bill that would make the Golden State the first in the nation to establish its own line of generic drugs. Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the bill into law by the end of the month. The measure’s architects argue that a state-run generics firm would provide additional competition in the drug market and lead to lower prices. But that promise is empty. Generic drugs can’t get much cheaper. Setting up a...