Tag: 21st Century Cures Act

08/2/16

Not Everything Is As It Appears

16717908 - conceptual illusion portrait of a male model.
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On the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) website is an article on: “The Impact of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising.” It stated that doctors, for the most part, believe that direct-to-consumer advertising for drugs has both positive and negative effects.  This conclusion was based on a survey of physicians released by the FDA in 2004. Most physicians thought direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising stimulated their patients to ask thoughtful questions and become more aware of possible treatments. “Many physicians thought that DTC ads made their patients more involved in their treatment.” As I was reading this article, I had the distinct feeling that Rod Serling was giving his commentary over the opening music for his show and then he said: “Your next stop, the Twilight Zone.”

Although the above FDA page was last updated on 10/23/2015, the American Medical Association (AMA) publically called for a ban on direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs and medical devices on November 17, 2015. The AMA news release said: “Today’s vote in support of an advertising ban reflects concerns among physicians about the negative impact of commercially-driven promotions, and the role that marketing costs play in fueling escalating drug prices.” Writing for STAT, Ed Silverman said he thought the chances of an advertising ban happening were negligible. Lawmakers have attempted to ban drug ads before without success; and court rulings recognizing the free speech rights of pharmaceutical companies could thwart any new attempts.

A public opinion poll done by the Kaiser Family Foundation was cited by Silverman as finding that about half of its respondents thought prescription drug advertising did a good job describing the potential benefits and side effects; and was mostly a good thing. Based on the Kaiser poll, Silverman concluded that most Americans believe drug ads allow patients to have greater involvement in their health care decisions. A spokesperson for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) agreed: ““It’s not a bad thing for patients to bring questions to the doctor’s office.”

This Kaiser poll echoed a 2011 article in Pharmacy and Therapeutics, by C. Lee Ventola, “Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising.”  Ventola concluded the available evidence indicated there were both positive and negative effects on consumers from DTC advertising. He thought a ban or severe curtailment was unlikely. But remedies that maximized the benefits and minimized the risks of DTC advertising with prescription drugs were possible. “It is hoped that these measures will allow this controversial, but powerful, medium to be better utilized for the improvement of public health.”

However, STAT seems to have developed doubts about the validity of those findings. In conjunction with The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, they recently published the results of a poll on American’s attitudes towards changing regulations about prescription drugs.

The STAT-Harvard poll found that 57% of adults in the U.S. supported removing prescription drug advertising from television. Almost the same percentage (58%) opposed changing government standards to speed up the process of developing new prescription drugs and medical devices. Only 7% said they considered taking a drug they saw advertised on TV and 14% said they had experienced a serious side effect from taking prescription drugs in the past five years. Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy at Harvard who oversaw the poll, said: “There is a cautiousness about safety and efficacy here that people hadn’t realized before.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) noted that attempts to establish DTC advertising for drugs in Europe were “doomed to failure.” Back in 2009, 22 of the 27 European Union member states opposed the “information to patients” strand of a proposal for new pharmaceutical legislation. “This despite the fact that the legislation would have limited pharmaceutical companies to using the internet and specialist health publications to disseminate information.” According to Dr. Dee Mangin, an associate professor at the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences in New Zealand: “The truth is direct-to-consumer advertising is used to drive choice rather than inform it.”

However, the situation is different in the U.S. The STAT-Harvard poll comes just as lawmakers begin to grapple with whether to approve legislation to change government regulations, ones that are blamed by Pharma for slowing the approval process for new drugs and medical devices. The House passed H.R.6-the 21st Century Cures Act, in July of 2015. Among other things, H.R.6 seeks to revise government safety and effectiveness standards to speed up the approval process for new prescription drugs. It also includes more than $8 billion of additional funding for the NIH. However, disagreement between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate over how to pay for H.R.6 led to an impasse. So the House bill was broken up into several smaller ones.

Dr. Robert Califf, the newly appointed FDA commissioner, expressed concern that if the pending legislation was not carefully crafted, it could pose significant risks for the FDA and American patients. “Innovative therapies are not helpful to patients if they don’t work, or worse, cause harm.” But there is a concurrent series of judicial actions that could make the regulatory situation even more chaotic.

On March 8, 2016, the FDA agreed that Amarin could promote its drug Vascepa for off-label use. This was the end result of an August 2015 ruling by a judge that Amarin could market its product to a broader patient population than the FDA had originally approved. The heart of the company’s argument was that it had a first Amendment right of  “commercial free speech” to market Vascepa off-label to a broader patient group. See “Opening the Off-Label Floodgates” for more on this issue. Given the recent court rulings in favor of the commercial free speech of pharmaceutical companies, the FDA needs to revise its regulations regarding off-label marketing. But it seems that some members of Congress are getting impatient with the time the agency is taking.

STAT indicated that two members of Congress have accused the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) of delaying guidelines for off-label marketing of drugs and medical devices. They wrote they were “perplexed” the FDA had not yet issued new guidelines and thought a disagreement between HHS and FDA leadership was the reason for the delay. “They also attached a draft bill that would allow companies to market products for unapproved uses.” Michael Carone of the Public Citizen Health Research Group said: “The threat to patient health posed by the draft bill attached to their letter is tremendous.” According to STAT, one source said:

HHS leadership doesn’t trust industry to do the right thing … HHS leadership believes off-label speech will lead to more aggressive marketing of new products that will raise costs to [Medicare and Medicaid]. They are allowing both their prejudices [industry as the bad guy] and priorities [keeping spending down] to get in the way … The White House shares these fears, and as a result the FDA’s desire to issue guidance is stymied.

Not surprisingly, three of the interest groups contributing heavily to the reelection campaigns of these Congressmen were related to healthcare, according to MapLight. From April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2015 Joe Pitt’s reelection campaign received $256,150 from Health Professionals, $178,500 from Pharmaceuticals/Health Products, and $69,600 from Health Services/HMOs, for a total of $504,250. Fred Upton, who is chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, received $304,700 from Pharmaceuticals/Health Products, $301,051 from Health Professionals, and $94,350 from Health Services/HMOs—for a total of $701,101.

The 21st Century Cures Act has a carrot-and-stick approach for health care reform embedded into it. The ‘carrot’ is a $9 billion increase of funding to the National Institutes of Health budget over the next five years. But the funding is attached to the ‘stick’ of faster approval of prescription drugs and medical devices. Ed Silverman said the House bill would allow the FDA to approve added uses for a drug WITHOUT relying on a randomized clinical trial. Daniel Carpenter, a Harvard political scientist who studies the FDA called the 21st Century Cures Act “the 19th Century Fraud Act” because of this provision. “This is a part of the bill that threatens to take us back more than a century.”

Instead of requiring a randomized clinical trial, the agency could base their decision on “clinical experience,” which essentially means anecdotal observations from physicians and patients.  The unreliability of basing judgments of drug effectiveness on anecdotal observations was why randomized double blind placebo-controlled method became the “gold standard” for clinical drug trials in the first place. Removing this requirement would be like returning to the time of patent medicines or stepping into the Twilight Zone of drug approvals. As he did when narrating the original show, Rod Serling has some words of wisdom we need to remember: “It may be said with a degree of assurance that not everything that meets the eye is as it appears.”

08/10/15

Marijuana Peek-a-Boo

© antonprado | stockfresh.com
© antonprado | stockfresh.com

On Friday, July 10th, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6, the 21st Century Cures Act (244-183). The bill is now in the Senate for consideration. There had been an amendment proposed that would have rescheduled marijuana and its derivatives under a new 1-R schedule, which would have facilitated research. Marijuana could then have been rescheduled further, after that research was completed and further reclassification was warranted. The National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) were also directed in the amendment to study the benefits and risks of medical marijuana. But the bipartisan amendment was defeated. The irony is that both critics and supporters of legalizing marijuana put forth the failed amendment.

Reporting for the Washington Post, Aaron Davis said that House Republicans have consistently defended their opposition to marijuana laws, saying there is no evidence that such action would do anything “but destroy the brains of the nation’s adolescents.” But the lack of evidence can be traced to Congressional resistance to fund federal agencies to do objective testing on the effects of marijuana. This “Catch 22” led to the support of the amendment by critics and supporters of legalization.

Maryland Representative Andy Harris, a doctor and outspoken critic of legalization over the past two years, co-sponsored the amendment. Before the House Rules Committee sidelined the amendment, he said: “We need science to clearly determine whether marijuana has medicinal benefits and, if so, what is the best way to gain those benefits.”  Harris reportedly doesn’t think that research will find medical benefits, but another Republican, H. Morgan Griffith of Virginia, thinks there are limited circumstances in which marijuana has medical benefits. He said: “This amendment would have answered the question one way or the other. I think it would have shown it is a valuable medical substance, but now we don’t have the evidence.”

The failed effort put advocates for marijuana legislation in the odd position of having to praise Harris, who had become a nemesis of their cause. Michael Collins, the policy manager for the pro-marijuana Drug Policy Alliance, said: “To Mr. Harris’s credit, he thinks there are benefits to researching marijuana, whether you support it or not.” Opponents to legalization of marijuana also see research as a logical step forward. Sue Rusche, head of the National Families in Action, a drug prevention organization, said: “Right now we really don’t know what you’re getting. What we need is research to show us what level of CBD and THC should be given and what’s safe.”

Back in January of 2014, President Obama said it was up to Congress, not his administration, to reschedule marijuana. Steven Nelson, reporting for US News and World Report, said that marijuana advocates said that wasn’t entirely accurate. Representative Earl Blumenauer from Oregon said the law actually permits the current administration to reclassify marijuana. “I don’t dispute that Congress could and should make the change, but it’s also something the administration could do in a matter of days and I hope they will consider it.” Rep. Blumenauer is one of 17 cosponsors of other legislation aimed at reclassifying marijuana, the “Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act.” There has been no action reported on the bill at this point. Govtrack.us said the bill had a 3% chance of getting past committee, and a 1% chance of being enacted. Blumenauer has introduced “The Marijuana Tax Act,” also listed as having a 1% chance of being enacted by Govtrack.us.

Tom Angell, chairman of the group, Marijuana Majority, said it was unfortunate that President Obama “passed the buck” to Congress on marijuana. Dan Riffle, the director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, said that rescheduling marijuana “is not a ‘job for Congress,’ as the president says.” Riffle said that scheduling decisions are handled by the DEA. In June of 2014, Anna Edney for Bloomberg Business reported that the FDA had been asked by the DEA to review marijuana’s status. This is the third time since 2001. In 2001 and 2006 the FDA recommended that marijuana remain a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance.

Douglas Throckmorton, the Deputy Director for Regulatory Programs at the FDA, acknowledged the FDA was once again conducting an analysis, but could not say when the FDA would complete its analysis or whether it would recommend a change. His testimony before a House subcommittee described the FDA’s role in potentially approving marijuana as a prescription drug.  Dr. Throckmorton affirmed the FDA’s belief that its drug approval process was “the best way to ensure that safe and effective new medicines from marijuana are available as soon as possible for the largest numbers of patients.” He added that it was important to apply these scientific standards to the development and assessment of any alleged therapeutic uses of marijuana.

One of the considerations with establishing the safety and efficacy of a drug is a manufacturer’s ability to demonstrate an ability to consistently manufacture a high-quality drug product. This presents a special challenge with botanically derived drugs like marijuana, including the consistency of lot-to-lot potency. Another consideration is the need to identify a method of consistently providing a specific drug dose. Citing a report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Throckmorton noted problems associated with getting consistent dosing from smoked products such as marijuana. The IOM recommended that clinical trials involving marijuana be conducted to find a safe, alternative delivery system.

If there is any future for marijuana as a medicine, it lies in its isolated components, the cannabinoids and their synthetic derivatives. Isolated cannabinoids will provide more reliable effects than crude plant mixtures. Therefore, the purpose of clinical trials of smoked marijuana would not be to develop marijuana as a licensed drug but rather to serve as a first step toward the development of nonsmoked rapid-onset cannabinoid delivery systems.

Throckmorton then cited two drugs approved for human use that contain active ingredients that are present or similar to those in botanical marijuana: Marinol and Cesamet.

These products have undergone FDA’s rigorous approval process and have been determined to be safe and effective for their respective indications, and reflect the views of the IOM that the future of marijuana as a potential medicine lies in classical pharmacological drug development. As a result, patients who need medication can have confidence that any approved drug will be safe and effective for its indicated uses.

So here’s what I’m thinking. When the 21st Century Cures Act is reviewed by the Senate, it needs a provision that will add the changes proposed by the Griffth-Harris-Blumenauer-Farr amendment. This would bring future research into medical marijuana under the authority of the FDA. Effective regulations for the safety and efficacy of medical marijuana can be developed. All states, those who have already approved the use of medical marijuana and those in the future who may approve it, would benefit from the standardization of FDA regulation. The existing problems with medical marijuana (see “Let’s Not Get Ahead of Ourselves”) such as biological and chemical contaminants, accurate labeling, overmedication, and consistent dosing in products could be worked out. The at times outrageous claims for exactly what marijuana DOES medically treat can be examined systematically and scientifically.

But I’m also thinking that isn’t what some legalization advocates want, because it will take time; and the momentum towards recreational marijuana legalization could be lost.  The best path to legalization is to let the political infighting in Congress and federal agencies like the FDA and the DEA continue to neutralize any federal regulation of medical marijuana while marijuana activists continue their state-by-state battle.  If I wanted to develop a strategy for national legalization of marijuana, I’d suggest the following.

The strategy for eventual national legalization of recreational marijuana is to eat the elephant one bite at a time. Keep the battles going state-by-state and keep the federal government out of the fight. Legislatures within the states where medical marijuana is not yet approved should hear about the income and health benefits of legalizing medical marijuana, but not the existing problems where it has been approved. Information on the different kinds of cannabinoids in marijuana and their varying medical benefits—some greater than others—needs to be suppressed. Let them think the medical benefits are all or nothing with marijuana and not contingent upon specific cannabinoids within marijuana. The known health problems from smoking marijuana should be minimized or ridiculed. If I wanted a sound national policy toward medical marijuana, I’d look for the following developments.

The best strategy to slow and perhaps stop the growth of state-by-state legalization of recreational marijuana is to be proactive about the legalization of medical marijuana at the federal level. Quality research that showed the medical benefits of specific cannabinoids, like CBD and THC, the psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana needs to be done. A more efficient delivery system for medical marijuana than smoking an herbal product of varying potency, with possible biological and chemical contaminants could be developed. The sideshow of existing medical marijuana “treatment” as an excuse to legally medicate (and overmedicate) with THC to get high would stop. Individuals who could benefit from legitimate medicinal marijuana products would get the help they need. And the recreational advocates couldn’t hide behind the medical marijuana movement anymore.