Gaijin Panty

For me, fall is the best time of year. Cooler weather, upcoming holidays, my birthday, but, more importantly, the best of college football season is starting. Pretty soon teams will be playing to secure a spot in one of the many uniquely-named bowl games. There’s the Citrus Bowl, Rose Bowl, and now the… Precision Agriculture Bowl?

On Saturday, October 6, the South Dakota State Jackrabbits will face off against the Indiana State University Sycamores in the first-ever Precision Agriculture Bowl.

As reported by Successful Farming (your go to source for news at the intersection of football and farming, apparently) the Precision Agriculture Bowl has been labeled as such because of a new bachelors program at SDSU.

SDSU is the first land-grant university in the country to offer both a bachelor’s degree and minor in precision agriculture. Students learn while participating in a collaborative program focusing on both the Department of Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science, and the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering within the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. The precision agriculture curriculum also incorporates other programs from across the university.

The precision agriculture major offers courses in data analytics, GPS-GIS technology, soil sciences, precision crop production, plant pathology, precision data mapping, sensor technology, precision farm machinery, electrical diagnostics and weed/pest management.

And even if the SDSU Jackrabbits lose on Saturday, at least the students will have something to cheer on as the school breaks ground on their new precision agriculture center before the game.

The 6 p.m. CST kickoff at  Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium at SDSU will be preceded by the groundbreaking ceremony for the new SDSU Raven Precision Agriculture Center at 1:30 p.m.

To read more about the Precision Agriculture Bowl, click here.

A new study from the Knight Foundation found that 80% of the Twitter accounts that spread disinformation during the 2016 election are still active …

In just a few short weeks, BIO will host its annual Patient and Health Advocacy Summit which brings together patient advocacy organizations, academia, regulators, biotechnology industry, and other stakeholders for two days of robust programming to discuss timely policy issues and share best practices.

Organizers announced a panel session for day one that will cover the Trump Administration’s “American Patients First Blueprint”, a proposed plan for addressing the cost of prescription drugs. Moderator Janet McUlsky, Pfizer’s National Alliance Development Senior Director, will be joined by officials from the Trump Administration who will provide updates on the plan and engage with attendees on the merits and whether it will reach the stated objectives.

Administration officials scheduled to participate on the panel are:

• Dan Best, the Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Drug Pricing Reform, Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and
• John O’Brien, MPH, Advisor to the Secretary for Health Policy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Since the release of the plan in May 2018, discussions around key provisions continue in the media and elsewhere. Both patient advocacy groups and the biopharma community support efforts aimed at ensuring the ability of innovators to discover new cures and treatments while providing access to prescription drugs with affordable out-of-pocket costs. Whether the plan will deliver these outcomes remains to be seen.

BIO applauds the plan’s exclusion of direct government negotiation in Medicare which would lead to price controls and restricted access for America’s seniors. The plan also restricts the use of pharmacy gag clauses, which prevent patients from learning about more affordable options for buying their medicines. There are several other concepts in the plan that have the potential to improve health care delivery, depending on how the details are ironed out. For example, the 340B reform provisions, value-based pricing agreements and greater pass-through of rebates to consumers.

There are some areas of concern. In a three-part blog series authored by Dan Durham, BIO’s Executive Vice President for Health Policy, three proposals in the “Blueprint” that could pose significant challenges to patients were examined in depth. The first one looked at a proposal to restrict access to Medicare Part D, a popular prescription drug program for America’s seniors. The second blog reviewed the proposed reforms to Medicare Part B, and the third looked at reforms that may restrict access to needed medicines for patients enrolled in Medicaid.

The panel session at the upcoming Summit will provide a more in-depth look at these issues and how they may impact the well-being of patients, as well as help shed more light on the Administration’s efforts to provide affordable access to medicines patients need. Registration for the BIO Patient and Health Advocacy Summit is open. It will be held October 25-26 at the Park Hyatt in Washington DC.

BIO’s member companies in the pharmaceutical, life sciences, chemicals, and biotechnology sectors routinely and strategically outsource their research needs, driven by a demand to stay competitive, cut costs, increase innovation, and have access to specialized knowledge. Identifying a contract research organization (CRO) requires vendor communication, diligence, legal negotiation, and selection, complimented with market knowledge, defining statement of work (SOW), project tracking, and data reporting.  Overall, this requires a tremendous amount of time and capital-before any work is done.

Enter Scientist.com

Following an extensive due diligence process, BIO has partnered with Scientist.com-the world’s leading online scientific marketplace. The program offers members significant savings in a marketplace populated with 2,600+ suppliers governed by a single legal agreement. Additionally, members receive exclusive access to Scientist.com‘s Research Concierge™, a team of scientific experts that can assist with any order, regardless of complexity. Overall, Scientist.com reduces CRO identification to 1) request service, 2) select service, and 3) collect data in a simple and innovative online platform. Join us in streamlining research and development with Scientist.com.

Astronauts on board the International Space Station held a ceremony on Wednesday to mark the change of command from Space Station Commander Drew Feustel to Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency.

Feustel presented Gerst with a symbolic hatch tool key and both men congratulated eachother and their crews for their 1,850 shared orbits.

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Over the past two years, I lost both my father and my brother to cancer. I know that my situation is not unique; too many others experience the same pain and heartache that I felt as their loved ones fight this terrible disease.

When their cancers struck, I had just joined Bristol-Myers Squibb which meant traveling back and forth frequently from the East to the West coast to manage their care. It was a very difficult time, both emotionally and physically, to say the least.

I was amazed by their practitioners – the healthcare professionals who cared for my dad and brother – and especially took notice of the incredible job they were able to do despite constraints they often faced providing the appropriate care to their patients. At times it was apparent that the amount of red tape it took to secure prescribed treatments inhibited their ability to help their patients.

These constraints were often related to the desire for offering treatment choices targeted to an individual patient’s need which were up against a health-care system that is increasingly focused on a singular “best” treatment solution for all patients. As the head of the Value, Access and Payment organization of a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases I am acutely aware of this issue. I am humbled by the outstanding work of patient advocates in their efforts in Washington, DC and our state capitals to ensure that patients receive the right medicines for their disease at the right time, in conjunction with physician choice.

BMS is investing in precision medicine to ensure we can continue to develop and deliver innovative medicines to physicians and patients. The strong voice of advocates in ensuring patients have the ability to continue to choose their own medical care must continue to be heard.

At BMS, our priority is to ensure that patients have access to our innovative medicines.

We are continuously having conversations with the payor and access community to ensure every patient can access the medicines their provider believes will deliver the best care for their individual disease. We don’t want to see anything impede physician-patient treatment choice, which we believe is essential to delivering optimal patient care.

We are committed to working across the healthcare continuum to ensure patients have access to – and can afford – new breakthrough treatments. We know the advocacy community is a critical partner in this effort and are incredibly grateful for all they do on behalf of patients like my father and brother to ensure access to the care they deserve.

Michael L. Ryan, Pharm.D.

Dr. Ryan is the Head, Value, Access, Payment and HEOR for Bristol-Myers Squibb. In this role, Dr. Ryan is responsible for all pricing, contracting, payer strategy, and Value and Access Marketing across the U.S. BMS portfolio, as well as all field reimbursement strategy and execution across all US payers.

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In our story “Biotech Device Could Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis Without the Side Effects” we highlight SetPoint Medical, a California-based clinical-stage …

Jill asks, “I know most kitchens have a vent fan over the stove, but I hate how loud they can be. Do I really need one?”
Vent fans over the stove in your kitchen do a lot more than remove smoke from a burned meal. Read on to find out more.

#BYUvsUW Browning has enough time in the pocket to get himself a cup of coffee. BYU needs a better pass rush. pic.twitter.com/Xcrq2cAG3Q.