STAT News, September 12, 2017. The Food and Drug Administration carefully polices many categories of drugs and devices. But when it comes to software, the agency’s oversight is scanty at best — something that a new study finds is resulting in failure to detect dangerous glitches in software-enabled medical equipment.
Read More »We’re In The News
As a respected nonprofit health research center, our views are often quoted in the media, including newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, and websites. We also write articles and blogs for a number of different and highly respected newspapers, magazines, and popular websites, and we are published in prestigious medical journals and health policy publications. We frequently express our policy views in letters to government officials and public comments to federal agencies and we sometimes release statements or press releases on newsworthy issues.
Please e-mail info@center4research.org or call 202-223-4000 with your inquiries. We can assist you with scheduling interviews with the NCHR President, Dr. Diana Zuckerman, and other experts on our staff.
Statement of Dr. Diana Zuckerman in honor of Dr. Vivian Pinn
September 8, 2017. I am going to Charlottesville on September 13 to honor Dr. Vivian Pinn, our 2013 Foremother Awards honoree, as a major UVA medical school building is named in her honor. Dr. Pinn received her medical degree from the University of Virginia in 1967, where she was the only African-American and only woman in her graduating class.
Read More »Will Controversial Bill Cure or Kill Patients?
Who What Why, September 7, 2017. Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Center for Health Research, points out that drug companies rely on a three-phase clinical trial process to gain FDA approval for their products. If RTT siphoned off patients with life-threatening illnesses from clinical trials, particularly for trials of medications serving limited populations with rare diseases, drug companies might find it even harder to enroll enough patients to complete them. And health insurers will not pay for drugs that lack FDA approval.
Read More »EpiPen Maker Failed to Investigate Product Flaws Associated with Patient Deaths, FDA Says
Washington Post, September 7, 2017. “It may well be a very small number, relatively speaking, of EpiPens that are likely to be problematic, and it may be that those have been recalled. But the parents and patients don’t know that,” Zuckerman said. “This is a product where you don’t know, until you use it, whether it works or not. I think it’s safe to say no patient — and no parent — wants to find out the hard way that the product that they have isn’t effective.”
Read More »What You Need to Know About Essure
Our Bodies Ourselves, August 23, 2017. The “Ah-ha” moment came when several women told us that they had participated in clinical trials the FDA used as the basis for its approval. They told us that their reports of unrelenting, debilitating pain and other serious side effects were not included in the clinical trial data. Why? They said they were told by the doctors and nurses involved in the studies that the side effects were not caused by the device.
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