First, a followup to yesterday's Erbitux story. A student reminded me of a book, "The Cell Game: Sam Waksal's Fast Money and False Promises--and the Fate of ImClone's Cancer Drug." It's a story of insider trading, Martha Stewart, questionable clinical trial data - the whole shootin' match. Now add billionaire Carl Icahn into the mix as an ImClone Board member (the Wall Street Journal reports on Icahn's fiery first ImClone Board meeting), and you have a high-stakes, big pharma funfest to follow.
Today's newspaper brings other cheery news of the marketplace at play in this era of market-based solutions to health care reform.
The Associated Press reports that "HCA, Inc., the country's largest for-profit hospital operator, denied allegations Wednesday that it implemented anticompetitive practices against UnitedHealth Group Inc. in the wake of a contract dispute." This all sprung up when contract negotiations between the two health care giants broke down over new reimbursement rates affecting health care centers in the Denver area.
So this week so far, just one little slice of health care news includes:
* patent disputes;
* anticompetitive practice charges;
* billionaires at biotech board meetings;
* very little (if any) discussion of patients and consumers in these stories.