Health Law and Policy Commons^™

That Is Northern Lights Cannabis Indica . . . No, It's Marijuana: Navigating Through The Haze Of Cannabis And Patents, Dawson Hahn

Concordia Law Review

By their very nature, patents are exclusionary. A patent grants the right to exclude others from making use of an invention or process. But patents are also tools to promote innovation. However, when an invalid patent is granted, the patent becomes an exclusionary tool that also chills innovation. Invalid cannabis patents may be chilling innovation in the cannabis market, but they may not be the only thing. While the Controlled Substances Act continues to prohibit cannabis at a federal level, researchers and medical professionals will be unsure of the legality of their actions. This naturally leads to another chilling effect …

Got Mylk?: The Disruptive Possibilities Of Plant Milk, Iselin Gambert

Brooklyn Law Review

Milk is one of the most ubiquitous and heavily regulated substances on the planet—and perhaps one of the most contested. It is tied closely to notions of purity, health, and femininity, and is seen as so central to human civilization that our own galaxy—the Milky Way—is named after it. But despite its wholesome reputation, milk has long had a sinister side, being bound up with the exploitation of the (human and nonhuman) bodies it comes from and being a symbol of and tool for white dominance and superiority. The word itself, in verb form, means “to exploit.” It is also …

Legislative And Executive Branch Developments Affecting The United States Department Of Agriculture Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Sheila Fleischhacker, Alyssa Moran, Sara N. Bleich

Journal of Food Law & Policy

For more than forty years, the United States Department of Agriculture Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; formerly Food Stamps) has offered nutrition assistance to nearly forty million eligible individuals and families each month. This article first provides a brief overview of the evolution of the United States’ largest domestic food security and nutrition safety net program. Then, the article reviews Congressional actions taken regarding SNAP during the 2018 Farm Bill deliberations, appropriations for fiscal years 2017 through 2020, and oversight (in)activities. The article focuses on Congressional activities regarding block grants; participant eligibility; benefit adequacy, issuance, and redemption; and strengthening SNAP’s …

Consumer Power To Change The Food System? A Critical Reading Of Food Labels As Governance Spaces: The Case Of Acai Berry Superfoods, Christine Parker, Hope Johnson, Janine Curll

Journal of Food Law & Policy

This article argues that the marketing claims on food labels are a governance space worthy of critical examination. We use a case study of superfood açaí berry products to illustrate how marketing claims on food labels encapsulate dominant neoliberal constructions of global food systems. These marketing claims implicitly promise that by making careful choices consumers can resist and redress the ravages of unbridled global capitalism. Food labels suggest that consumers can use market signals to simultaneously govern our own selves and the market to ensure sustainable, fair, and healthy consumption. In response, this article develops, justifies and applies a socio-legal …

The Clash Of Agricultural Exceptionalism And The First Amendment: A Discussion Of Kansas' Ag-Gag Law, Meredith Kaufman

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Since the Nation’s founding, agricultural production has been treated differently than other industries. This concept, known as “agricultural exceptionalism,” has manifested in many different ways throughout U.S. history. Since the 1990s, one manifestation of agricultural exceptionalism has been the enactment of “Ag-gag laws,” state laws that limit information gathering activities at animal production facilities. Ag-gag laws are frequently criticized by animal welfare advocates and legal scholars for seeking to shield animal production facilities from public scrutiny, a state-sanctioned protection not afforded to other industries.

Blockchain Meets Genomics: Governance Considerations For Promoting Food Safety And Public Health, Walter G. Johnson

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Foodborne illness remains an ongoing public health challenge in both the developing and industrialized worlds. In the United States, almost 50 million reported cases of infectious disease occur every year from a food product, resulting in substantial morbidity and mortality with economic burdens to health care and productivity. Despite recognition as a leader in food safety, the U.S. experiences longstanding and novel issues in food safety. Advances in whole genome sequencing (WGS) promise to bolster food safety regulators’ capabilities to identify pathogens and determine their source. However, inefficiencies in tracing food products through the supply chain remain.

Federal Regulation Of Pesticide Residues: A Brief History And Analysis, Kate Z. Graham

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In the United States today, there are over 900 pesticides in use1 and over 400 are approved for use in food production, whether used as part of the growing process or in post-harvest handling. Although the history of pesticide use in food crops goes back centuries, the post-war period has seen an enormous growth in the varieties and amounts of pesticides used in our food system. As our reliance on pesticides has grown, pesticides have become a divisive issue. Pesticide advocates view them as essential to a secure and reliable food supply needed to feed a growing world population. Detractors, …

Solving The Opioid Epidemic In Ohio, Lacy Leduc

Journal of Law and Health

On May 31, 2017, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine took a step in fighting Ohio's opioid epidemic, bringing the first of many lawsuits against five top pharmaceutical companies. However, under Federal and State law, there is an exception called the Learned Intermediary Doctrine, which can absolve drug manufacturers of liability from any misconduct that might be found and transfer that liability to a treating physician. This exception is the way many drug manufacturers were able to avoid being held responsible in the past. This Note proposes that with the current pending lawsuit in the State of Ohio, an exception to …

“Big” Food, Tobacco, And Alcohol: Reducing Industry Influence On Noncommunicable Disease Prevention Laws And Policies, Belinda Reeve, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The food, tobacco and alcohol industries have penetrated markets in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with a significant impact on these countries’ burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Tangcharoensathien and colleagues describe the aggressive marketing of unhealthy food, alcohol and tobacco in LMICs, as well as key tactics used by these industries to resist laws and policies designed to reduce behavioural risk factors for NCDs. This commentary expands on the recommendations made by Tangcharoensathien and colleagues for preventing or managing conflicts of interest and reducing undue industry influence on NCD prevention policies and laws, focusing on the needs of LMICs. A …

Pharmaceutical Price Gouging: The Need For Direct Regulation On The Gray Market, Nicole Rende

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

This Note proposes federal legislation that will ultimately shut down the Pharmaceuticals gray market. The federal government should directly regulate the gray market and the price gouging mechanisms used. Congress should pass the Fair Accountability and Innovative Research Drug Pricing Act of 2016, currently proposed. This Act will increase price transparency and provide a civil penalty for wrong doers. In addition to the passage of this Act, there needs to be a direct attack on the gray market by creating an act that does not allow companies to participate in these distributions and ultimately form monopolies. This act needs …

Cannabis For Medical Use: Fda And Dea Regulation In The Hall Of Mirrors, Rebecca S. Eisenberg, Deborah B. Leiderman

Articles

A majority of Americans now live in states that purport to authorize medical use of cannabis, although federal law continues to prohibit both recreational and medical use. The current legal regime for cannabis is unstable and may be more effective at deterring research than it is at deterring medical use. Lack of data on medical cannabis products poses public health risks as well as policy and legal challenges. Modified regulatory approaches for other kinds of products provide alternative models for encouraging safety and effectiveness research and providing better information about cannabis products already in clinical use.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Weed Whacking Through The Tenth Amendment: Navigating A Trump Administration Threat To Withhold Funding From Marijuana-Friendly States, Arlen Gharibian

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

The Trump administration has taken a firm stance against marijuana legalization at the state level. While an official federal policy is still pending, this Article focuses on whether the Trump administration’s threats to preventCalifornia from pursuing its duly enacted marijuana legalization law violates the Tenth Amendment. This Article then addresses how the federal government could achieve its goal while remaining within the bounds of the Constitution.

Seeking Insurance Parity During The Opioid Crisis, Valarie K. Blake

Scholarly Works

Too many privately insured face substantial barriers and delays to getting timely and affordable substance use disorder (SUD) care when they need it, sometimes with terrible and irreversible consequences. Historically, private insurers have been reluctant to cover such services and have been glad to leave this responsibility to public systems like Medicaid. Laws like the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were meant to make private insurance more generous, but these laws are underenforced and too weak to fully address the challenges of the opioid epidemic. When patients and the …

A Mathematical Solution To The Sine Of Madness That Is Pharmaceutical Compulsory Licensing Under The Trips Agreement And The Doha Declaration, Ashley E. Sperbeck

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

A viable economic solution is necessary to address the shortcomings, textual ambiguities, and deficiencies engulfing international patent protection, leading to the inability of LDCs facing public health crises or national emergencies and lacking pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities to obtain generic pharmaceuticals. This Note poses a solution to this problem via another Amendment to the TRIPS Agreement and the Doha Declaration, which provides a mathematical framework to determine when and under what circumstances a compulsory license should be granted. Furthermore, this Note contemplates establishment of a WTO subcommittee to oversee this proposed solution and to ensure compliance with this Amendment. This concrete …

Tribal Sovereign Immunity As A Defense At The Patent Trial And Appeal Board? Or A Violation Of U.S. Antitrust Laws?, Samantha Roth

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This Comment will address two primary issues. First, it will analyze the basis of sovereign immunity rights of tribes, with a focus on the relationship between intellectual property rights and sovereignty. Second, it will discuss whether this arrangement violates the antitrust laws of the United States. This Comment concludes that even if a claim of tribal sovereign immunity is legitimate, it is likely that such an arrangement still violates the relevant antitrust claims.

Opting Into Device Regulation In The Face Of Uncertain Patentability, Rebecca S. Eisenberg

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This article examines the intersection of patent law, FDA regulation, and Medicare coverage in a particularly promising field of biomedical innovation: genetic diagnostic testing. First, I will discuss current clinical uses of genetic testing and directions for further research, with a focus on cancer, the field in which genetic testing has had the greatest impact to date. Second, I will turn to patent law and address two recent Supreme Court decisions that called into question the patentability of many of the most important advances in genetic testing. Third, I will step outside patent law to take a broader view of …

Finding A Forest Through The Trees: Georgia-Pacific As Guidance For Arbitration Of International Compulsory Licensing Disputes, Karen Mckenzie

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This paper will examine the challenges of international compulsory licensing by examining the issue historically and legally as well as offer possible solutions. Thus, this paper will explore the challenge of balancing corporate interests against the affordability and availability of pharmaceuticals by focusing on discrete situations in developing countries, the history of compulsory licensing, and how the World Health Organization (the “WHO”) and the WTO have attempted to tackle these challenges through compulsory licensing, and it will suggest a possible framework for use in arbitration, which balances equities through a Georgia-Pacific analysis.

Patents And The Pharmaceutical Industry: Curbing The Abusive Practices Employed By Blockbuster Drug Companies To Prolong Market Exclusivity, Kelley Chandler

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

Patent law in the pharmaceutical space presents unique challenges. Interactions between patent terms, the FDA, the drug development process, and the need for quality medical solutions create a complex dynamic which leads to uncertainty. This uncertainty makes it difficult to discern between solutions which might be effective, and solutions which will spawn new challenges where they so intently sought to eliminate old ones. Although Hatch-Waxman was a success in many ways, in other ways it has proven to frustrate the purposes behind its enactment. The suggestions presented here are a sound starting point for alleviating some of the burden plaguing …

Legal Discrimination Against Organ Transplant Candidates: Medicinal Marijuana And The Double-Edged Sword, 52 Uic J. Marshall L. Rev. 859 (2019), Kyle Jorgensen

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Direct-To-Consumer Ads Are Misleading: Concise Statements Of Effectiveness Should Be Required, Robert A. Bohrer

Faculty Scholarship

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals has been the subject of much criticism and the issue has become even more pressing with the Trump administration’s proposal to require the disclosure of prices in DTC ads. In this article I argue that a more powerful approach to the problem of DTC ads would require the disclosure of the effectiveness of the advertised drugs, at least as found in the clinical trials submitted for FDA approval. To support the need for an effectiveness disclosure, I describe the problem of DTC ads and examine representative ads to illustrate the potential of such ads …

Exploring Legal And Policy Responses To Opioids: America's Worst Public Health Emergency, James G. Hodge Jr., Chelsea Gulinson, Leila F. S. Barraza, Walter G. Johnson, Drew Hensley, Haley R. Augur

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pharmaceutical Drugs Of Uncertain Value, Lifecycle Regulation At The Us Food And Drug Administration, And Institutional Incumbency, Matthew Herder

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Policy Points

• The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has in recent years allowed onto the market several drugs with limited evidence of safety and effectiveness, provided that manufacturers agree to carry out additional studies while the drugs are in clinical use.
• Studies suggest that these postmarketing requirements (PMRs) frequently lack transparency, are subject to delays, and fail to answer the questions of greatest clinical importance. Yet, none of the literature speaks directly to the challenges that the FDA—as a regulatory institution—encounters in enforcing PMRs.
• Through a series of interviews with FDA leadership, this article analyzes and situates those challenges …

Regulatory Gaps In Drug Compounding: Implications For Patient Safety, Innovation, And Fraud, Joanna Shepherd

Faculty Articles

Drug compounding is the practice of mixing, combining, or altering drug ingredients to create a product that meets the medical needs of a patient whose needs cannot otherwise be met with commercially-available products. Compounding is essential for patients that are allergic to certain ingredients or cannot tolerate the route of administration or dosage form of a commercially-available drug. Compounding may also enable pharmacists to supply medications when there is a shortage of commercially-available drugs. For example, amid the nationwide shortage of generic liquid Tamiflu and growing flu deaths in early 2018, pharmacists around the country used Tamiflu capsules to compound …

The Opioid Crisis: The States' And Local Governments' Response To Bigpharma's Deception And Why The Supremacy Clause May Provide A Cloak For Opioid Manufacturers To Hide Behind, Tracie Childers

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fraud, Abuse, And Opioids, Stacey A. Tovino

Faculty Articles

This Article analyzes recent government enforcement actions involving two health care fraud and abuse authorities, including the federal Anti- Kickback Statute and the federal civil False Claims Act, in cases involving opioids. Part II of this Article examines recent government enforcement actions involving the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits (among other conduct) the exchange of remuneration for opioid prescriptions, patient referrals for drug testing services, and patient referrals for addiction treatment services if such prescriptions or services are reimbursed in whole or in part by a federal health care program. Part III of this Article examines recent government enforcement actions …

On Opioids And Erisa: The Urgent Case For A Federal Ban On Discretionary Clauses, Katherine T. Vukadin

University of Richmond Law Review

The American opioid epidemic cuts across all social divisions, touching the employed and unemployed. Those with private health insurance are one of the fastest-growing affected groups, but this group struggles most to get care. Despite their insured status, the privately-insured received treatment at half the rate of those with Medicaid and at even lower rates than the uninsured. This article focuses on a significant barrier to treatment for those in employer sponsored benefit plans: the discretionary clause. A discretionary clause grants the decision maker broad latitude and ensures that any federal court review is deferential. Claims processing in such a …

Redefining "Life": The Constitutional Implications Of Patenting Immortality, Julia Spivak

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Consumer Protection: Escaping Death By Regulation, Thomas L. Tacker

Publications

This book is designed to appeal to anyone who is at all interested in topics related to making life better and safer—for all us consumers. Our current approach to consumer protection is extremely flawed; sometimes costing lives rather than saving them. There are better ways to protect ourselves and the people we love.

"Hash"Ing Out Inequality In The Legal Recreational Cannabis Industry, Maya Rahwanji

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

No abstract provided.