Clinton acts to reduce medical mistakes Fred Charatan, British Medical Journal (BMJ). Florida: President Clinton has called for a nationwide system of reporting medical errors in the wake of last year's Institute of Medicine report, which found that between 44000 and 98000 Americans die each year from medical mistakes. More than 6000 hospitals will be required to introduce programmes to reduce medical errors, for example, in the prescribing and dispensing of drugs, as a condition of participating in Medicare, the federal health insurance programme for those aged over 65. bmj.com

Brits Say Viagra is Worth the Money (BBC News)

Pfizer to sponsor European impotence awareness campaign Gavin Yamey, British Medical Journal (BMJ). Pfizer, the manufacturer of sildenafil (Viagra), is to launch a Europe-wide "disease awareness" campaign, focusing on treatments for erectile dysfunction without naming its product. The advertising of prescription drugs directly to consumers is banned in the United Kingdom, but pharmaceutical companies are testing the limits of this ban. Last year a television commercial about incontinence appeared during prime time. bmj.com

Monitoring Tightened For Genetic Research
By Rick Weiss Washington Post Staff Writer The Clinton administration announced [Wednesday] two initiatives designed to enhance the safety of patients in gene therapy experiments. The twin efforts by the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health are a response to recent revelations that many gene researchers have been lax in their adherence to patient protection rules. http://washingtonpost.com, Mar7 2000

GMA Opposes Rhode Island rBST Labeling Bill, H.B. 7511 legislation that would require the labeling of all containers in or from which milk containing recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) hormones or similar hormones is sold or offered for sale by any milk producer, distributor, or retailer. http://www.gmabrands.com

Cruise for a Cure If you can be in Southern California next September 23, and if you love hots rods and Harleys, plan to attend Cruise for a Cure. You might win some wheels, custom paintwork, or one of the two Chevy 350 engines donated by Richard Hibbard Chevrolet & Joe MacPherson Chevrolet. Help raise money for prostate cancer. Proceeds donated to UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation for Prostate Cancer Research. http://www.cruiseforthecure.com

"The Efficacy and Safety of Medicinal Herbs," a two-day conference in Chapel Hill, gathered mainstream researchers from universities to talk about Saw Palmetto, St John's Wort and other herbal remedies and sought to apply rigorous scientific standards to evaluating them. Duke University and the National Institutes of Health were co-sponsors, along with the University of North Carolina. The New York Times site requires (free) registration.http://www.nytimes.com

More Money for Prostate Cancer Research in UK But Prostate Cancer Charity says, not enough for needs nor to make up for disparities with spending on UK women's health care. Story on BBC Health news, March 2 2000 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_663000/663688.stm

Reality Testing in Cancer Treatment: The Phase I Trial of Endostatin "I said to him, 'I think you probably could get the drug, if you bought EntreMed' and then he said 'how much would that cost?' 'At a market capitalization of about 490 million dollars, it would probably cost you twice as much.' And I realized that even at 900 million dollars, there are several hundred people who could do that." An oncologist during a Grand Rounds discussion at The Kenneth B. Schwartz Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, Hematology-Oncology Department, Boston, Massachusetts
http://theoncologist.alphamedpress.org/cgi/content/full/4/6/501