May 2010 Archives

This weekend, we will unofficially welcome summer.  It's a time when people are thinking about swimming pools, barbeques and baseball--not the flu or flu shots.  Although most people think of the flu as a fall or winter illness, preparing for the flu season and ensuring that there is sufficient vaccine supply is a year-round endeavor. 

Recently, at the National Influenza Vaccine Summit in Scottsdale, AZ, the upcoming flu season was the chief topic of conversation. The Summit is a collaborative effort between the American Medical Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The annual meeting brings together professionals from healthcare and public health organizations, vaccine manufacturers and distributors, consumers, and others interested in preventing vaccine-preventable diseases. 

This year's Summit included a review of the H1N1 pandemic, vaccine supply projections for the 2010-2011 season and last season's vaccination rates among specific populations. I found this last topic, especially vaccination rates among healthcare workers, most interesting. 

Influenza is a contagious, serious, and unpredictable illness that affects hundreds of thousands of people in the US each year. Annually 36,000 people die from the flu and more than 200,000 are hospitalized in the United States. The economic cost to the US is over $87 billion each year. According to the CDC, the best way to prevent the flu is to get a flu shot.  Preliminary data from the CDC for the 2009-20120 flu season shows that only 62% of healthcare workers got a seasonal flu shot, despite strong annual recommendations. That means that nearly 40% were unprotected.  Studies have shown that health care workers are a potential source of seasonal flu infections to their patients

As a native Philadelphian, I was very proud that the Summit recognized a local hospital and GSK neighbor for taking the issue of healthcare worker vaccination quite seriously.  Congratulations to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, for its outstanding employee influenza program which will help protect both employees and the vulnerable populations that they serve.  During the 2004-2005 flu season, the hospital's employee flu vaccination rate was just 57%.  Over time, the facility gradually increased the uptake of vaccines by requiring all employees working in buildings with patients or who provide patient care to get a flu shot.  The presenter even noted that they brought the Phillies' mascot, the Phanatic, in to kick-off last season's program.  In the 2009-2010 season, the hospital's employee flu vaccination rate was 99.6%. Now that's impressive!

For the 2010-2011 flu season, the CDC universally recommends a flu shot for everyone over the age of 6 months.  It makes me wonder--do you think we will ever see a time when the population is fully vaccinated and nobody gets sick from the flu during flu season?

For those of us in the healthcare industry, we all appreciate that the advice of doctors only has a chance of working if patients act on that advice, right?  Since prescription medications require paperwork and authorization, surely there could be some analyses done to find out if patients take prescriptions to their local drug stores to be filled.  Up until now, however, the majority of research on whether patients fill prescriptions has focused on patient refills, not necessarily whether patients fill their first prescription.  This lack of action on filling first prescriptions is referred to as "primary nonadherence" by researchers at Harvard Medical School who recently dug deep into a 75,000 patient database of pharmacy claims.

The New York Times wrote in an article last week that the Harvard study represents the largest look at "primary nonadherence" to date.  It turns out that patients don't fill their first prescription more than 20 percent of the time.  The study was published in the February issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

It's great to have this new data on when patients don't fill their prescriptions and it is only possible because prescription medicines require physician documentation.  It seems very logical to think that seeing a doctor for an illness or condition should set off a chain of events in which the doctor prescribes a treatment and then the patient acts on the physician recommendation. 

Of course, physicians also provide other documented recommendations to their patients, but the healthcare system is not set up to verify whether patients actually go out and exercise, change eating habits or purchase an over-the-counter medicine per a physician recommendation. 

I know, for me, unless I have a regular check in with my doctor and I anticipate being asked about how I am doing with what has been recommended, I have a tough time adhering to the guidance of my doctors.  

A fairly regular post from a busy mom concerned about raising healthy children.

It's unavoidable.  On our walk to preschool each morning we pass this window--notice the candy is right at a young child's eye level.  I've considered avoiding it completely, going another route, but that would complicate things and it would not go unnoticed by my five-year old. 

This morning I asked her (reverse psychology, I'm so smart!) if I could eat all the stuff in the window.  "No you would get sick, Mom, and you would look like the meatball man."

A few months back when she had strep throat she was able to watch a few movies, one being Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  In the movie, the mayor of the town eats whatever he wants (ice cream, hot dogs, pancakes with loads of butter and syrup, etc.) until he is literally busting out of his clothes.  This has left an impact on my daughter and she gets it--you eat too much and you will look like the meatball man (she's so smart!). 

I thought avoiding the window would be easier--I wouldn't have to say no, and they wouldn't be disappointed.  I clearly underestimated my daughter (maybe I'm not so smart). It proves to me that talking to my kids about making the right choices may not always be easy but it's the smart thing to do.  

Recently, I was part of a conversation about what it is like to live with lupus.  One of the women commented, "We are all so different, like snowflakes." "Yes," another participant added, "Like snowflakes are all made of snow - we're all wrestling with the same thing - in different ways."

Both these comments resonated with me as I learned from and listened to this group of women describe their daily struggle with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the most common form of lupus.  For me, this dialogue illustrates one of the fundamental dualities about lupus.  Like snowflakes, each lupus patient is unique. No two patients have the same experience with this debilitating, and sometimes life threatening, chronic autoimmune disorder.  At the same time, there are commonalities among people living with lupus. Most lupus patients experience extreme fatigue, painful or swollen joints, sun or light sensitivity along with a long and varied list of other symptoms.  

Lupus is sometimes a hidden disease - people living with lupus may not look sick - the battle going on inside them is invisible to others and the symptoms can mimic many other conditions. More than half of lupus patients experience symptoms for years before being diagnosed. Lupus waxes and wanes, but it is always there. There are periods of remission and periods of disease activity, or flares, which can be severely debilitating and can cause cumulative irreversible damage to the kidney, heart, lungs or nervous system.  Some people with lupus experience mild symptoms for years, others can develop immediate and life-threatening symptoms almost immediately. One person's experience may not describe or predict another's experience at all.

Patients voice the concern that lupus is not well understood; that they themselves are not well understood. Many people with lupus report that family and friends expect more of them than they can reasonably accomplish. With little progress made in treating or curing the disease patients are understandably frustrated. Physicians also express frustration that lupus is a hard disease to get ahead of - they feel reactive rather than proactive in helping patients manage their symptoms.

Almost 5 million people worldwide suffer from various forms of lupus, including SLE. Lupus can occur at any age, but typically appears in young people ages 15-45. About 90% of people living with lupus are women.  When you look at the numbers you see that people most affected by lupus are young women in the prime of their lives and in their child bearing years.

May is Lupus Awareness Month.  Please join the Lupus Foundation of America and the SLE Lupus Foundation in raising awareness of and learning more about this chronic, autoimmune disorder.  Working together we can find a way forward in the treatment of SLE.  

This week, GSK officially inaugurated our vaccines production facility in Marietta, PA.  The facility is one of the premier, innovative vaccine sites in the U.S. 

Géraldine, the site director of the Marietta plant, led the event as a way to thank employees for their hard work in getting Marietta up and running, and to show the community our commitment to the local economy. 

The theme for the day was "from the past to the future."  We acknowledged not just the achievements that have brought us to an operational vaccine production facility for GSK, but the rich tradition of vaccine production that has taken place here.

Almost 130 years ago, Dr. H. M. Alexander first brought the life-saving power of vaccines to Lancaster County when he founded the Lancaster County Vaccines Farm in this very spot in Marietta. Though the name of the facility and its owners have changed over the years--to Gilliland Laboratories, HM Alexander and Company, Wyeth, and now GSK--the  mission has stayed the same: improving lives by preventing diseases.

"Today we come together to celebrate the achievements of all the people who have contributed to making GSK Marietta operational today," Géraldine said.  "We couldn't have gotten here alone, and we recognize that there are many, many people who have helped us arrive at this milestone.  In addition, we are very conscious of our important role in the community, and GSK is committed to supporting the local region through creating jobs, donating to local community programs, conservation efforts, and health and education programs." To that end, a local high school senior was presented with a scholarship of $3,000 to use toward her study of pharmacy next year.

Since the purchase of this facility in 2005, GSK has invested more than $375 million in the renovation and redevelopment of the site, with a significant investment in new packaging, filling and freeze drying technology.  The site employes approximately 300 people, including both full time and contract employees.

Remember PULSE? It's GSK's Volunteering Partnership Program in which employees are given 3-6 months away from their jobs to help organizations make a positive impact in the community.  Well, PULSE recently celebrated its first birthday, and what a year it has been! The initiative launched by our CEO Andrew Witty, has in the first year, successfully matched and deployed 58 GSK volunteers to 25 non-profits in 18 different countries. 

The impact of our pioneers
The accomplishments of the returning PULSE volunteers speak for themselves, so here are some of their passionate, thoughtful stories in their own words:

"After my first day touring the local Nyalenda slums, I lay awake all night devastated and in total disbelief of what I had just witnessed. Then, it became incredibly apparent they didn't need a complex plan, they simply needed soap and clean water. With a little start-up funding from The OGRA Foundation, I launched the OGRA Hygie and Sanitation Program.  Since then we have reached over 1600 school students and over 50 healthcare workers, set up 10 hand washing stations in clinics and local schools and have 10 more ready for distribution.  I have devised a sustainability plan for bringing water filters and soap to the local area to ensure it continues when I have left."- Christine is working for Ogra Foundation in Kenya.

The Health and Human Services Department recently announced an initiative to expand oral health services, education and research in America.  

Through the initiative, the department is increasing support for and expanding its emphasis on access to oral health care and the effective delivery of service to underserved populations.  The umbrella theme for the multipronged campaign is "Oral Health is Integral to Overall Health." The importance of the link between oral health and systemic health is gaining momentum in the public health arena. Many oral care industry organizations are banning together to launch advocacy and educational campaigns to reinforce good oral health care practices.

The Word of Mouth Campaign (WOM campaign), a nation-wide educational campaign designed to get people to think about their oral health needs and provide them with a customized plan to enable them to act on their needs, is one example of the work that is being done in the oral health education space.

A recent survey showed a significant majority (69 percent) of U.S. households feel meeting the specific oral health care needs of each family member is very important, however, nearly half (48 percent) report using a "one size fits all" approach when it comes to oral health care products in their home.  As every person has different oral health care needs, it is crucial that the needs of each family member are being addressed to achieve optimal oral health. 

 As part of the WOM campaign, www.WealthofOralHealth.com is being launched, an online resource for people seeking important oral health education and personalized oral care plans for each member of their family. By completing the brief survey on the site, people can immediately receive a customized plan for each family member, addressing important conditions ranging from bad breath, cavities, acid erosion and sensitive teeth. 

To further their mission of improving the oral health care habits within all families, GSK is donating $1 to Oral Health America (OHA), for every person who completes a customized oral health care plan on the site.  The donation will help the OHA in their efforts to provide oral health resources and products, such as toothbrushes and toothpastes, to under-served communities in the U.S, aligning with the Health and Human Service department goal to increase access to these populations.

There are a number of serious debilitating and even life threatening diseases that are neglected because those afflicted are so poor that there is no commercial market for drug treatment. Among the most important are the neglected tropical diseases, which include tuberculosis and malaria along, with a number of parasitic and worm-based infections.

The task of developing treatments for, and perhaps even preventing such diseases, which disproportionately affect the least developed countries, is huge.  For one entity to tackle the problem of the so-called neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) could only be described as insurmountable. 

GSK has been a leader in identifying--and testing--new partnerships and approaches to address diseases of the developing world.  In February 2009, GSK became the first major pharmaceutical company to propose a knowledge pool for neglected tropical disease.  Our intention was to be flexible in our approach to IP and to collaborate with others to address some of the great challenges facing global health to accelerate therapies for NTDs where market forces are not driving discovery. 

Since then, we have made a number of announcements related to contributions and participants in the pool

We never intended for the pool to be soley GSK's and we were pleased to bring on BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) as the administrator for the pool earlier this year.

Today, together with BVGH and Alnylam, we welcomed the first government agency to the pool--the Technology Innovation Agency of South Africa.  TIA is tasked with assisting the South African government to foster and stimulate economic growth and improve the quality of life of all South Africans by supporting the development and exploitation of technological innovations.  TIA's strategic intent is to be a world class innovation agency that supports and enables technological innovation to achieve socio-economic benefits for South Africa through leveraging strategic partnerships.

TIA plans to access pool assets to identify and develop drugs that will treat both South Africans and others afflicted with neglected tropical diseases.

BVGH also announced that MIT is the first academic institution to contribute patents to the pool.  As a world leading university, MIT brings a wealth of knowledge and the expertise of the most influential thought leaders to the pool.  MIT's contributions could substantially increase the amount of intellectual property available to researchers for neglected tropical diseases. 

Treatments for neglected tropical diseases are urgently needed. For some diseases disproportionately affecting developing countries there are no effective prevention methods or treatments, largely because normal market incentives for innovation do not exist.  Because of the pool, we hope we will be able to look back in a few years and know that there are more medicines in the research pipeline or approved for neglected tropical diseases than would have been if we had not come together to foster research and knowledge sharing for NTDs.

The blooming of May flowers is a reminder that summer is quickly approaching.  Do you know what the greatest thing about summer is?  No, not lounging around poolside getting caught up on celebrity gossip.  Barbeques are great, but flipping burgers and dogs while the familiar charcoal flavor wafts throughout the neighborhood is not what first comes to mind. 

Certainly, the most anticipated summer activity is vacationing.  I'm not talking about cramming the entire family in the minivan and driving thousands of miles to see America... I am referring to the summer vacations that take you on a mental and physical holiday from your day-to-day routine - the international trips to exotic, adventurous or bustling destinations, complete with unique social experiences, cultural treasures or native traditions.

Of course, traveling to some of these destinations, whether near or far from the US, often require important precautions to minimize health risks.  Sickness resulting from infection with hepatitis A and/or hepatitis B, for instance, may lead to a mild or severe liver disease. 

While all children in the US today are given vaccines to prevent both hepatitis A and hepatitis B, most adults have not been protected.  And when it comes to traveling, these diseases are more prevalent in many vacation spots that are popular with US travelers.  Exposure to hepatitis A or hepatitis B can occur through close, personal contact with an infected person, or through eating or drinking contaminated food or water.  

In an effort to help would-be travelers know if the country they are planning to visit carries an increased risk of exposure to hepatitis A or hepatitis B, GSK has just launched an online and mobile resource to Help Prevent Hepatitis.

The initiative includes a text-messaging component.*  Texting "COUNTRY" to 85765 will trigger a message that asks for a specific name of a country.  Texters will then receive information about whether being in that country could put them at increased risk for a hepatitis infection.  Also, by texting a zip code, respondents will be able to get information about healthcare providers in their area to talk to for more information about getting vaccinated.

So, while you're daydreaming about your upcoming summer trip and putting together your vacation checklist, don't forget to add how to Help Prevent Hepatitis to your list of travel to-do's. 

*Message and data rates may apply.

Most of us take breathing for granted.  You just do it.  Like blinking your eyes and swallowing--you don't really give breathing much thought throughout the course of a day.  But imagine if sometimes you have to struggle to breathe--imagine you have asthma.

When you have asthma and are experiencing symptoms, there are times when you literally may not be able to catch your breath.  If you come across something that triggers your asthma, your airways start to swell and constrict and you have trouble getting air into your lungs--some people compare it to trying to breathe through a straw, or feeling like a fish out of water.  More than 20 million Americans have asthma and it's estimated that nearly 300 million people worldwide have this serious, chronic disease.  But the good news is there are recommendations and medicines available for people with asthma that can help prevent their symptoms.  Having asthma doesn't have to slow you down.   

Today, May 4, is World Asthma Day, an annual global initiative to put the spotlight on the importance of asthma awareness and control.  In the US, the whole month of May is Asthma Awareness Month. If you or someone you know has asthma, participate in an asthma awareness event in your community; learn more about asthma by watching this public service announcement developed by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America with funding and editorial support by GSK; and visit www.asthma.com for information and resources on how to help prevent asthma symptoms.

Let today be the day you decide to take control of your asthma.