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Proposed medical school gets donation of tobacco settlement funds

A proposal to build a new medical school and health sciences center at King College in Bristol, Tenn., received a major funding boost on Oct. 29 when the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission granted $25 million to the enterprise.

Plans to build the medical school were announced about a year ago by the college president. It is expected to cost $100 million to $150 million to complete, with an opening possible in 2012.

The grant stipulates that the medical school be constructed in Virginia. The twin cities of Bristol, Tenn., and Bristol, Va., abut each other on the Tennessee-Virginia state line, with King College falling on the Tennessee side.

The tobacco commission was created in 1999 by Virginia to promote economic growth and development in tobacco-dependent communities. It is funded by the 1998 Master Tobacco Settlement Agreement, which was reached when 46 states settled lawsuits that aimed at recovering tobacco-related health care costs from the major tobacco companies.

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FDA launches effort aimed at preventing drug errors

The Food and Drug Administration in November announced an initiative aimed at preventing the annual 1.5 million adverse drug events that cost the American health system $4 billion a year. The agency's broad-ranging Safe Use Initiative will involve input from doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other government agencies on how to stop mistakes in prescribing, administration, and patient use.

The FDA already has launched programs aimed at mitigating the liver toxicity risks associated with acetaminophen overuse, fires related to topical alcohol-based surgical preps, and dosing mistakes attributed to some devices and vials. A 28-page report about the initiative is available at the FDA's Web site (www.fda.gov/downloads/drugs/drugsafety/ucm188961).

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Judge allows challenge to gene patents

A New York trial judge on Nov. 1 gave the green light to a lawsuit challenging a company's patents on a pair of genes associated with breast and ovarian cancers.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said the case could have far-reaching implications for health care and the future course of biomedical research.

A group of medical organizations, researchers and patients sued Myriad Genetics to invalidate what they say are overly broad patents covering laws of nature. The case, filed with help from the American Civil Liberties Union, also alleged that Myriad's enforcement of the patents violated the First Amendment by limiting new gene research.

The Litigation Center of the American Medical Association and State Medical Societies filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case urging the court to overturn the patents.

Myriad declined to comment on any specific plans to appeal but said it will defend the lawsuit vigorously.

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Brain tumors in children impact cognition through adulthood

Survivors of childhood central nervous system malignancies have a significant risk for neurocognitive impairment that continues through adulthood, according to a study in the November Neuropsychology (www.apa.org/journals/releases/neu-23-6-705.pdf).

A 25-item neurocognitive questionnaire was sent to people who were at least 16 years removed from their initial diagnosis of a childhood cancer.

Researchers analyzed data from 785 CNS cancer survivors; 5,870 survivors of non-CNS cancers, such as leukemia and Hodgkin's disease; and 379 siblings of CNS cancer survivors.

The authors found that survivors of CNS malignancies reported significantly greater neurocognitive dysfunction than did the other groups on all the survey's factors, including self initiation, multitasking, and long-term and working memory.

Risk of neurocognitive dysfunction was associated with treatment involving cranial irradiation or placement of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt, as well as a history of stroke, paralysis or auditory difficulties.

Compared with survivors of CNS malignancies, members of the sibling group were older, better-educated, and more likely to be employed, have a higher family income and have been married.

This content was published online only.

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