Projects Educational outreach and letter writing campaign in support of Senate bill #2029: An historic bill has just been introduced into the US Senate that would require pharmaceutical, biotech, device and medical diagnostics companies to disclose any payments or gifts they make to doctors--including monies/hotels/travel funneled through third party entities (such as Medical Education and Communication Companies and hospital based lecture series) under the guise of medical education. This information would then be made readily available to patients, journalists and the public at large. It's now up to us to let Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Herb Kohl (D-WI) and the bill's 4 co-sponsors (Missouri's Claire McCaskill, Minnesota's Amy Klobuchar, Massachusett's Ted Kennedy & New York's Chuck Schumer) know that they have our support! Click on the links below to send a web-based message to the Senator from your state. Please reference the "Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2007," S. #2029. Iowa: Senator Charles Grassley Wisconsin: Senator Herb Kohl Missouri: Senator Claire McCaskill Minnesota: Senator Amy Klobuchar New York: Senator Charles Schumer Massachusetts: Senator Edward Kennedy If you'd prefer that Project THAMES prepare a letter for you, simply click on the "E-mail me a prepared letter to send" link below, enter your name and address as promopted, and we'll e-mail you a professional looking letter (in both Word and .pdf format) that you can post in the mail within 24 hours. E-mail me a prepared letter to send! Out-reach to reporters/journalists Advocacy campaign to Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), ethics committees at medical schools and government bioscience institutes, medical journal editorial boards Community discussion groups and education Major Accomplishments, 2005 Articles placed in several major, national newspapers, such as the New York Times and Boston Globe Website launched to international attention, continually expanding content and growing number of visitors. Commercial conflict-of-interest disclosures at major CME websites are now more prominently displayed. Major Accomplishments, 2006 Two Project THAMES research papers presented at the 16th International AIDS Conference in August: "Prevalence and characteristics of competing commercial interests among HIV thought leaders and the feasibility of their cessation" (MOPE0657) and "Funding source as content determinant of internet-based conference reporting and Continuing Medical Education (CME) activities" (MOPE0937). International AIDS Society (USA) adds page of financial disclosures to its website in October. Prominent series of articles in Wall Street Journal and New York Times about the commercial conflicts of clinical practice guidelines panels. Senate Finance Committee contacts the U.S. Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, in December, requesting detailed responses to how the nation-wide CME accreditation body guards against undue commercial influence among its medical education programs for physicians, nurses and physician assistants. Major Accomplishments, 2007 Progress toward transparency and public financial disclosure for members of the Foundation for Retrovirology and Human Health (private sponsor of annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections) and members of Scientific Program Committee of the conference. (The "CROI" conference is the final hold-out on this, as the International AIDS Society-USA, Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), and American Society for Microbiology (sponsor of "ICAAC," or Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy) have already seen fit to do so. Publication of conflict-of-interest research results (in Continuing Medical Education (CME) programs, clinical practice guidelines committees, program committees of medical conferences, and leadership of NIH/NIAID clinical trials groups) in peer-reviewed medical journal. Progress toward standardization of disclosure requirements (e.g., definitions, time periods, threshold for disclosure, standards for break-down) across all major medical journals and HIV/AIDS specialty journals. Progress toward public access to all conflict-of-interest disclosure forms for physician researchers at the NIH's Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group (AACTG) and FDA Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee (AVAC). Expanded advocacy campaign to medical ethics committees at key universities and medical schools as well as at the Office of the Inspector General and NIH Ethics Office. Goals for 2008 Facelift for Shillfactor website Begin applying for major foundation support E-newsletter facility via Network for Non-Profits for Good Consider remunerating 1-2 principal staff members Publication of research in peer-reviewed medical and/or policy journals Outreach to Center for Media and Democracy 148 West 23rd Street #10H • New York, NY 10011 • Phone: (646) 233-3024 • Fax: (866) 301-9349 • info@projectthames.org A 501c(3) public education and advocacy organization. © 2006 Project THAMES - Website Design by IX Interactive, Inc.