Full Podcast: The Journal of Life Sciences (.MP3,18 Mb)
On this edition, Tjols' editor-in-chief William Patrick is joined by Jaxon White, chairman of Medmarc Insurance Group, and Dr. David Dale, president of the American College of Physicians. They discuss the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on liability for medical device makers and the need for greater research into the medicinal uses of marijuana.
In a major victory for the medical device industry, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that medical device makers could not be sued over harm done by devices that had gone through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s premarket approval process. The 8-1 decision in the case of Riegel v. Medtronic decision reaffirms two previous lower court rulings. The medical device industry said the decision makes clear that the FDA, and not a patchwork of state regulation and jury verdicts, is the determiner of the safety and efficacy of medical devices. Jaxon White, chairman of MedMark Insurance Group, discusses the significance of the decision with Tjols' editor-in-chief William Patrick.
Marijuana has for centuries been smoked for its medicinal benefits. There are both clinical and anecdotal evidence of many potential uses, but research expansion has been impeded by a complicated federal approval processes, limited availability of research grade marijuana and the debate over legalization. The American College of Physicians, the nation’s second largest physician group, is calling for programs and funding for rigorous scientific research into the medical uses of marijuana. Tjols' editor-in-chief William Patrick talked to Dr. David Dale, president of the ACP and a professor of medicine at the University of Washington, about the organization’s recent policy statement.
The Journal’s Daniel S. Levine offers some thoughts on the Journal of Visualized Experiments or JoVE.com, a website dedicated to making biological experiments easily reproduced by allowing researchers to see how they are performed.