D.C. BEAT - The Week's Biotech Related News from Capitol Hill (19/2/02)

Senate Hearings on Protecting Genetic Information

The Senate held hearings on proposed legislation to prevent discrimination by employers or health insurers based on genetic information. During the hearing, the Bush administration signaled that it favored legislation to enhance protection from discrimination by employers or insurance companies based on genetic information. President Bush reiterated this position in his February 11th speech that outlined his health-care agenda. However, officials also stated that the Bush administration will only support legislation that places greater limits on the damages that an individual could collect from an employer or insurance company than Senate legislation provides. Passage of more comprehensive protections from genetic discrimination is likely this year, which will help companies such as Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ: MYGN) that develop and market genetic predisposition tests.
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Direct-To-Consumer Advertising Still in the Limelight

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine highlights the marked increase in direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising. While DTC advertising only represents 15% of total pharmaceutical marketing expenditures, DTC advertising increased 212% since 1996, when it represented only 9% of total pharmaceutical marketing expenditures. The study found that DTC advertising was heavily concentrated among a limited number of blockbuster drugs, including Vioxx, Viagra, and Prilosec. In addition to providing evidence on the increased reliance of pharmaceutical companies on the use of DTC advertising to boost sales of a small subset of blockbuster drugs, the study highlighted the pros and cons of the practice. According to the study's authors, DTC advertising may result in improved diagnosis and enhanced treatment compliance. The downside is that it may lead to inappropriate prescribing based on patient demands. The FDA is currently conducting a review of DTC adverting, which should be complete in late spring or early summer. The issue is worth watching. Increased restrictions on DTC advertising could hamper the ability of pharmaceutical companies to generate revenue growth for some blockbuster or potential blockbuster drugs.

BTECH NEWS
by Leon Henderson, M.D.
Bennett Weintraub, Ph.D.
Christopher Martin
www.btechnews.com
February 19, 2002

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BTECH NEWS, published by Btech Investor, Inc., highlights selected events in the life sciences sector that the Btech Investor team believes are particularly relevant to biotechnology investors. The Btech Investor team combines scientific, clinical, and business experience to perform comprehensive analysis of the biotechnology industry and to identify future industry leaders.

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The Btech Investor Reports provide in-depth analysis of the biotechnology industry. Recent companies profiled include Vertex, EntreMed, Élan, IDEC Pharmaceuticals, Myriad Genetics, and Abgenix. Recent sector reports include nucleic acid therapeutics, Alzheimer disease, inhaled insulin, recombinant proteins, gene therapy, monoclonal antibodies, neurodegenerative diseases, stem cells, trends in oncology, genomics based drug discovery, and biotech trends.

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