BIOtechNow

August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM), which is a great opportunity to recognize the importance of vaccination. The National Public Health Information Coalition (NPHIC), in collaboration with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, reminds us that safe and effective immunizations represent one of the greatest public health accomplishments of the 20th century. Immunizations are important because they not only protect the person receiving the vaccine, but Read More 

The AIDS Institute is proud to support the World Health Organization’s World Hepatitis Day, and its goal of eliminating hepatitis globally. World Hepatitis Day, created in 2010, is one of only four WHO-official disease-specific world health days celebrated each year. Millions of people across the globe are taking part in activities today, July 28th, to raise awareness about viral hepatitis, to call for better access to treatment and prevention programs, and to advocate for further Read More 

The pages on the calendar have quickly turned and July is again upon us.  For most, July means freedom from school, a summer vacation, or celebrating our nation’s independence.  But those of us in the sarcoma community know that this month means something else as well.  As we know, July is Sarcoma Awareness Month. Why do we have a Sarcoma Awareness Month?  Simply, sarcoma is still considered to be the “forgotten cancer.”  Our efforts to encourage Read More 

Every year, more than 40,000 American adults are hospitalized or die due to vaccine-preventable diseases. Treating vaccine-preventable diseases among adults also costs the U.S. tens of billions of dollar every year. As the U.S. population ages at an unprecedented rate, with 78 million Baby Boomers becoming seniors, improving rates of adult vaccination is a national imperative. In a new white paper, The Value and Imperative of Quality Measures for Adult Vaccines, renowned vaccine experts — Read More 

Many of the biopharmaceutical policy proposals laid out by President Obama in his JAMA article (United States Health Care Reform: Progress to Date and Next Steps) are simply a rehash of tired, old ideas that have been rejected by bipartisan majorities in the Congress for years. The plans he lays out would do little or nothing to improve our shared goal of increasing patients’ access to medicines and could impede the development of new medical Read More 

BIO members may be interested in the upcoming Conference on Clinical Research for Rare Diseases, hosted by the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network.  The Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network is an initiative of the Office of Rare Diseases Research, NCATS, funded through a collaboration between NCATS and the NIH.  The conference will be held on November 3, 2016 at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park. There are more than 6,800 diseases classified as “rare” (defined as Read More 

The House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed the Fostering Innovation Act (H.R. 4139), a key capital markets priority for BIO. The bipartisan legislation was introduced by Reps. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA). The JOBS Act provides emerging growth companies (EGCs) with a five-year exemption from Section 404(b) of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), which requires a costly external attestation of a company’s internal financial controls. The Fostering Innovation Act would extend the JOBS Act’s SOX 404(b) Read More 

On June 15, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced $22 million in Affordable Care Act (ACA) funding for state insurance departments.  The Agency’s announcement noted that States are meant to utilize the funding to ensure that plans comply with “key consumer protections,” listing among them: essential health benefits, preventive services, parity in mental health and substance use disorder benefits, appeals processes, and bringing down the cost of health care coverage (also known Read More 

This week, the BIO International Convention kicks off in San Francisco. As BIO’s President and CEO, I’m proud to bring this annual event to the Bay Area and talk about biopharmaceutical’s advances in innovation and bringing cures to those afflicted with disease. Before the campaign season arrives, it’s time to set the record straight about the value of prescription drugs and why insurance companies are demanding that you pay more out of pocket. Voters in Read More 

The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) has a long history of delivering impactful educational sessions about personalized medicine, and PMC is pleased to collaborate with BIO again this year to put together a Personalized Medicine & Diagnostics Track at the BIO International Convention. Touching on a variety of topics that include clinical care, investment and public policy reform, the three-day program promises to deliver informed perspectives on the field’s current direction: Tuesday, June 7 Titled “30 Read More