The next question was whether Medicare would pay, and if so, for which patients.
Such differences, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms, could become important in determining which drugs will work best for which patients.
Fortunately, our field has moved beyond partisan, and sometimes political, preference and now asks, What treatment is most effective for which patients in what context?
If doctors had better information on which treatments work best for which patients, and whether the benefits were commensurate with the costs, needless treatment could be junked, the savings could be substantial, and patient care would surely improve.
House and Senate negotiators working on Medicare legislation say they are seriously considering imposing a co-payment on home health care, one of the few Medicare benefits for which patients do not have to pay such charges.
He persuaded Mr. Norwood to give in on several critical points, including caps on the amount of money for which patients could sue, and the rules under which those suits could be brought in state courts.
Still, some members of the advisory committee cautioned that kidney damage might emerge when the drug was used longer than the 48 weeks for which patients were observed in Gilead's clinical trials.
The company also said it had requested the bodies of smokers and people who had suffered prostate cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, atherosclerosis and breast cancer -- diseases for which patients can be screened in regular checkups.
While a doctor would quickly help patients cut through such claptrap, these are over-the-counter cures for which patients don't seek their GPs' advice.
Anxiety and depression are the top predicaments for which patients seek mental health treatment; schizophrenia is at the bottom of the list.
That could slow the move toward so-called personalized medicine, in which genetic tests are used to determine which drugs are best for which patients.
