New England Journal of Medicine Perspective Pieces Examine OTC Status for Statins, the Future of Specialty Hospitals

Main Category: Statins
Article Date: 11 Apr 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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"Statins and Over-the-Counter Availability," New England Journal of Medicine: It is "relatively easy to see why an FDA advisory committee ... recently recommended against" granting statins over-the-counter status because the medications "fail to meet many of the ... criteria for a switch to over-the-counter status," Brian Strom, a professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, writes in a perspective piece. According to Strom, while it is true that moving statins over the counter would "increase access to an effective and underused therapy," a number of considerations -- including the fact that high cholesterol is not self-diagnosable and statins' safety in special populations is "uncertain" -- "suggest that they would make poor over-the-counter drugs" (Strom, New England Journal of Medicine, 4/7).


"The Uncertain Future of Specialty Hospitals," New England Journal of Medicine: John Iglehart, a correspondent for NEJM, examines whether Congress will decide to extend the federal moratorium on new specialty hospitals or enact new policies that allow the construction of new facilities and "thus encourage a form of competition ... that general hospitals regard as unfair." Noting that the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has recommended extending the moratorium past June 8, Iglehart writes that the Republican-controlled Congress' decision "will indicate the extent of that party's willingness to promote market-based solutions," since many Democrats and officials in the general hospital community believe specialty hospitals should be "strictly limited, if not prohibited, by the government" (Iglehart, New England Journal of Medicine, 4/7).

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