How we can start a social care revolution in seven easy steps | Katie Johnson

The government’s commitment to provide an additional £2bn for social care in the spring budget was presented as a solution to help ease pressure on the NHS and councils over the next three years. While the measure has addressed the immediate funding crisis, there is concern that this is no more than a short-term fix. The announcement risks masking the true scale of the challenges ahead and the radical surgery required to reform social care.

In all likelihood, the extra money will be used by local authority and NHS commissioners to block purchase places in residential care homes. This is not the answer.

Spending money in this way will do little to tackle the fundamental problem: we are admitting too many older people to hospital, keeping them there for too long and failing to give them the care they need in their own homes.

While cheaper than a hospital bed, a place in a residential care home is still more expensive and, crucially, less effective than care and support in the community.

There needs to be a transformation in the way that social care is commissioned and provided, to improve the quality of care, but also to make services financially sustainable, without the need to raid other budgets for extra funding.

A strategy for reform would have seven key elements:

1. Champion independent living

We need to engineer a dramatic shift away from residential care towards the kind of support elderly people actually want and need. That means better support for people to live independently in their own homes, with a skilled, professional workforce to provide the advice and assistance they need. We need to invest in a model of care that involves greater collaboration between the person being supported and those providing support.

2. Support families and carers

There needs to be stronger provision of advice and assistance for families and other carers, and more effective liaison with voluntary and community organisations that are skilled in providing support to older people. This means creating partnerships that can empower volunteers and deliver more professionalised community care.

3. Shift the funding focus to community-based care

Local authorities need to switch their focus away from expensive residential provision to support family, carer and community-based services. This funding shift is necessary if we are to create a fundamentally new system that offers holistic care in the home and keeps older people, wherever possible, out of hospital and residential care.

4. Incentivise local authorities

Local authorities should be incentivised to purchase individually tailored packages of care. Why are we so afraid of asking people, and their relatives and carers, what they really want and need? Many councils want to do this, but their options are limited by what the market can provide or by a lack of imagination. They should be rewarded when they invest in transforming the way providers think about services.

5. Prevention rather than cure

Transforming the social care system, rather than simply shoring it up, would address the problem of delayed discharges from hospital, but also reduce the flow of older people into hospital in the first place. It would prioritise prevention, rather than waiting for problems to arise and then attempting an inadequate cure. The best local authorities are already using their resources creatively, such as looking at predictive analytics to anticipate demand.

6. A better alternative to ‘integration’

There is plenty of talk about the need for an integrated health and social care system, or even a “National Care Service”. There is a much simpler solution. NHS providers and local government need to co-operate better to find the right kind of care for elderly people.

Liaison between hospitals and local authorities will never be truly effective if it is just one more item on the to-do list of hard-pressed nurses and social care workers. It requires dedicated resources – well qualified people whose full-time job it is to ensure that the hand-offs between hospital and community care are speedy, efficient and driven by the individual needs of the patient. Creating these vital liaison roles should be only the first step in a programme to transform the skills and role of the social care workforce.

7. Pool resources

Just as the NHS and local authorities should look to share resources, there is a key role to be played by combined authorities and other city and county partnerships. They should be encouraged to pool their money to fund the transformation of social care.

The budget has already seen one U-turn. It is not too late to redirect the £2bn and make a real difference to health and social care in the UK.

Katie Johnston is director at KPMG

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How we can start a social care revolution in seven easy steps | Katie Johnson

NHS staff lay bare a bullying culture | Sarah Johnson

Bullying is a pernicious problem in the NHS. That’s the stark finding from exclusive research by the Guardian. The online survey of more than 1,500 doctors, nurses and other health workers in hospitals, primary care and community settings, found that 81% had experienced bullying and for almost half of them (44%), it is still ongoing. Close to nine out of 10 bullying victims who responded have been left with their cases unresolved.

Although the survey on bullying was self-selecting, the findings underline the results of the official annual NHS staff survey. The 2015 survey of nearly 300,000 healthcare professionals across England found that a quarter of staff in NHS trusts had experienced bullying, harassment or abuse in the previous 12 months.

Some 87% of respondents to the Guardian survey, carried out between August and September, think bullying is a big problem within the NHS, while almost three-quarters said they felt the health service did not take bullying seriously. “The culture is driven by exerting undue pressure on others to get things done. If you don’t, you are targeted and eventually you end up with stress and depression,” one NHS manager said.

Respondents who have been bullied take on average 108 days off work and a third have contemplated leaving their jobs

“The organisation becomes defensive and takes the corporate line to protect themselves from a legal challenge and puts it down to your perception. You are then managed out of your job through contrived actions designed to make you leave. All this leaves you broken and with no strength to fight. You go if you can find another job. Otherwise you suffer in silence.”

The devastating impact of bullying is all too apparent. A third of victims said they had been pushed out of their jobs, with many developing serious mental health problems as a result, while almost three-quarters reported increased stress and panic attacks. As a result, some 41% said they needed counselling or treatment after being bullied. The survey also shows the adverse impact of bullying on the NHS, with those respondents who have been bullied taking on average 108 days off work and almost a third (31%) saying they were signed-off sick. A further third said they had contemplated leaving their job.

Sue Covill, director of development and employment at NHS Employers, (the employers’ organisation for the NHS in England) admits the results are worrying. “Bullying is completely unacceptable and the ongoing work to tackle it is vital for all NHS organisations, leaders and staff,” she says. “To improve the working lives of our staff and deliver the best possible care to patients, we need to create supportive, positive, open and collegiate cultures in our organisations across the health system.”

According to the 1,355 anonymous survey respondents who said they had experienced or witnessed NHS bullying, the most common forms of abuse are undermining behaviour and persistent criticism. Just over a third said they were persecuted through fear or threats, saying their career was deliberately sabotaged. One in 10 bullying victims was subjected to violent behaviour and aggression.

Asked if a particular incident triggered the bullying, 55% said raising a concern prompted the abuse. Fear of reprisals means that only 54% reported the bullying. For the 43% who chose not to report it, two-thirds felt scared that to do so would make things worse. Of those who did report their bullying, 44% said it persisted afterwards, sometimes for as long as a year.

“My experience left me feeling as though I had been manipulated, that I was a liar and had made it all up,” said one NHS administrator. “I had a meeting with my bully and came away from it feeling worse than before. I’m now left feeling desperately unhappy in a job I now despise.”

Only 17% of those who reported bullying said they received pastoral support from their organisation – and less than a quarter of these were satisfied with the result.

A YouGov survey commissioned last year by the TUC showed that nearly a third of people had been bullied at work.

Concerns have been raised by health professionals and academics that the hierarchial structure of the NHS facilitates a culture where bullying can flourish.

“Medicine is a hard taskmaster but made worse by those around you who see you as a threat that rocks the hierarchy where everyone should know their place,” an anonymous hospital consultant says in response to the results of the Guardian survey. He warns: “It may well impact on patient care if those who perpetuate the abuse look for an opportunity to trip you up and blow any minor omission out of all proportion.”

Dr Anthea Mowat, chair of the British Medical Association’s representative body, says the survey results should act as an urgent wake-up call to employers. “If more staff are to speak out, they must be able to raise concerns without fear of being harassed or victimised, and there need to be clear and supportive systems of reporting in place,” she says. “We need to put an end to the climate of fear that has built up in the NHS over a number of years, with those in senior positions in the NHS leading by example to make this a reality.”

The survey, by the Guardian’s Healthcare Professionals Network, was sent out to network members via an email newsletter. It was also promoted via Twitter and Facebook. Network readers were also invited to take part through the website.

Nurse who left the NHS: the loss of my role was like a bereavement

I was an experienced nurse working in a fantastic team of staff. Following a reshuffle, our ward manager was replaced by someone who was known for being a bully. She frequently made comments and used language inappropriate for the role. Her victimisation of me began immediately. On one occasion, due to staff sickness I was expected to do the jobs of four other people and was reprimanded when I objected. I was expected to attend meetings on my days off. I was constantly ridiculed and told that medical staff had criticised me even though, when questioned, they quite clearly had not. On one occasion I was physically pushed out of the way. This went on for over a year and, along with the treatment of me that followed, had a devastating effect on my psychological health. I was having panic attacks and suicidal thoughts.

I took out a grievance and was immediately moved to an area where I had no previous experience or expertise. Unable to continue working I was signed off sick with work-related stress. My bullying complaint was not investigated properly and not upheld. I believed that I had been targeted as I had previously raised concerns about patient care. I appealed against the decision and with the support of a union representative and witnesses, I won. But the bully remained in post and I was offered a job in another area, at a lower grade. I was advised by my union that I was being constructively dismissed and not to return to work. I negotiated an exit strategy with payment of a tax-free lump sum under one of the now-outlawed compromise agreements. I am now in receipt of an NHS permanent injury benefit which guarantees me a tax-free income, in excess of what I was previously earning, for the rest of my natural life. I now work for a private company in a non-clinical setting. The loss of my clinical role has been like a bereavement and not a day goes by when I do not think about the injustice of my case.

NHS manager: the bullies have wrecked my career

There is an endemic culture of bullying at the hospital trust I work at. Colleagues have been suspended for raising concerns over unsafe patient care and allegations of abuse towards patients. One colleague had to leave her job after whistleblowing and is undergoing counselling for post-traumatic stress disorder. In my case, the bullying was incessant – my line manager would call me in the evening at home telling me to take time off work and encouraging me see my GP as, in her opinion, I was unwell – I wasn’t. She insisted that I had to contact her every morning to tell her where I was, even at work. Other senior people soon started to target me and I would be admonished for the smallest of errors and for things I hadn’t done. Because of the seniority of these people, other members of staff began to pull away, and I soon became isolated. By this time, I had gone to see my GP who had diagnosed me with severe depression. I have had suicidal thoughts – occasionally I still do. I’ve been demoted and moved into a job where I have no experience and I’ve been offered no training; I’m being set up to fail. I’m resigned to the fact that I will have to leave the trust at some point, as I can’t carry on. The bullies have wrecked my career in the NHS, and my confidence in my ability has evaporated. The whole experience has had a profound effect on me – cheerful confidence has been replaced by paranoia and distrust; I will never be the same person again. To this day I do not know what I did wrong – if anything.

NHS staff lay bare a bullying culture | Sarah Johnson

Ed Patrick is a junior doctor who’s finding the funny side | Sarah Johnson

One of Ed Patrick’s biggest fears as a doctor is doing a rectal exam on a patient. It’s not just the process that fills him with dread – he gets anxious when he reads medical notes and there are signs, like if someone is passing blood, that the invasive procedure needs to be done. “It’s almost as if you’re about to ask someone on a date – you don’t know how they’re going to react. That’s part of the fear. It’s difficult to make eye contact. You try as much as possible but then you flit your eyes away at the last minute,” he says. As for the procedure itself, he adds: “It’s one of the most invasive things you can do. It’s funny that, in this day and age, we still do it.”

It’s this kind of “fish-out-of-water” situation that lends itself to comedy – a hobby that Patrick, 34, has devoted more time to since last August, when he decided to take a year out from pursuing a medical career after finishing his initial two-year training as a junior doctor. Alongside performing standup routines, he teaches medical students at Buckingham University and still practises medicine – he is signed up to two hospitals to fill in on shifts in A&E as a locum house doctor.

Related: Edinburgh festival 2016: comedy shows that should deliver

This month, Patrick’s routines are set to reach a wider audience as he performs a nightly show at the Edinburgh fringe festival. His routine is packed with funny anecdotes about his professional life: the emergency department, Patrick has discovered, can be a box of comedic gifts. He remembers introducing himself to an older patient in a bay in A&E. The man didn’t hear him, so he said his name again, and again. On the sixth repetition, he said, very loudly and clearly: “Hello. My. Name. Is. Dr. Patrick”. The patient sat back and said: “Do I want a taxi? No thanks.” It set the whole department laughing.

He also pokes fun at Jeremy Hunt’s mishandling of the junior doctors’ contract. He draws on the time the health secretary was reprimanded by the speaker of the House of Commons for fiddling with his phone. “He’s unable to negotiate with one of the most caring professions in society. These people are meant to be leading our country, they’re meant to be the best communicators. What is going on?”, he says.

Patrick also jokes about how his career choice has affected him, taught him things he didn’t know about himself and uncovered his neuroses. He talks about his first job as a junior doctor on the “high-stakes” paediatrics ward. “It’s a really terrifying experience. I was the new guy on the block and you’ve got all these highly trained, specialist nurses with lots of experience. Yet one week into the job you are technically top of the pecking order and have to make these decisions.” He compares starting out as a doctor to working in a supermarket where you don’t know where anything is and no one has told you. “You’ll have these situations where people will say, ‘Will you get this for me?’ You say, ‘Yeah!’. You come out of the room and you don’t know where it is so you have to ask someone to tell you. It’s this mini baptism of fire. That’s what led to comedy working for me. I’m able to explore those challenges and moments I’ve found difficult. Sometimes they are hilarious in their own right.”

Patrick has always had a love for comedy, but didn’t realise how funny he was until he did a speech at his brother’s wedding in 2002 and managed to make his sister-in-law’s German family laugh. A few years later he did a comedy course and then started to write. But being a doctor and a comedian means that he leads “the social life of a vampire, essentially”. His mother has started dropping hints about hoping she’s still young enough to look after grandchildren into conversation and so he includes funny dating stories in his routine.

Patrick has been reluctant to tell colleagues about his success on the comedy circuit, even though he was a finalist for this year’s Leicester Mercury comedian of the year award and consequently signed with talent agency Roar Global. And before his first show last August in Glasgow, he was nervous about whether people would warm to his routine, but it was a success. The “real test” came when he had a slot at London’s Comedy Store in December. “I was sat outside thinking, ‘have I made a massive mistake?’ I got up, did it and it was really good, to the point that they asked me back to do another slot,” he says. Since then, he hasn’t looked back.

So what does the future hold? Patrick’s thinking about carrying on with his medical training part time. People still ask him when he’s going to stop medicine or comedy and focus on one thing. For now, Patrick’s enjoying keeping up both. He says, “Why do we have to pigeonhole one? If you can make things work, why do you have to give one up?”

Ed Patrick will be performing from 4-28 August (not 15) at Just The Tonic: Community Project at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Advance tickets are £5

Ed Patrick is a junior doctor who’s finding the funny side | Sarah Johnson

Johnson & Johnson"s history and globally attain

Johnson &amp Johnson was founded by 3 brothers in a little store in New Jersey 128 years ago.

The company’s very first merchandise were patches that delivered medicines right to the skin.

Now Johnson &amp Johnson promote enough dental floss in the US to wrap all around the earth thirty occasions, not to mention its assortment of other items.

Johnson & Johnson"s history and globally attain

FDA Once Yet again Rejects New Indication For Johnson & Johnson"s Xarelto

The third time wasn’t the charm. The FDA these days turned turned down– for the third time– the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for rivaroxaban (Xarelto, Johnson &amp Johnson Johnson &amp Johnson) for use in acute coronary syndrome individuals to lessen MI, stroke or death. In addition, the FDA– for the second time– turned down the sNDA for rivaroxaban in the same population for the reduction of stent thrombosis.

The complete response letters come as minor shock, considering that an FDA advisory panel final month strongly recommended against approval for the indications. As I’ve reported right here on several occasions, the huge sum of missing data from the pivotal ATLAS ACS 2-TIMI 51 trial has been the source of the company’s inability to acquire the ACS indications. Though J&ampJ has produced significant efforts to fill in the missing data, the FDA reviewers and panel members did not think the information was reliable sufficient to attain firm conclusions about the relative safety and efficacy of rivaroxaban for use in ACS.

“We remain committed to delivering sufferers who have suffered from acute coronary syndrome with additional safety towards stent thrombosis and secondary lifestyle-threatening cardiovascular occasions,” mentioned a J&ampJ executive in a statement. “We are evaluating the contents of the letters and will establish the acceptable up coming actions.”

FDA Rescinds Xarelto REMS

In a separate improvement, the FDA has rescinded the Xarelto REMS (Risk Evalaution and Mitigation Technique). The company had been required to communicate the risks of an increased threat of thrombotic events when the drug was discontinued without having an ample alternative anticoagulant and of decreased efficacy when not taken with the evening meal.

FDA Once Yet again Rejects New Indication For Johnson & Johnson"s Xarelto

Johnson & Johnson Will Share Clinical Trial Information

In a main victory for advocates of open accessibility to information from clinical trials, Johnson &amp Johnson right now announced that it will make all of its clinical trial information obtainable to outdoors researchers. The company stated that the Yale University Open Data Accessibility (YODA) Project will serve as an independent third party “to review requests from investigators and doctors looking for accessibility to anonymized clinical trials information.”

The firm said that this system “is the very first time any firm has collaborated with a entirely independent third get together to evaluation and make choices relating to each and every request for clinical data.” Final year Glaxo SmithKline and Pfizer announced that they would share  clinical trial information, but the full extent of their dedication is even now unclear and they have not arranged for an independent third celebration to assessment requests for data. By means of its arrangement with YODA J&ampJ appears to have manufactured a far more considerable commitment to sharing its information. Other pharmaceutical and gadget businesses will now undoubtedly face elevated stress to share their information as properly.

“This is a remarkable action by Johnson &amp Johnson that should accelerate the movement of the clinical research enterprise towards much more cooperative studying and sharing,” stated Harlan Krumholz, leader of the YODA Undertaking, in a Yale press release. “By establishing this fair and independent method to release data, Johnson &amp Johnson has taken a leadership place in this emerging era of open science.”

“Sharing anonymized information from clinical trials is critical to advance public well being due to the fact it furthers our understanding of ailments, expands the base of knowledge necessary to develop new remedies, and generates new insights and a lot more complete proof to allow greater healthcare choices for patients – all while guarding patient privacy and confidentiality,” stated Joanne Waldstreicher, J&ampJ’s Chief Health care Officer. YODA, she said, will “ensure that every single and every request for access to our pharmaceutical clinical information is reviewed objectively and independently. This represents a new common for responsible, independent clinical data sharing.”

In its announcement J&ampJ said it would first make information available from Janssen, its pharmaceutical unit. But the business explained it was “also committed to sharing information from clinical trials of its health care device and buyer items.”

In addition to Yale’s YODA, the AllTrials.Net venture in the United kingdom has been a major force in advocating for open data from clinical trials.

Johnson & Johnson Will Share Clinical Trial Information

New Examine Ranks Johnson & Johnson #1 In Pharma For Social Media Engagement

The use of social media within healthcare has undoubtedly been slower than other industries, but it is generating progress. Many healthcare specialists and institutions have been active on the internet for many years and at 1 of the key healthcare business events – HIMSS – Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone gave the opening keynote deal with in 2012 to an audience of about 8,000 (right here).

Later on following month, the Chairman, CEO and President of Aetna Aetna, Mark Bertolini is scheduled to provide the opening keynote at this year’s HIMSS in Orlando. Mr. Bertolini is personally lively on Twitter and created national information in 2012 when he employed the service to chat with an ASU student suffering from stage four cancer. Throughout the 2-day chat, Mr. Bertolini committed to covering all of the college students medical expenses (which had eclipsed their lifetime cap of $ 300,000). The student has because succumbed to the cancer, and (under Obamcare) the lifetime caps are history, but Mr. Bertolini did what he felt was correct at the time – in a very public and social media way.

Social media on the element of the pharmaceutical industry, nonetheless, has been a lot slower and much more tentative largely due to regulatory risk.

“When you appear across the healthcare landscape – most of the core leadership at large healthcare institutions are embracing the energy of social – the electrical power of pull. Pharma has been the lone and notable exception. But it is inevitable so it’s encouraging to see the public and really visible indications that it’s changing.” Howard J. Luks, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon and Advisory Board Member of Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic’s Center for Social Media (here)

That modify is reflected in a new report today by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics (IMS Overall health). It’s an encouraging 1st seem into real metrics around the social media actions of some of the biggest pharmaceutical brands.

Amid the prime 50 pharmaceutical businesses, half do not engage with buyers or sufferers on healthcare-associated subjects through social media, and only ten organizations utilized all three assessed channels. Twitter is utilized by 22 of the 50 companies studied, followed by YouTube which is utilised by 17 organizations, and Facebook is utilised as a channel by 15 firms. Engaging Individuals By way of Social Media – IMS Wellness Report (January, 2014 – 47 pages – free but registration needed right here)

Employing the leading three social media channels – Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – IMS Overall health ranked the ten pharmaceutical companies by a Reach Index, a Relevance Index and a Connection Index (every single of which utilised likes, shares and re-tweets). Of the ten pharmaceutical firms that were lively across all 3 channels, Johnson &amp Johnson Johnson &amp Johnson came out on prime – by a broad margin.

As suggested earlier, much of the hesitation can be attributed to the lack of regulatory guidance, but that also transformed final week when the FDA announced draft social media recommendations for the market (here).

Noticeably absent from the IMS Well being evaluation are some of the other consumer and enterprise oriented social media channels like Google Google, Pinterest or LinkedIn (to identify a few of the bigger ones), and that is also what’s helps make FDA guidelines so tough to bake. They have to be broad adequate to encompass all the various channels each and every of which have their own distinct nuances and strategies of communications. The interest to move quickly into social media (at least by some) was also plainly evident in the report.

Organizations are starting to deal with the lack of regulatory transparency by publishing their personal tips (e.g. Roche and AstraZeneca AstraZeneca). AstraZeneca’s guideline summary revolves around a set of principles with suitably broad definitions of what social media is and what behavior they count on from workers to cover most situations. However, even with these safeguards in place AstraZeneca was forced to pull a Twitter campaign in August 2013 from the Related Press’ Twitter feed. This was simply because it was pointed out that they had incorporated a reference to Nexium in the attached link of the tweet, which is accessed by pressing “View Summary.” This solution title was integrated with no the necessary safety information, placing it in breach of laws. Engaging Patients Via Social Media – IMS Health Report

 The report also cited many outside sources for crucial social media statistics as a way to frame the value of their findings.

* Use of social networking web sites has grown from eight% of all adults on the internet in 2005, to 67% in late 2012 and up to 72% of U.S. adults on-line in Might 2013.

* In 2009, 70% of Canadians turned to the web for wellness-connected data, and 92% of people utilized the search engine Google, rather than a health portal to gather this info.

* Facebook is reported as the fourth most popular source of wellness information in the U.K.

* Physicians on regular devote 3 hrs per week viewing on the web videos for professional functions and cite Medscape and YouTube followed by pharmaceutical firm sites as the most crucial sources of video.

* In the U.S., curiosity in certain conditions receives the best sum of consideration in social media relating to healthcare, followed by way of life changes, well being insurance coverage specifics and security info.

One more part of the report went into significant detail all around the prevalent use of Wikipedia which the authors recommend “is the foremost single supply of healthcare details for sufferers and healthcare pros.” They researched the prime a hundred pages by condition topic and presented this chart relative to the leading 25 (“English” language page – globally).

For healthcare in particular, sufferers are concerned about the validity and neutrality of the data they look for out, and Wikipedia increasingly meets this need, providing supplemental details to that which they obtain from clinicians. IMS Report

It could not be an Oscar, a Grammy or a Golden Globe, but it is obviously a sizable lead and visible win for JNJ in the globally important social media group for healthcare.

“We see that pharmaceutical companies acknowledge that patients increasingly are using some form of social media to obtain info, exchange views and look for suggestions regarding their healthcare. They consequently need to be present, energetic and engaged in these channels to be patient-centered.” Murray Aitken – Executive Director, IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics

New Examine Ranks Johnson & Johnson #1 In Pharma For Social Media Engagement

NBA"s Magic Johnson, Alonzo Mourning Newest Celebs To Market ObamaCare

The Obama administration, in its most current push to boost the quantity of Americans signing up to enroll in well being positive aspects below the Inexpensive Care Act, mentioned NBA legends Magic Johnson and Alonzo Mourning who are effectively familar with making use of the health care care method will appear in adverts starting tonight.

The adverts will appearing nationally on ESPN ESPN, ABC, TNT and NBAtv in the course of NBA games and in “local markets that have higher concentrations of the uninsured,” the Centers for Medicare &amp Medicaid Solutions explained in a statement. They will run through the finish of the open enrollment time period on March 31.

“As portion of our sustained, aggressive outreach to young adults, today we are launching new television ads featuring Magic Johnson and Alonzo Mourning to help increase awareness about the Health Insurance Marketplace,” said CMS spokeswoman Julie Bataille. “We know the younger and wholesome audience responds well to sports figures, and these 30 2nd advertisements characteristic two NBA legends that each have a compelling health story.”

Johnson, who led the Los Angeles Lakers to 5 NBA championships in the 1980s prior to retiring in 1991 soon after currently being diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has been outspoken for the need to have for Americans to obtain accessibility to health coverage. Mourning, who battled kidney condition and survived a kidney transplant, helped the Miami Heat to an NBA championship

In his advertisement, linked below, he stated Americans can get “side by side comparisons” to name brand ideas. He says it may sound like “Magic,” but “it’s actual.”

Neither Johnson, nor Mourning are currently being paid for their appearances in the advertisements, the Obama administration said.

Here’s a link to the ads:

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NBA"s Magic Johnson, Alonzo Mourning Newest Celebs To Market ObamaCare

Johnson & Johnson Faces Uphill Battle At FDA Advisory Panel

The third time could not be the charm. Twice before the FDA has turned down the supplemental new drug application for an acute coronary syndrome indication for Johnson &amp Johnson’s Xarelto (rivaroxaban). On Thursday the Cardiovascular and Renal Medication Advisory Committee will get up the sNDA nevertheless yet again, but FDA assessment documents posted today suggest that the organization will once more face an uphill battle.

Originally, back in 2011, most observers considered the ACS indication would be a snap. The pivotal ATLAS ACS 2-TIMI 51 trial was extensively praised when it came out and the FDA promptly granted priority review for the indication. But  momentum, as I’ve reported before, ground to a halt when FDA reviewers raised queries about the ATLAS trial. The FDA advisory panel, highlighted by vocal criticisms from Steve Nissen and Sanjay Kaul, resulted in a vote against the ACS indication, foremost to the very first comprehensive response letter. The FDA issued a 2nd total response letter final March but J&ampJ restated its self confidence in the trial and its commitment to pursue the indication.

The earlier rejections were based mostly largely on the significant amounts of missing followup information from the trial. The FDA and J&ampJ thought that this difficulty might be circumvented by pursuing an indication for a shorter 90-day remedy duration, given that significantly of the missing information was for longer followup. But the brief phrase information do not seem very convincing and the FDA reviewers make clear in the new assessment paperwork that they now have grave considerations about this technique. (For readers interested in the particulars and minutiae of FDA-sponsor interactions and negotiations, the briefing paperwork include a series of letters from the FDA that supply a fascinating retrospective view of this complicated process.)

There was much more negative news for J&ampJ in the announcement of the panel participants. Former critics Steve Nissen and Sanjay Kaul are on the roster again and will be joined by mentioned pharma critic Sidney Wolfe. In addition, and maybe even more unsafe for J&ampJ, is one of the scheduled FDA presenters, clinical reviewer Thomas Marciniak. He has turn into well recognized for his scathing critiques of rosiglitazone and the angiotensin receptor blockers in addition to rivaroxaban.

Johnson & Johnson Faces Uphill Battle At FDA Advisory Panel