We’re Speaking Out on Health Issues

NCHR scientists and health policy experts provide written and oral statements on a wide range of topics.

Here are many of the ways we have been Speaking Out on Health Policy Issues for the last few years. Whether the topic is legislation intended to cure diseases, proposed bans on BPA or other chemicals that disrupt your hormones, the importance of including women, people of color, and patients over 65 in clinical trials, or many other topics, you’ll gain a better understanding of our evidence-based analyses by reading these letters, statements, and testimony.

Here are the ways we have been Speaking out on Medical Treatments and Products, such as prescription drugs and medical devices that the FDA is considering approving, or is considering taking off the market because of serious risks. Whether the topic is Chantix, Addyi, Yaz, Essure, or medical products you’ve never heard of, you can find out more about what is known and not known about the safety and effectiveness of a wide range of products by looking through this section of our website.

NCHR Comment on USPSTF’s Draft Recommendation Statement Screening for Intimate Partner Violence and Elder Abuse

May 21, 2018. In conclusion, we agree with the USPSTF’s efforts to provide updated recommendations on screening of IPV and abuse based on quality, up-to-date studies. The benefits of screening for IPV for women outweigh the risks, and future studies should allow recommendations to be made for other populations. We agree with the USPSTF draft recommendation on IPV and elder abuse.

NCHR Comment on FDA’s Draft Guidance on Developing Drugs for Early Alzheimer’s Disease

May 16, 2018. We support the encouragement of research to develop drugs that would prevent or slow the progression of early Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We support the FDA’s recognition of the importance of efficacy endpoints that demonstrate a clinically meaningful effect on daily function and/or cognition for drug development. It is not appropriate to depend entirely on the use of biomarkers and of limited, narrow measures of neuropsychological performance. It will be important that when these newly developed drugs are evaluated for approval that the FDA maintains high standards for evidence that are based on sound science.

NCHR Letter to CDC Director Supporting Review of Biopsy Before Hysterectomy or Myomectomy

May 18, 2018. We strongly urge the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conduct a review to determine the potential benefits of requiring pre-surgical biopsies for women scheduled for hysterectomy or myomectomy (removal of fibroids).

Statement of National Center for Health Research Supporting A CDC Review to Save Women’s Lives

The National Center for Health Research strongly supports the announcement that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may conduct a review of the potential benefits of biopsies for women scheduled for hysterectomy or fibroid removal. The review is essential because a recent article, published in the medical journal Obstetrics & Gynecology reports that the rate of unsuspected cancer is dangerously high in women undergoing hysterectomy. When those women undergo surgery, particularly procedures involving a medical device called a power morcellator, the cancer can spread inside the woman’s abdomen, resulting in an early-stage cancer being upstaged to a much more dangerous metastatic (stage 4) cancer. The risks are especially high for women ages 55 and older, reaching almost 10% for undiagnosed uterine cancer.

NCHR and NPA Comments at FDA Advisory Committee on New Treatment for Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

May 2, 2018, We urge the panel to recommend that FDA require additional well-designed superiority studies that use appropriate statistical methods to determine whether plazomicin cures infections and saves lives for patients who have no other options. With reliable methods, even small studies can show a clinically meaningful and significant benefit. Since there is no evidence that plazomicin works or is safe for patients who have no or limited options, approval will do more harm than good.