Vested Interest - News and Notes - October 2005 Issue

Drug Industry Seeks to Heal Image

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted in January found that only three percent of people polled thought that drug companies were working for the public good, and 76 percent thought they were mostly interested in making a profit. Now the industry is trying to revamp their image, including curbs on consumer ads, expanded access to low-cost drugs for the poor and more open disclosure of clinical trial data. The industry’s trade association has set up a program to help consumers enroll in programs that give discounted drugs to the poor and uninsured. (ATLA Law News Digest – September 1, 2005)

Warning on Breast Cancer Drug

Genentech Inc. sent a letter to doctors alerting them to research linking its Herceptin breast cancer drug to heart failure and cardiac death. The letter is based on research finding four percent of Herceptin patients had severe heart failure and cardiac death, compared with almost one percent of a similar group that did not take the drug. The Herceptin label, approved by the FDA, already warned that heart failure is a risk. (ATLA Law News Digest – September 1, 2005)

California Attorney General Wants Warning Label on Fries

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer asked for a court order requiring McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Frito Lay and other companies to warn consumers that their fries and chips may contain acrylamide, a chemical the state says causes cancer. At least one of the companies disputes that, saying there is no evidence the substance is carcinogenic. The lawsuit focuses on French fries and chips because they have more acrylamide than other foods. A Frito Lay spokeswoman said there was no scientific evidence that acrylamide causes cancer, and it was counterproductive for the state to sue companies when California regulators are setting standards for the chemical under Proposition 65. (ATLA Law News Digest – September 1, 2005)

Insurance Premiums Not Influenced by Lawsuits

The number and value of medical malpractice payments made to patients on behalf of Washington state doctors have declined significantly, according to an analysis of federal government information. Jury verdicts have remained flat, and million-dollar payments, another frequent target of critics, have fallen significantly, not increased, in recent years. Meanwhile, the study found the number of Washington state doctors has increased well beyond the growth in population over the past decade, and there has been even greater growth in board-certified specialists, such as OB-GYNs, emergency room doctors and internists. Key findings include: The number of malpractice payments declined 35.6 percent between 1999 and 2004. There was a 42.2 percent drop in the total value of Washington doctors’ medical malpractice payments between 1997-2004, when adjusted for medical inflation. The population-adjusted number of malpractice filing is down 23.1 percent since 1995, dropping from 9.41 per 100,000 people in 1995 to 7.24 in 2004. (Public Citizen press release – September 7, 2005)

FDA Knew of Thimerosal Dangers for 60 Years

According to the GAO, over the 1990s, an estimated 12 million vaccinations were given each year and more than 40 million children were vaccinated. Since the 1930s, mercury-based Thimerosal has been added to vaccines as a preservative to boost drug company profits by allowing vaccine makers to package in bulk instead of individual doses. According to newly discovered research, supported by a grant from the AMA, government agencies have known for 60 years that Thimerosal was neither safe or effective, and it should have been removed as a preservative in pharmaceutical products. (ATLA Law News Digest – September 8, 2005)

New Safety Regulations would Bar Lawsuits

A federal agency’s proposal to strengthen roof crush resistance standards for certain vehicles would pre-empt state court lawsuits against automakers that comply. Whether automakers should get that protection, recently proposed by the NHTSA, is the subject of fierce debate among lawyers. But the agency probably has the authority to shield automakers from state tort liability. The lawsuit protection would take effect three years after the final rule is formally adopted by the NHTSA, which is expected in February. (ATLA Law News Digest – September 8, 2005)

Minorities Often Pay More for Mortgages

Blacks and Hispanics are getting a disproportionate share of high-cost mortgages compared with whites, according to new federal figures. The analysis of 2004 home-lending data shows that even after adjusting for factors such as income level, loan size and property location that would raise the interest rate offered on a mortgage, blacks are still nearly twice as likely as whites to be given a high-cost loan. The raw data show many minorities are more than two or three times as likely overall than whites to get what are deemed high-priced loans. (ATLA Law News Digest – September 15, 2005)

Making Flights Safer

University of Texas researchers have found more than 60 percent of all flights have some kind of error made in the cockpit. Most are inconsequential goofs such as missing an air-traffic-control call or skipping a minor item on a checklist. These are usually corrected. The researchers came up with a strategy called "Threat and Error Management" to reduce errors and keep them from cascading into catastrophe. Continental Airlines said after implementing the methods, cockpit errors have been reduced by 70 percent in pilot-monitoring studies. The International Civil Aviation Organization now says all countries have to develop threat and error management programs and the Federal Aviation Administration has supported the research. (ATLA Law News Digest – September 15, 2005)

Asbestos Fund Bars 9 Doctors

One of the oldest and largest trusts set up to compensate victims of asbestos exposure has barred payments to claimants who rely on reports by nine doctors and three X-ray screening companies. The named doctors are responsible for tens of thousands of claims submitted to the trust, which has paid out $3.3 billion to resolve 655,096 claims since it was created in 1988. The move by the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust is a response to growing concern that some of the claims it receives are not valid and may even be fraudulent. (ATLA Law News Digest – September 22, 2005)

Asbestos Stocks Hostage

Six months ago, W.R. Grace & Co. was the hottest stock in town. Up more than 400 percent last year. Grace shares were surfing a wave of confidence that Congress would soon pass legislation limiting the liability of companies facing asbestos lawsuits, enabling Grace to come out of bankruptcy, put the asbestos business behind it and get on with life as a chemical and building-supplies company. But the controversial asbestos bill hasn’t even come up for a vote in the Senate and shares of Grace have plunged 40 percent since the first of the year. (ATLA Law News Digest – September 22, 2005)

Feds Probe Bulletproof Vests

The Justice Department is investigating whether a company sold defective bulletproof vests for President Bush, federal agents and local police and then waited nearly two years to alert customers that the body armor could be unsafe. A former research chief for Second Chance Body Armor Inc. is cooperating with the criminal investigation and testified this month that the Secret Service tested and bought some of the defective vests for the President and first lady. Many sales occurred well after Michigan-based Second Chance had been alerted that the Japanese-made Zylon material in the vests was degrading faster than expected from heat, light and moisture, allowing bullets to potentially penetrate the armor. (Chicago Sun-Times – September 27, 2005)