Teva and Ranbaxy Agreement Announced for the Sale of Generic Lipitor

With the huge sales of Lipitor Pfizer has had over the years, this has to be one of the hottest generics around today as Teva will profit from a portion of the sales.  Pfizer in the meantime said the would sell name brand Lipitor at the generic prices. 

Earlier this month, Teva announced laying off over 100 employees in the US and the UK after acquiring Cephalon. 

Teva Laying Off Over 1000 Employees in the US and UK After Cephalon Acquisition

JERUSALEM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA) announced today that pursuant to an agreement between its subsidiary, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. and Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited ("Ranbaxy"), a portion of the profits from Ranbaxy’s sales of Atorvastatin Calcium Tablets during Ranbaxy’s 180-day first-to-file exclusivity period, will be paid to Teva. Terms of the agreement will not be disclosed.

Atorvastatin Calcium Tablets are the generic version of Pfizer’s Lipitor® Tablets. Annual sales of Lipitor® were approximately $7.8 billion in the United States as of September 2011, based on IMS sales data.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20111130006876/en/Teva-Announces-Agreement-Ranbaxy-Generic-Lipitor%C2%AE

FINRA Sanctions Firms for Selling Interests in Troubled Companies, One in the OC, Capital Holdings Financed IHHI–Chain of 8 Hospitals in the OC–Guns, Porn You Name It All Here

This is a healthcare soap opera if you have ever heard one.  I guess living here I’m imageprobably a little closer to this and have friends who work for IHHI and it is a mess and a Ponzi scheme.  Here we go back to 2009 where Capital Holdings was closed and the hospitals didn’t know if they were going to stay afloat or not.  There’ still no final word from the SEC so I guess a good thing here that FINRA stepped. 

Medical Capital Holdings Closed by Federal Judge – IHHI Hospitals Waiting Outcome

They had to take bids on the mortgage…

IHHI Hospital Bids Continue for the Mortgage –Prem Reddy at 57M and Kali Chaudhuri at 55M

But it gets worse than that…we had pornography and big expensive yacht in here too…IHHI’s Mogel and MCH’s Lampariello took an interest in securing a $5 million loan for a company called EMark Advertising Inc., which specializes in pornographic website advertising and of which MCH holds a 50 percent ownership interest. In depositions attached to IHHI’s lawsuit against a group of doctors and IHHI shareholders called Orange County Physicians Investment Network (OCPIN).  Mogel had his own personal issues with planting a gun and trying to frame another individual too while he was there. 

IHHI Hospital exec framed doctor on gun charge, lawsuit says – Orange County CA

OCPIN’s lawsuit against IHHI alleged that “Mogel used $10,000 of IHHI’s funds to arrange and pay for the black gloves and gun to be planted in Dr. Fitzgibbons’ vehicle, leading to his arrest.”

SEC Investigation Finds Medical Capital Holdings Diverting Investor Funds to Pornography and Other Businesses Aided by Former IHHI President – Orange County

In April of last year the hospital mogul that doctors went on strike to remove due to his work ethics and and treatment of doctors came back into control, and there were not many happy over this man coming back but it happened but he had money and came back in.  BD 

Control of IHHI Hospital Chain Returns to Kali P. Chaudhuri in Orange County Backed by a Hedge Fund - Some Are Nervous

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA

) has sanctioned  eight firms and 10 individuals, and ordered restitution totaling more than $3.2 million, for selling interests in private placement offerings without having a reasonable basis for recommending the securities.image

The firms and individuals sold interests in several high-risk private placements, including those issued by Provident Royalties, LLC, Medical Capital Holdings, Inc. and DBSI, Inc., which ultimately failed, causing significant investor losses.

From 2001 through 2009, Medical Capital Holdings, a medical receivables financing company based in Anaheim, CA, raised approximately $2.2 billion from over 20,000 investors through nine private placement offerings of promissory notes.

Medical Capital made interest and principal payments on its promissory notes until July 2008, when it began experiencing liquidity problems and stopped making payments on notes sold in two of its earlier offerings. Nevertheless, Medical Capital proceeded with its last offering, Medical Provider Funding Corporation VI, offered through an August 2008 private placement memorandum.

In July 2009, the SEC filed a civil injunctive action in federal district court in which it sought, and was granted, a preliminary injunction to stop all Medical Capital sales. The court appointed a receiver to gather and conduct an inventory of Medical Capital's remaining assets. The SEC action is pending.image

Garden State Securities, Inc. of Red Bank, NJ, and Kevin John DeRosa, a co-owner of the firm, were ordered to pay $300,000 in restitution on a joint-and-several basis to affected customers in connection with the sale of a Medical Capital private placement. DeRosa was also suspended for 20 business days in any capacity and for an additional two months in any principal capacity, and fined $25,000. Vincent Michael Bruno, the firm's Chief Compliance Officer at the time, was suspended for one month in a principal capacity and fined $10,000.

Capital Financial Services of Minot, ND, was ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution to affected customers, and Brian W. Boppre, a former principal, was suspended in any principal capacity for six months and fined $10,000 in connection with the sale of three Provident Royalties private placements and a Medical Capital private placement.

National Securities Corporation of Seattle, WA, was ordered to pay $175,000 in restitution to affected customers, and Matthew G. Portes, Director of Alternative Investments/Director of Syndications, was suspended in any principal capacity for six months and fined $10,000 in connection with the sale of three Provident Royalties private placements and a Medical Capital private placement.

Newbridge Securities Corporation of Fort Lauderdale, FL, was fined $25,000; Robin Fran Bush, the former Chief Compliance Officer of Newbridge, was suspended in any principal capacity for six months and fined $15,000 in connection with the sale of four DBSI private placements and a Medical Capital private placement.

Leroy H. Paris II, former President and Chief Executive Officer for the now-defunct Meadowbrook Securities, LLC (fka Investlinc Securities, LLC), of Jackson, MS, was suspended for six months in any principal capacity and fined $10,000 in connection with the sale of two Provident Royalties private placements and a Medical Capital private placement.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2011/11/finra-sanctions-firms-for-selling-interests-in-troubled-companies.html

Publish Ethics Committee Decisions - Part 2

Tarris Rosell over at Practical Bioethics has some good comments on my still underdeveloped proposal to publish ethics committee opinions.  




First, there certainly already is publication of ethics committee cases.  The deliberation and outcome of cases are regularly recounted and described in bioethics and medical journal articles.  So, I admit it is not as though we have zero insight into the functioning of ethics committee recommendation / decision making.  Still, my proposal would significantly expand the "database" of available cases.




Second, Tarris is correct that most committees do not really much engage in case consultation (though perhaps much more retrospective than prospective).  That is handled at the individual or small team level.  Nevertheless, a few cases do reach the full ethics committee.  I think that, at a minimum, these cases should be published.  This is especially, though not exclusively, true for that subset of situations (sometimes authorized by law in New York, Texas...) in which the ethics committee issues a non-advisory, binding decision.




Third, I recognize that even when cases are considered by a full committee, the only written outcome is typically just a chart note or email.  So, the objection states, there is not really much to publish.  But this presumes that the only benefit of publication is to promote permit transparency and debate.  I hope that a publication custom/requirement changes this, and prompts the preparation of written statements that should improve the deliberation and reasoning.


Finally, Tarris wonders what "our HIPAA people and Risk Manager would say about Professor Pope's suggestion."  I think that this is readily addressed by stripping the opinions / decisions of all identifying information concerning the patient or even the institution.


New Model Proxy Advance Directive Form and Guide

The ABA Commission on Law and Aging has released a new free booklet offering a simple durable power of attorney for health care, designed to meet the legal requirements in nearly all states. Giving Someone a Power of Attorney for Your Health Care: A Guide with an Easy-to-Use Legal Form for All Adults can be described as “bare bones” because it doesn’t provide specific instructions about medical treatments, as most standardized health care advance directive forms do. Instead, it provides solely for the appointment of a health care agent with broad health-care decision-making authority.   


A premise of the publication is that the guidance one gives an agent more effectively comes from having focused conversations with the agent and loved ones over time. There are a growing number of guides available on how to have those discussions and clarify one’s values and treatment goals, which, in fact, will change over time as one’s health and level of functioning change. 


Rasouli v. Sunnybrook -- in Globe & Mail

The Globe and Mail is continuing its awesome series on end-of-life healthcare.  Today, one of the articles summarizes the Rasouli case pending before the Supreme Court of Canada. 


The article observes: "I
f the court declines to hear the appeal, there will be no national guidance when families fight with physicians in hospitals and courtrooms over end-of-life issues."  Attorney Mark Handelman is quoted in the article: “As a country, we need to have these debates. But how are we going to do that when nobody wants to talk about it?”  Doug White and I expand on just this sort of argument in a piece forthcoming in JAMA.


Former FDA Chief Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach Appointed to the Board of Directors For BioTime and OncoCyte

In the last couple of years the former FDA Commish has also landed a couple of other board positions as well which I hope will keep him out of Gingrich’s think tank which is maybe where one may not want to be today.  image

Former FDA leader von Eschenbach Named to Viamet Board of Directors

Former FDA Commissioner, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach Finds a Home on the Board of HistoSonics

This of course comes at a time when Geron and Biotime are going to focus on oncology and have discontinued their stem cell research a few weeks ago as the money from investors with biotech are just not there.  BD 

Geron To Focus on Cancer Programs Discontinues Internal Development of Spinal Stem Cell Programs-66 Jobs Go Away–Biotech Gets Shot in the Foot With Funding While the Ridiculously Valued Chase for Social Algorithms Intensifies

ALAMEDA, Calif., Nov 29, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- BioTime, Inc. BTX -1.43% and BioTime's subsidiary, OncoCyte Corporation, today announced they have each appointed Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach to their boards of directors.

Dr. von Eschenbach is the President of Samaritan Health Initiatives, Inc., a health care policy consultancy, and is an Adjunct Professor at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. From September of 2005 to January 2009, Dr. von Eschenbach served as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Under his leadership, the FDA instituted a systems-based global approach to the regulation of food and medical products, establishing for the first time a permanent FDA presence in 16 foreign locations. In addition, he accelerated the Critical Path Initiative designed to modernize the scientific methods by which FDA-regulated products are developed, evaluated and manufactured.

"Dr. von Eschenbach's experience both in the clinic and in our federal government will benefit us greatly as BioTime builds its business in the field of human embryonic stem cells and regenerative medicine," said Michael D. West, Ph.D., BioTime's CEO. "In addition, his background in oncology will be invaluable for our team at OncoCyte as we develop new cancer diagnostics and therapeutics based on novel findings in cell biology."

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/biotime-inc-appoints-andrew-c-von-eschenbach-md-to-its-board-of-directors-2011-11-29?reflink=MW_news_stmp

Watson Pharma Gets FDA Approval for Generic Version of Contraceptive Yaz–A Drug That Has Suffered Recalls & Other Issues

Back in the middle of 2010 we had the somewhat hidden recall from the FDA of YAZ as they were out of spec. 

Hopefully this won’t happen again with the generic version, but this indicates to me this is one to keep an eye on. 

The Unknown FDA Recall of Bayer's Yaz Contraceptive Pills (And Some Prempro Too)

There’s yet one more version with vitamin enhancements too. 

FDA Approves Contraceptive Beyaz-Estrogen/Progesterone Pill That Adds Folate (B-Vitamin)

PARSIPPANY, N.J., Nov. 29, 2011 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: WPI) today announced that its subsidiary, Watson Laboratories, Inc., has received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration for its Abbreviated New Drug Application for Vestura(TM) (3 mg drospirenone and 0.02 mg ethinyl estradiol), a generic version of Bayer's Yaz(R) oral contraceptive product.  Watson is currently involved in patent litigation with Bayer concerning this product. 

Yaz(R) had total U.S. sales of $173 million for the twelve months ending September 30, 2011, according to IMS Health. Watson's Vestura(TM) is indicated for the prevention of pregnancy and for the treatment of moderate acne in women at least 14 years old only if the patient desires an oral contraceptive for birth control.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/29/4086469/watsons-generic-yazr-receives.html

Report on Jobs Program With Measures to Create Livelihoods–Fix the Math and Create Algorithms to Move Money and Re-Focus on Better Health Versus Risk Assessments

This is a nice detailed report and says a lot of what I say and again the focus on fixing the math and the algorithms.  Today Harvard put out a study that said there’s a big tendency for the creative to be deceptive and basically for lack of a better choice of words, they cheat with mathematical formulas or structure them only for profit with a neglect for ethics. 

I have had my series going here about the “Attack of the Killer Algorithms” and you should read it for some new viewpoints as you may be naïve and gullible and if nothing else it will wake you up to how many decisions servers running 24/7 are making today.  It’s not the server’s fault as someone has to input algorithms for this and so if you think any other action other than cleaning up our math and holding corporations accountable for such actions is going to work, it’s not.  This is why we need executive leaders in government with “some” IT background as the figureheads have not embraced this year and we still see all the side shows on the news every night.  The next day some news media puts them right on the spot too, as they look pretty ridiculous.  By the way, the reader is very cool and open it up to look at it full screen to read.  BD 

 

“Occupy Algorithms”–”The Attack of the Killer Algorithms Part 5” - Nothing Will Improve Until Audits and Actions Takes Place To Correct Formulas Built for Profit Only by Corporations And We Battle Back With Math

Nothing will happen until new code runs through those servers as IT Infrastructure runs almost all processes today in business and government.  BD

The report calls for a serious jobs program that will necessarily include short-term stimulus measures, but with its primary focus on structural interventions to shift the balance of economic and political power from Wall Street to Main Street. The authors propose a seven-part program to advance this power shift:

  1. Redefine our economic priorities by replacing financial indicators with real wealth indicators as the basis for evaluating economic performance,
  2. Restructure the money system to root the power to create and allocate money in Main Street financial institutions that support Main Street job creation.
  3. Restore the middle class by restoring progressive tax policies and a strong and secure social safety net.
  4. Create a framework of economic incentives that favor human-scale enterprises that are locally-owned by people who have a natural interest in the health and well-being of their community and its natural environment,
  5. Protect markets and democracy from corruption by concentrations of unaccountable corporate power.
  6. Organize the global economy into substantially self-reliant regional economies that align and partner with the structure and dynamics of Earth’s biosphere.
  7. Put in place global rules and institutions that secure the universal rights of people and support democratic self-governance and economic self-reliance at all system levels.
http://neweconomyworkinggroup.org/new-economy-story/main-street-fix-wall-streets-failure

Palliative Care - Three Awesome Benefits

Last month, the Albany, NY Times Union newspaper reported on a palliative care conference sponsored jointly by the Healthcare Association of New York State and the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State.  Many patients, given the choice, will opt out of expensive care that may have only a marginal chance of success.   At least three significant benefits were identified.

  1. Studies have shown that palliative care patients report a higher quality of life and may even live longer.

  2. Palliative care has been shown to improve patient satisfaction and readmission rates -- two measurements for which the federal government has created financial incentives for hospitals.

  3. Palliative care saves hospitals "a ton of money."  A palliative care program at a typical 300-bed hospital would have about 600 patient consultations a year and cost between $250,000 and $500,000 to staff.  The team (typically doctors, nurses, social workers and chaplains) would save the hospital about $1.2 million.




FDA Compliance Seminar on Access Data Base Validation in Drug Discovery

This was worth nothing and the seminar is coming up in January.  Good old Access still the work horse of a lot of data base work.  Actually sometimes with SQL server you may find some front end Access Data Bases combined with SQL to do the work that you can’t program in SQL, they are still out there.  image

This seminar is about how to satisfy the FDA requirements in the discipline of Drug Discovery and will go over common technical issues with using Access and how to resolve with submitting data to the FDA.  I am guessing this relates to data on the web that is submitted.  Anyway this was worth the mention here for those who might have an interest with validation and security with MS Access and the FDA requirements.  I still dig out Access here and there to create some quick and dirty SQL statements, easier done in Access than from scratch by all means and I can dump some code modules in to Outlook easily enough this way if needed.  BD

FDA expressly regulates databases and FDA inspectors are specifically trained to look for and at databases. Though database use is widespread throughout most organizations, most organizations lack a clear compliance strategy for 'small' databases.

Many companies struggle with Access database compliance. Some are still using unvalidated databases. Hence an unplanned 'emergency' Access database validation project could paralyze the organization. Many companies lack an understanding of how to satisfy FDA technical validation requirements as applied to Access.

http://www.nature.com/natureevents/science/events/12701-Validation_and_use_of_Access_Databases_in_FDA_regulated_environments

Toilet Paper Fraud–Elderly Customers Were Sold More Than 70 Years Worth of Toilet Paper Formulated for Septic Tanks To Pass Federal Inspections

This is about as low as it gets!  I can see today how this happened as sometimes even writing this blog, I feel like I am writing Sci-Fi at times.  What is bad is when you read through here and the company put the folks who were suckered in on an “official idiot list”.  Three sales representatives for FBK Products LLC now face prison time.  image

They had this one going with “laws that regulate toilet paper” and septic tanks required this and that the tanks would not meet federal inspection standards, ok so when’s the last time an official from the government come out to inspect?  They don’t but sad that these folks got away with this scam with stating this special toilet paper would eliminate septic sludge and that the tanks would not have to be pumped!  It’s sad to see folks take advantage of seniors this way.  I wonder how much they made off this racket. Do you believe everything you are told today?

You would be surprised how naïve and gullible we are when presented with statistics and reports today.  Take a listen to this broadcast at the link below and see if you have been suckered in with number and stats of late as they do market us like crazy today.  BD

“Numbers Don’t Lie, But People Do”–Radio Interview from Charles Siefe–Journalists Take Note, He Addresses How Marketing And Bogus Statistics Are Sources of Problems That Mislead the Public & Government

(Reuters) - Florida scam artists told elderly victims the government had changed the laws regulating toilet paper and that their septic tanks would be ruined unless they bought specially formulated rolls, court documents said.

"Through this scheme, some elderly customers were defrauded into purchasing more than 70 years worth of toilet paper," federal prosecutors in Miami said in a news release.

Three defendants pleaded guilty this week to charges of conspiring to commit wire fraud, part of what prosecutors said was a $1 million scheme to sell unnecessary septic tank products.

They admitted that in phone calls targeting elderly people with septic tanks, they falsely claimed their company was the only one licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency to sell a $199 "Septic Remedy" that would eliminate septic sludge and make it unnecessary to pump out the tanks.

Those who bought the product were placed on an "idiot list" for follow-up sales, court documents said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/23/us-usa-crime-septic-idUSTRE7AM1RZ20111123

ER Building Boom By Hospitals in Some Parts of the US Taking Place–Cash Cows for Hospitals to Lure Insured Patients in Affluent Areas–Bigger Exposure to Re-Admissions

Just when you think you have heard it all, we now have free-standing ER facilities being built and this story focuses on an area in Washington state, right outside of where some of the biggest tech companies operate with some of the best employee imagehealth insurance benefits.  Is this wrong, you tell me.  It’s really not a new concept as there have been other hospital chains that have done the same but perhaps now it’s becoming a bit more visible.  In California we have had Prime Healthcare doing this in a similar fashion for a number of years with buying up hospitals that are on their last financial legs and would more than likely otherwise be closed.

Prime Healthcare Buys Alvarado Hospital In San Diego–One More Cadillac ER Room On the Way

The hospitals purchased do become “Cadillac ERs” in essence as many services formerly provided that do not make money get eliminated.  By not signing contracts with insurance companies, usual and customary fees established can be charged and in many instances they are above what contracted rates call for, so why sign a contract?  I have one of their facilities around where I live and today you can throw bowling balls through the parking lot and in days past before the new ownership you could not find a parking space, so a visual on how the traffic changes in who goes there.

You can also visit the other side of this spectrum with the naïve and gullible believing that algorithms can predict to a high degree of who will be re-admitted again to the hospital.  This is pretty much just number crunching and you may end up with some interesting stats, but when you bring it down to an individual level, and even Netflix says their algorithm is only 60% which shows what other movies you may like, you kind of wonder how many gullible folks are around in both companies and governments today. Everyone still forgets the “education” part of this when it comes to crunching numbers and I even laugh at for HHS director Leavitt buying in to this and putting his name out there on it, but that’s what you get with folks that don’t understand algorithms and how the math works.  It’s worth a look going over to the site to see how it resembles a “gaming” site and not research and you wonder is this what we have come to?  Mr. Leavitt is in to making money. 

So What’s Going on Over at the Heritage Health Prize Competition to Predict Who Ends Up Being Re-Admitted to the Hospital–A Lot of Mathematical Algorithms For One…

So we come full circle here back to the hospitals who’s contracts are getting cut from insurers too and add in the mix of charity cases with Medicare and Medicaid patients they see and they are improving their mix. Hospitals today use business intelligence software to give them the analytics they need to keep in the black but this may not always reside well with cutting medical costs.  You can’t blame them and it’s usually subsidiaries of insurance companies that sell them the software they use to guide them…it does happen…and I call those articles I post here “subsidiary watch”. 

Subsidiary Watch-Corporate Conglomerate Insurers Reduce Compensation Contracts Using One Subsidiary Then Market Same MDs With Another Subsidiary in Health IT

It is interesting to see a big conglomerate cut payment rates with one subsidiary and then rush in to sell software with another and in time this could maybe cross into some areas of conflict of interest and I am guessing this might be why United hired former MN US Attorney General to be their general counsel too, just a guess here.  I can imagine the size of their big data analytics when they combine all entities and the decision making processes they use.  BD

With medical costs spiraling upward and state-paid insurance coverage evaporating, you might think hospitals would discourage patients with sprains and cuts from coming to their emergency rooms for care that would cost much less in clinics or urgent-care centers.

Hospitals throughout the Puget Sound region are in the midst of a boom, building spiffy new free-standing emergency rooms and entire hospital towers with expanded ERs, and drastically remodeling existing ones.

Swedish Medical Center and Evergreen Hospital Medical Center built free-standing ERs in Redmond, and MultiCare and Valley Medical Center plan to build them in Covington.

What's more, hospitals are marketing their ERs aggressively, crowing about amenities from valet service to private rooms. One hospital posts ER wait times online.

The ER building boom has prompted a backlash from some lawmakers and advocates of affordable health care, who complain that nearly all Washington hospitals get substantial tax breaks and construction financing through tax-exempt bonds.

Free-standing ERs, these critics charge, are cash cows for hospitals, strategically built in affluent areas to lure busy, well-insured patients and collect fat reimbursements.

Since 2005, Swedish has built three free-standing ERs: One in Issaquah that closed this year when Swedish opened a hospital there; one in Redmond and one in Mill Creek.

A patient at a free-standing ER who needs hospital services will be taken by ambulance to a hospital, typically one in the same system. Although the ride is often expensive, overall the delays haven't posed a risk to patients, according to Dr. Mickey Eisenberg, medical director of King County Emergency Medical Services. That's partly because paramedics take patients with obviously life-threatening injuries or illnesses directly to full-service hospitals, he says.

What Hill does see is more competition among hospitals — "there's essentially an arms race going on," he says. "This is bankrupting families and businesses and governments."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016867292_hospitalbuild27m.html

Primer on Critical Care - in the Globe & Mail

The Globe & Mail has a new series of articles, videos, and interactive media explaining the nature and challenges of critical care.  The reporters had been based in Sunnybrook ICU for two months.



FDA Approves Middle of the Night Sleeping Pill–Treatments Are Getting Specific–Is This Personalized Medicine?

Ok so a little humor as you are only supposed to have this sleeping aid if you already have some sleep under your belt.  It’s a lower dose so that one does not get up and take another full dose is what I get from this one. image

The middle of the night is kind of funny actually as it’s just a lower dose pill, what they not stop at to market!  I would think one could take a lower dose if their issues I sleeping were not as drastic, right?  Also the way the article reads it assumes that you have already taken one full strength pill so this is safer than a double dose.  I’m not a bit sleeping pill person and have taken a few in my life but I hate the sleeping pill hang over so when I have those occasional nights, the half glass of wine for me still works well.  BD 

Federal health regulators say they have approved the first insomnia pill designed for people who wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble getting back to sleep.

Transcept Pharmaceuticals' Intermezzo pill is a lower dose of the key ingredient in Ambien, the popular sleep medication first approved in 1992. FDA officials say the new pill offers a safer option than taking a second dose of zolpidem tartrate, the ingredient in Sanofi's Ambien, to get back to sleep.

"With this lower dose there is less risk of a person having too much drug in the body upon waking, which can cause dangerous drowsiness and impair driving," said Dr. Robert Temple, director for clinical science in FDA's drug center.

http://healthland.time.com/2011/11/24/fda-approves-first-middle-of-the-night-insomnia-pill/

Merck In Germany Fighting Merck in the US Over Facebook Page–German Merck Files Lawsuit & Wants Their Page Back- How Good Is That Privacy Over There..

German Merck and US Merck are two different companies and were separated imageyears ago.  Can one not start another Facebook page?  It’s not like these pages are “gold” for goodness sakes and there’s out opportunities, i.e. like the official company websites which where I would go anyway if needing any information as I spend no time on any business Facebook pages and turned my own page off a while back. 

Did the US Merck hack it:)  Funny that Facebook seems to care less for the most part other than checking to see if anything was hacked.  This would be funny with Merck hacking Merck.  BD 

FRANKFURT—German drug maker Merck KGaA has asked a New York City court to force Facebook Inc. to explain how the German company lost its page on the social-networking site to U.S.-based rival Merck & Co.

According to a filing in New York State Supreme Court, the German Merck intends to "initiate action based on the apparent takeover of its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/merck" by Merck & Co., the similarly named but separate competitor.

"We just want details about how our URL was taken over by the company and we are wondering why this happened," a spokesman for Merck KGaA said Thursday.

Representatives for Facebook and Merck & Co. of the U.S

Facebook "has not been cooperative" in restoring the page, and in several communications appeared nonresponsive or evasive in dealing with Merck KGaA, the filing added.

Merck KGaA said it entered into an agreement with Facebook for the exclusive use of the Web page in March of last year, but last month the drug maker discovered that it no longer had administrative rights to the page, which was filled with content related to Merck & Co.

http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20111124-39083.html?

High Frequency Trading Firm Fined $850k for Losing Control of an Algorithm in Rapid Succession Buying–Bad Math and Some Killer Algos At Work- Keep Occupying…

Ok, get this, the algorithm had only been created the night before and only had one or two hours of testing…hmmm…how about those algos in healthcare?  It does make you stop and think as we don’t have the “speed” issues as much but there are big influxes of data tables being searched today.  There’s more of this going on than most of us are aware of, only the ones who get caught.  This is part of the Occupy movement and why I said “Occupy Algorithms” as you can see what’s moving the money, the math. 

“Occupy Algorithms”–”The Attack of the Killer Algorithms Part 5” - Nothing Will Improve Until Audits and Actions Takes Place To Correct Formulas Built for Profit Only by Corporations And We Battle Back With Math

Not too long ago the SEC filed suit against this Quant who knowingly used software for 3 years that was not calculating correctly…get that, 3 years. 

SEC Sues Quant–Undisclosed Error in Trading Algorithm- Miscalculating “Risk”-Healthcare Software Evaluates This Factor Too

Where else but on Wall Street can one get “certified” to run servers on over clocked processors!  That’s another dangerous process and can lead to those algorithms going out of control too.  There’s software on those chips.

Gamers Are Not the Only Ones to Over Clock Processors-Turns Out It’s Done on Wall Street To Run Those Algorithms at Rocket Speed

It's very much algorithmic warfare, with no real thought given to collateral damage.  They get a fine and just keep on going?  BD 

The operator of futures and other derivatives markets fined Infinium Capital Management for malfunctions on Oct. 27 and 28, 2009, that led to what Reuters called “uncontrolled selling of e-mini contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. ‘’

In the third incident, on Feb. 3, 2010, Infinium appeared to lose control of an algorithm that lost control of an algorithm that “bought oil futures in rapid succession on the New York Mercantile Exchange.”

CME owns both the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, from which the group’s name derives, as well as the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Infinium's buying on Feb. 3 lat year led to a $1 surge in oil prices as the computer program sent thousands of orders per second, Reuters reported.

Infinium suffered a million-dollar loss, but did not admit or deny violating exchange rules in the incidents.

In the 2009 cases, CME found that Infinium errantly sold 6,958 December-dated e-mini Nasdaq 100 Index futures in the span of seven seconds early on Oct. 28.

A similar malfunction with the same so-called automated trading system happened on Oct. 7, though Infinium "took no further action to correct, modify, or disable" it before Oct. 28, according to the Reuters report.

http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/high-frequency-firm-fined-malfunctions-computer-29627-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e3070:69991a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__112511

Parmar v. VS Hospital - Life Support Removed over Nonpayment

In October, 23-year-old Narmada Parmar arrived at VS Hospital nine months pregnant with epileptic fits.  The baby was delivered stillborn.  Ms. Parmar has been dependent on a ventilator ever since.    


This Tuesday evening, the resident doctors approached the patient's husband, Hasmukh, and asked him to pay the outstanding hospital bill of Rs 35,000 or else they would remove the ventilator.  The patient had a "Mamta card" issued to women from economically weaker sections.  But it covers only basic care and not the cost of using the ventilator.  The husband was unable to pay the bill.  The doctors allegedly then switched off the ventilator at around 4:00 a.m..  Ms. Parmar died around 6:00 a.m.  


Hasmukh and his relatives went berserk and attacked the resident doctors.  Yesterday, Hasmukh jumped to his death from the Ghandi Bridge into the Sabamarti River.  He left behind a suicide note alleging that the hospital was ruthless towards a pregnant woman and saying it should not happen with others.  (Times of India; Ahmebab Mirror)


New Survey Indicates Frequency, Reasons for Medical Futility Disputes

Earlier this month, the Regence Foundation polled 500 board-certified physicians on behalf of National Journal.  The results of the "Living Well at the End of Life Poll" are available here.  Questions 26 and 27 are particularly relevant to medical futility. 


26.  From your experience, how often do patients and their families reject your recommendation to discontinue curative treatment in favor of palliative care?
66% Regularly / Occasionally
34% Infrequently / Never 


27. What reasons have patients and their families given for rejecting your recommendation to discontinue curative treatment in favor of palliative care?
75% Unwillingness to accept that curative treatment was ineffective
74% Disagreement from family members about discontinuing curative treatment
63% Preference for more aggressive curative treatment options
42% Religious hesitations or objections
37% Disagreement with the diagnosis or wanted a second opinion
1% Other




Engage with Grace

National Healthcare Decisions Day "Speak Up" Video

“Occupy Algorithms”–”The Attack of the Killer Algorithms Part 5” - Nothing Will Improve Until Audits and Actions Takes Place To Correct Formulas Built for Profit Only by Corporations And We Battle Back With Math

This is kind of a summary statement of what I have been saying for the last number of years.  The Occupy movement basically reinforces this with the imagefrustrations, loss of jobs and market that focuses only on financial gain with a serious loss of ethics.  The Occupy movement represents this for all of us in the 99% group.  You keep reading that the 1% keep getting richer and they are.  They have the “math” and algorithms on their side 100% that allows this to occur.

I guess through all of this we can really tell who doesn’t like math and formulas but it is what it is…it’s what was built and by living in the past and not coming to terms with the way IT Infrastructure runs the world, we get nowhere.  The protests are mounting and growing.  This is great for awareness, but what is the next step? 

We need to fix the math and hold corporations who used algorithms and formulas for greed gain accountable, in other words, it’s back to the math, I don’t care how many ways you slice it, that is the only answer. 

Nothing will happen until new code runs through those servers as IT Infrastructure runs almost all processes today in business and government.

We have just witnessed the failure and denial of our Congress in not coming to terms with this with the recent failure of the Super Committee – they don’t do math or understand how algorithms and corporations that create formulas have the power to move money.   They are not smart enough to take advantage of all the big data intelligence we have out there to gather enough intelligent information to make decisions, they have thrown in the towel due to digital illiteracy in thinking that making a few new laws will solve this problem, it won’t.  All we get is a return to a “default” topic of discussing abortions…the old blast from the past and nobody is ever going to agree on this topic and it’s waste of time for lawmakers to keep going over and over this topic when there are more important issues at hand. image

Michael Moore has done a great job in keeping the awareness alive both in person and with his last 2 movies, Sicko and Capitalism, but I remember reading articles written a year ago that the public was his next frustration with all of us “doing nothing”.  We are doing something now but not enough as we have not identified the enemy here and it will continue with the insanity until we embrace the knowledge it takes to fight back.  Until we do that, big corporations and their math and algorithms rule. 

It is interesting to further note that nobody gets this.  I have had a few folks ask me questions from both major publications to having protesters themselves ask me, and the answer to both sides is the same, it’s the math.  You read about it all the time in the news that someone was denied care, money, services and some still think a human did it…NOT…it’s the 24/7 servers that receive information about you and I that digest and give a decision on the data in the files…it’s not a human. 

Sadly though we do have “humans” also known as Congress that are looking worse every day, still living in the past and thinking that creating laws will solve all, well they can’t even hardly make laws anymore, so we are at a stand still.  They have the lowest public opinion on records and a lot of that goes back to their digital illiteracy.  Sure they can play Solitaire on the computer or mess around on Facebook but does that constitute any intelligence..NO.  They too are merely puppets of the math and live in the past. 

We are a very gullible and naïve society here in the US and way too many believe all the stats and reports thrown at them.  Certainly there are good numbers and legitimate studies done by all means, but when it comes to make a buck and moving money, the “dirty” algorithms supersede any opportunities we have as folks who write them are smart as well as those who direct programmers and marketers out there.  Again it is what it is.  If you take time to listen to this radio broadcast below it will all become very clear.  Again those in Congress can do all they want to increase their wealth and mostly they don’t understand it but hire the math whizzes to do it for them as all they care about is their own bottom line, with a few exceptions. 

“Numbers Don’t Lie, But People Do”–Radio Interview from Charles Siefe–Journalists Take Note, He Addresses How Marketing And Bogus Statistics Are Sources of Problems That Mislead the Public & Government

We talk about the battle of regulation today, let’s call it auditing instead.  We may have a little better chance with using the correct terminology of what really needs to take place as the word regulation send folks running for the hills, it does in Washington for sure.  That one word motivates a lot of people and companies to do some strange things out there for sure.  I said way back in August of 2009 that we needed a Department of Algorithms, what I meant was a means to audit the formulas and algorithms running through systems today because there’s a lot of “dirty math” out there, look at the banks.  I wrote that back when the Madoff story broke and we had a real ignorant situation going on here.  The man was never “audited” sufficiently and look what happened.  We had an SEC who was too digitally illiterate to act and had their pockets lined in many areas.  When you stop and look at the scheme Madoff had, it was not complicated but he played it to the hilt until the money behind the fake algorithms ran dry.

“Department of Algorithms – Do We Need One of These to Regulate Upcoming Laws?

How did they accumulate their wealth, algorithms and formulas that took advantage of the less digital literate and they are smart enough to pad the pockets of Congress and basically keep them in the dark too as they won’t complain if they have enough money to keep them happy.  It’s digital war fare out there and we have a President who’s doing his best but nobody’s buying the package of how numbers and math move money.  image

To make matters worse we have “bad science” out there today and the link below spells that out very well too.  These are the folks that “get math” that are trying to bring the message to the gullible and naïve.  Crazy and wacky newspaper lines distract and disrupt when it comes to what creates and cures cancer.  Anyone can crunch numbers, but what studies and results have value?  Think about it…we all hate it but it goes on without “audit”.  It’s a blood bath.  image

Bad Science and Bad Analytics That Misleads–TED Video Takes on Advertising on Steroids and Danger of Mis-Matched Analytics And Distortion of Clinical Trials (Video)

What’s a certificate like this worth today…not much and if you watch the video at the link above, it belongs to the doctor’s cat.

I gave up a long time ago with being impressed with what we call “experts” as they don’t exist.  The only “experts” out there are the ones who control the code and know how to write algorithms to move money and profit.  That’s a pretty powerful statement but again it is what it is, if you take the brave step out of denial and look at the world around you today.  You read in the news everyday that US corporations are hiring more employees outside the US…the algos tell them to do that for greater profits, it’s the math!  So yes we complain about it but that’s about all that ever gets done as how do you fight the battle for greed?  Learn math and call for “audits”…stop using the word regulation and let’s begin a new paradigm here with holding corporations and banks accountable for the math they use for profit.

Years ago this was not an issue, but it is today with the global economy and denial doesn’t do anyone any good.  Reports and data are skewed today with marketing imageas you can compare your data and numbers to whatever you want out there to make it look better, in other words 2 plus 2 is now equaling 5.  You have been sold and marketed.  In healthcare, all of the clinical trial data is not released so what do we get there, selective data for profits. 

We still continue to live in a world of distraction and again the news shows us garbage all the time and I do realize that transparency is alive and well but along with the good comes the garbage that distracts you too, wake up to that fact.

People are mis matching data to make a case and if you look at FICO you will see nothing less.  Anyone can crunch numbers but do they really apply?  Digital illiterates buy this up like crazy.  Sure you can crunch numbers to use for projections but when you take those same statistics and bring it down to an individual decision making process, i.e. what the Occupy movement stands for out there, you have insanity. 

Even the Netflix algorithm that determines what you like is only 60% accurate so when you see a company like FICO using such algorithms to give you a risk assessment on medical compliance, it’s insane, wrong and is just flat out marketing to sell more software and algorithms.  This is a pretty obvious example here with this one as we all know this is not right and nobody challenges the insanity and the claims they have.  Again crunch numbers if you want but when you bring insane numbers down to a screen that denies care and services and gets more money from the middle class, someone needs to “audit” that function.  Again, back to Congress they don’t do math so they don’t understand it and think a law will fix this…NOT. 

FICO Analytics Press Release Marketing Credit Scoring Algorithms to Predict Medication Adherence–Update (Opinion)

I had to laugh the other day at the press release that came out with more earth shattering news in a press release, we now have an “anal algorithm”.  Was that worth a press release…no but it sure was funny and again shows the great lengths marketing takes today to sell you on just about anything, even at that level and telling consumers that perhaps their doctors may not be aware of the sphincter algorithm.  Doctors laughed at this one big time and the example was made to show what one considers important or a break through today.  There’s a lot of “anal” out there today and it’s in Congress when it comes to any type of leadership with digital illiteracy and living in the past. 

”The Anal Algorithm”- An Algorithm To Address Treatment of Fecal Incontinence–Bowel Control Disorder Sphincter Therapy

This is a lot of what the Occupy movements stand for, useless rhetoric that distracts and keeps real solutions from being created.  I used to write code and am nowhere near being an expert by all means but did well enough to write a full medical records program a few years ago and I know the mechanics.  I of course wrote to a higher tune of accuracy but there are those who do not and know how to manipulate numbers and it’s just as easy to write computer code for “desired” results as it is for “accurate” results.  Anyone who writes software can tell you that besides me. 

So what is really important?  Can we as a country ever be proud again and collaborate together?  I’m beginning to wonder with the lack of leadership and intelligence we see today.  Shoot I don’t even think the Supreme Court has that almighty intelligence anymore and we get an “opinion” rather than a decision founded on intelligence and they should shop around and get some of the tools needed for an intelligent decision and drop the politics as accuracy and truth is what we want today. The DOE has some great computing and information gathering tools but will they use it, probably not. 

Supreme Court Likely to Rule on Healthcare Law Early Next Year–This Gives The Justices Time to Rent Some Computing Space from the DOE As They Will Need It

Here’s one more tool that probably would not even be given a second look.

Supreme Court to Rule on Healthcare Law-Maybe the Court Can Enroll in Google BigQuery & Machine Learning Tech to Help Them Sort the Data-The Beta is Open!

Do you feel a little out of touch if you have read this far?  I hope so as again my job here is to also try to bring about the awareness of what is really happening. 

Protest and awareness are great, but the next step is the battle…clean math and auditing the algorithms used.  They will continue to run on servers 24/7 and make life changing decisions about you and I until someone questions their authenticity.  Again, I will reiterate that this is what the Occupy movements are all about, and some in the movement may not realize this themselves but they know with 1% having most of the wealth that something has gone wrong and this is it, the math and algorithms and no accountability. 

I really wish and have written about it many times that we had lawmakers who could use some of this greater intelligence used by corporations to make better laws and perhaps get a Department of Algorithms or something like it in place.  Let’s face it, would you not like to see a united Congress to stop the blame shifting and sit together and use a big data system like IBM Watson to query and get information?  I would as it would be a huge improvement over what we have today with intelligent questions asked and we would all know all have the same starting point with the “same numbers”.  We don’t have that yet and see “brainless” candidates opening mouth and inserting foot as it becomes more apparent every day they have no clue. They can’t even recognize a valuable tool when it stares them in the face.

BM Watson Capabilities Being Pitched to Financial Industry-Congress Must Not Have Felt They Needed This So Further Behind We Fall With Effective Intelligent Lawmaking

Until we get some intelligent moves in this country and drag enough out of denial things will not improve.  Those servers running 24/7 will keep doing what they have been doing and it will accelerate and the 1% with the algorithms will gain even more.  Occupy represents something for all of us and sadly in the news they are criticized by more “digital illiterates” who write the news and thus their real point and reason for existence is never properly defined. 

If you want to see a great example of "dumbing down the public” read the link below as you are marketed in healthcare to think it is all just a game.  We did have one representative from Homeland Security recognize this and it’s true. Would you see the likes of Ben Bernanke playing a game like this?  We look to him as some what of a leader and he makes important decisions, would he sit around and do this, of course not because healthcare is NOT a game. 

Insurer Software Games Continue to “Dumb Down” Consumers–Would You See Bernanke, the President, CEOs and Other Executives Playing an Online Insurance Game–No, Part of the Focus Of Occupy Wall Street Frustrations

But you know what, I had someone send me a picture of computers in use during a House session and guess what, from the picture captured it seems like those in session think this is all a game. There couldn’t be a better picture that says it all with digital illiteracy and priorities can there? 

Anyway I have a 4 part series on this topic below if you want to read more and I guess this is Part 5 at this point with reality knocking at our doors every day and it’s our choice as to whether or not we let it in. There’s a ton of media and substantiation in all of the past articles and I think you will relate to a lot of it.  I hope the folks in the Occupy movements take a few moments out as well to maybe understand the real roots of theirs and our frustrations and what reality holds for us or doesn’t hold if we don’t get to the root of the problems, not use the word regulation today but rather switch over to the word audit to provide true accuracy and accountability

We are beyond laws on the books to make any difference today.  Stop and think about how you have been marketed with flawed and skewed data and reports today….it’s all around you if you just open your eyes…and again it is the “Attack of the Killer Algorithms” that may do us all in if a real touch of reality and and transparency doesn’t kick in soon.  BD


Occupying Wall Street–It’s All About the “Attack of the Killer Algorithms”–The Unfair and Marketing Exploit of Ethics Using Math–This Could be a Subject for Michael Moore to Explore and Document In a Movie
“Killer Algorithms: Part 2” Disturbing News for Consumers With Credit Scoring Adding New Data Analytics–Some of the Same Methodologies Used by Insurers With Flawed/Potential imageErroneous Data–One More Reason to Continue Occupying Wall Street
“Attack of the Killer Algorithms” Part 3–Vatican Doesn’t Like It Either–Occupy Wall Street Belongs in New York As They Don’t Do Code or Algorithms in Washington–Only Find time To Talk Abortions
Attack of the Killer Algorithms-Occupy Wall Street Part 4 Health Insurance Style - One More App For Folks Who Are Tired of Flawed Algorithms That Require A Ton of Work and Research Time To Create “Perfect” Data Files for Insurers And Others Analytics Processes

From the very beginning, supporters of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) have touted its decentralized nature as one of its greatest strengths. The opponents of a political movement commonly attempt to discredit them by pointing to outside powerful interests secretly pulling strings, thereby jeopardizing its grassroots legitimacy. We saw this with the Tea Party, whose opponents very early on argued that it was backed by corporate entities like Fox News and the Koch brothers.

Though similar claims have been made about Occupy Wall Street -- including attempts to tie it to conservative bogeyman George Soros -- its reputation as a leaderless movement has mostly remained untarnished. People tend to look down on political organizations that are little more than astroturf, and Occupy Wall Street is effectively able to wear the banner of populist outrage.

Chris Bowers, co-founder of the netroots blog Open Left and current campaign director for Daily Kos, told me that his work around OWS has mainly focused on driving people to the locations.

"We had over 300,000 page views on a list of Occupy Wall Street events, and over 25,000 pledges of people pledging to attend events," he said in a phone interview. "I'm sure the number of people who went to the events who used our list are much larger than that. It's entirely possible that it's the largest source driving people to events of any website around."

Daily Kos is known, in part, for its active diarists' community, and Bowers estimated that several hundred diarists have contributed on-the-ground reporting from various OWS locations. So far, there are about 6,000 posts that use the OWS tag, several of which have gone viral. One such post, an open letter to an OWS opponent, has received 144,000 Likes on Facebook. Bowers said it was one of Daily Kos' most viral posts ever.

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/11/how-bloggers-occupy-wall-street-have-inspired-each-other326.html?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=pbsmediashift

 
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