Weekly Roundup – 11/4/06

J0185010_1I have lived in both Los Angeles and Washington.  It is said the two cities are very similar in character in many ways.  They are both one industry towns, for example.  There is a wonderful saying that "Washington is Hollywood for ugly people."  You got that right!  In any case, the city is truly wound up as we enter into the season of our Academy Awards – the midterm elections.  Who will the envelope go to?  I don’t know, but in the meantime, this is what happened this week on our subject turf…

  • NCSL and the Elections – The National Conference of State Legislatures staff will be up all night November 7 tracking statehouse election and ballot measure results. Go to StateVote 2006 for the latest numbers. Go to NCSL’s blog The Thicket at State Legislatures for the latest analysis. Eighty three percent of state legislative seats are up for grabs this year, and more than 200 measures are on ballots across the nation. And for anyone who wants the wide-angle view of the new political landscape, NCSL’s State Legislatures magazine, in cooperation with Fleishman-Hillard and Governing Magazine, is holding a StateVote2006 meeting in D.C. November 10.
  • FDA to Hold Workshop on Marketing Unapproved Drugs – While that sounds like an oxymoron, many older drugs exist that never went through today’s approval procedures.  The FDA is planning a workshop on marketing unapproved drugs to be held on January 9, 2007 to provide guidance on the matter at the Fisher Lane Facility.  The agenda is not yet available. 
  • Approvable Letters – Avanir Pharmaceuticals received an approvable letter for its compound called Zenvia – a treatment for involuntary emotional expression – but did not disclose the contents of the letter except to say that the FDA was requiring additional data. 
  • A Correction – It was bound to happen.  I made a mistake!  A reader kindly pointed out that my reference earlier this week to a speech by Dr. Scott Gottlieb where he discussed the mysterious Adaptive Clinical Trials Workshop was given before the AMA in July 2006.  I was in error.  It was actually at the July 2006 Conference on Adaptive Trial Design held in Washington, DC and staged by the folks at ExL Pharma.  They will be staging the Second Trial Design Innovation Conference in Washington in May, 2007.   
  • Nick and Nora – turned one year old last week.  A new pic of us is in My Favorite Dogs!Dscf0453

Yeeha!  Have a good weekend everyone. 

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