Weekend update

Congress remains in session on Capitol Hill this week. On Tuesday afternoon, September 17, the Senate Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations will mark up the fiscal year 2020 appropriations bill for its jurisdiction which includes OPM appropriations.  The full Committee will consider the Subcommittee's marked up bill on Thursday morning, September 19.

The Wall Street Journal's Numbers columnist offered an interesting piece this weekend on suicides in our country.

According to researchers at Harvard University, nine out of 10 people who attempt suicide and survive won’t go on to die by suicide at a later date. Because of that, blocking access to methods of suicide—such as bridges or firearms—can be a powerful deterrent.

In 2017, the most recent year available, 47,173 people died from suicide, up from 29,350 in 2000, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  It is the 10th leading cause of death, according to the CDC, and the focus of efforts to reduce the rate by 20% over the next five years.

The American Medical Association's Twitter feed today called attention to a related 2017 AMA article

Also this weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported on the data manipulation issues surrounding the blockbuster genetic therapy drug, Zolgensma,  This drug cures spinal muscular atrophy in children under two years old. The most virulent form of this disease Type 1 is fatal at a very young age. Novartis charges $2,1 million for a course of treatment.

The WSJ article explains that the data manipulation was attributable to a company that Novartis had purchased. The acquired company AveXis and thus Novartis are in hot water for not promptly notifying the Food and Drug Administration about the issue.  The article further explains that the FDA deserves credit for quickly determining that the data manipulation although serious from a legal standpoint did not require pulling the life saving drug off the market.