Juvan's Health Law Recap: February 18, 2007
Last week, Clevelanders spent most of their time digging out from the Valentine's Day Blizzard. On Wednesday, the latest snowfall count in Northeast Ohio totaled eighteen inches, and today we received another six more. To my friends who are glad that they don't live in a snow belt, there is an upside: the snow was so bad on Wednesday that most businesses shut down and called it a snow day (the downside--most Valentine's Day deliveries were postponed until Thursday)! Fortunately, I'll be leaving all of the snow behind and joining some of my friends in Florida who are laughing at our misfortune when I fly out to Orlando for a conference held by the American Health Lawyers Association.
Here's a look back at a few noteworthy events of the last week:
- The Delaware Chancery Court blocked the important Caremark/CVS merger vote, at least temporarily, thereby granting additional time to Express Scripts to launch its rival bid and gain antitrust clearance.
- Parade Magazine published an article about counterfeit drugs entitled Is Your Medicine Dangerous to Your Health? The article highlights that, while only 1% of drugs in the U.S. are counterfeits, counterfeiting is growing rapidly, several Americans have died from fake drugs and counterfeiters have taken in nearly $35 billion in profits. However, as reported by Adam Fein, a lead author and expert on the issue of fake drugs, the article falls short in citing to RFID as the miracle cure for the problems in the supply chain.
- Lawmakers introduced legislation bringing Tobacco regulation within the FDA's jurisdiction, though there's still no clear indication that the FDA can handle its current responsibilities.
Looking to the upcoming weeks, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will reconsider the Abigail Alliance case on March 1. The case addresses whether terminally ill patients have a constitutional right to obtain access to experimental medications.
