Australia's Experiment in Evidence-Based Medicine and Implications for U.S. Healthcare.

Healthcare Forum to Explore Promise and Pitfalls of Using Cost-Effectiveness Analysis to Determine Patient Access to Biotech Medicines

First bullet in Who section should read: Kwabena Adubofour, medical director, East Main Clinic and Stockton Diabetes Intervention Center (sted: Fifth Street Medical Center, South Stockton).

The corrected release reads:

AUSTRALIA'S EXPERIMENT IN EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE AND IMPLICATIONS FOR U.S. HEALTHCARE 

Healthcare Forum to Explore Promise and Pitfalls of Using Cost-Effectiveness Analysis to Determine Patient Access to Biotech Medicines

Who:
    -- Kwabena Adubofour, medical director, East Main Clinic and
       Stockton Diabetes Intervention Center
    -- Meryl Comer, journalist and caregiver
    -- Randolph Frankel, vice president of public affairs and
       government relations, IMS Health
    -- Marjorie Ginsburg, executive director, Sacramento Healthcare
       Decisions
    -- John Graham, director, Health Care Studies, Pacific Research
       Institute and former director of health and pharmaceutical
       policy research at Canada's Fraser Institute
    -- Ruth Lopert, Harkness fellow in health care policy, George
       Washington University and principal advisor, Pharmaceutical
       Policy Taskforce, Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing,
       Canberra, Australia
    -- Peter J. Pitts, co-founder and president, Center for Medicines
       in the Public Interest, and former FDA associate commissioner
       for external relations

What:  As state and federal policymakers search for ways to rein in
       drug spending, they are considering methods employed in foreign
       countries, particularly Australia, which require comparative
       effectiveness and cost-effectiveness as a prerequisite for drug
       coverage. The California Healthcare Institute and the Pacific
       Research Institute have assembled policy experts from Australia
       and the U.S. to discuss the pros and cons of applying this
       approach to U.S. coverage and how it might affect patients'
       access to innovative medicines for cancer, Alzheimer's disease
       and other conditions.

When:  Friday, December 15, 2006
       7:30 - 10:30 a.m. PST (Continental breakfast will be served)

Where: St. Regis Hotel, 125 3rd Street, San Francisco, California

Live Video Broadcast:
http://www.innovation.org/index.cfm/NewsCenter/Briefings/Cost-
Effectiveness_Analysis_Conference (Due to its length, this URL may
need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field.
Remove the extra space if one exists.)
Why: Cost-effectiveness analysis is a subject of intense interest to
       the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for
       Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and in many states across
       the country. The "Evidence, Economics, and Politics:
       Australia's Experiment in Evidence-Based Medicine" forum seeks
       to discuss and debate how this policy would affect new science,
       investment in biotechnology, and patients in the U.S.