Doctors or Entrepreneurs? The Triple Mission Problem.

Mike Magee This week’s blockbuster investigative article in Science doesn’t pull punches. Its’ headline: “Investigation reveals widespread double dipping in NIH program to pay off school debt.” The article cites incontrovertible evidence of taxpayer dollar support for student debt loan forgiveness being granted to many clinical investigators (more than half MD’s) who are on for-profit […]

Are Wars on Cancer and Alzheimers a Good Substitute for a National Health Plan?

Lipitor Revenue Mike Magee Arguably, the pharmaceutical “age of the blockbusters” ended nearly 20 years ago with Pfizer’s hostile takeover of Warner-Lambert which rewarded them richly with the nation’s 5th statin, Lipitor. In 2006, it delivered almost $13 billion in revenue, and yet the company was in a full blown panic, as reflected in the […]

Time For Americans To Speak on Health Care Priorities

Cathy Caldwell, Alabama CHIP Mike Magee Of all the developed nations on earth, our’s is the only one with no cogent national plan to support our citizens’ health, productivity and well-being. What we have in its place is an opaque and deeply collusive system of discovery profiteering that has entangled not only industry, but also […]

Academic Medicine – What’s To Become of the Triple Mission Under Universal Health Care?

Hopkins Alumni Careers 1980-2012. Mike Magee A New York Times banner headline in 2016 read, “Harnessing the U.S. Taxpayer to Fight Cancer and Make Profits”. It documented the unusual partnership between Kite Pharma, a cancer immunotherapy start-up run by serial entrepreneur, Arie Nelldegrun, and the U.S. government. The underlying immunotherapy research was the […]

NEJM Critique of US Medical Research – 1966 vs. 2016. A Deeply Conflicted System.

Henry K. Beecher,MGH Mike Magee “Assessing the Gold Standard – Lessons from the History of RCTs” , in last week’s NEJM, provided useful historical perspective, but was intentional selective and treaded lightly on the darker side of America’s medical-industrial complex, and its conflicted role in human medical experimentation. The most significant determinant that defined the direction of […]

“Zika” meets “Bayh-Dole Act” meets “Twitter”

Mike Magee Few on the planet remain unfamiliar with an infectious disease threat that was invisible to most a year or so ago – the Zika virus. It’s association with microcephaly and original concentrated appearance in Brazil (home to the 2016 Summer Olympics) has created the image-driven, news barrage that publicized the threat. All of the […]