CDC Hepatitis C section Under Fire - "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: protecting the private good?"

CDC Hepatitis C section Under Fire - "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: protecting the private good?"
 
BMJ 2015 (Published 15 May 2015)

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Commentary:

Executive Director: Jules Levin

From Jules: lets be clear - who is really to blame - if the CDC itself, The White House, Congress would fund HCV adequately & appropriately then the CDC Foundation would not have to take any funds from industry. The CDC desperately wants to address the HCV epidemic & I do not see any evidence they are not acting appropriately; without CDC Foundation funding the CDC Hepatitis Section could do nothing because the CDC director & The White House & Congress give them next to nothing in funding for HCV. HCV is a public health epidemic & newly developed HCV drugs can cure HCV up to 100% with safe, tolerable, effective 12-week time-limited duration therapy, the 1st time in history that we can cure a virus with time-limted duration no less. SO, where is Tom Frieden, the CDC director, on this, why has HE not redirected funds from his budget to HCV? For years I have publicly stated the CDC has budget flexibility, they could move funds over to HCV but they refuse. Congress & The White House also refuse to fund HCV adequately, they provide a completely inadequate amount of $31 million to the CDC Viral Hepatitis section & recently The White House recommended an additional $31 mill which Congress is reviewing and this additional $31 mill White House recommendation is a joke - it should be just for starters $150 mill, that is what the CDC needs merely to launch a national screening project; because, it is estimated 75% of individuals with HCV are undiagnosed! so how can we cure anyone if they are undiagnosed.....

Article

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: protecting the private good?
 
BMJ 2015 (Published 15 May 2015)
 
After revelations that the CDC is receiving some funding from industry, Jeanne Lenzer investigates how it might have affected the organisation's decisions The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) includes the following disclaimer with its recommendations: "CDC, our planners, and our content experts wish to disclose they have no financial interests or other relationships with the manufacturers of commercial products . . . CDC does not accept commercial support."

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