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 Comments on AHRQ’s Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Mental Health and Wellbeing in Children and Adolescents

The following written comment was submitted by the Health Policy Director, Dr. Amanda Berhaupt at The National Center for Health Research’ (NCHR) to the Agency of Health Research and Quality (AHRQ). AHRQ requested comments on the protocol for the Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI) for Mental Health and Wellbeing in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review by […]

NCHR Testimony on Talasoparib at the FDA Advisory Committee

May 21, 2025: NCHR’s Amanda Berhaupt testified at the FDA Advisory Committee that since the TALAPRO-2 trial shows Talzenna with Xtandi benefits castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer patients with HRRm tumors but not those without, the FDA should not expand approval to HRRm-negative patients. The FDA Committee agreed.

NCHR Testimony on Glofitamab-gxbm at the FDA Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee

May 20, 2025: NCHR’s Amanda Berhaupt testified at the FDA Advisory Committee that since Glofitamab trial shows Asian patients with Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma patients do well but US and European patients do poorly and STARGLO had too few US patients to generalize results, the Genentech trial does not confirm safety and efficacy for DLBCL patients. The FDA Committee agreed.

NCHR Follow-up to DC Council Environmental Health Hazards Roundtable

May 19, 2025: NCHR submitted a letter for the hearing record for the D.C. Council roundtable about environmental and safety hazards in DC parks and playgrounds. Our letter provided the requested information in response to questions about whether artificial turf is recycled and shared additional information about research indicating the presence of heavy metals on rubber playground surfaces.

Statement of Dr. Diana Zuckerman before the FDA Advisory Committees on Safety and Risk Management and Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products On Behalf of the National Center for Health Research

May 5, 2025: NCHR president Dr. Diana Zuckerman testified at the FDA joint meeting of the Safety and Risk Management and Anesthetic and Analgesic Drugs Advisory Committee to discuss the OPC industry consortium new research results on the safety of extended release and long-term opioids. We criticized the biased definition of opioid use disorder (OUD) created by the industry consortium, which resulted in making long-term opioid use seem safer than it really is. We also criticized the labeling on all opioids for not accurately stating that opioids are not proven safe or effective for long-term use.