MAKING NEWS

A U of C economics researcher’s idea was included in a New York Times article on Nov. 14 about how governments can lower pharmaceutical prices while keeping both patients and drug companies healthy. “The pharmaceutical market is probably the worst-functioning market that there is,” said Dr. Aidan Hollis, who echoed the sentiment of other experts that policy makers must recognize that the current system is not working. For example, in the U.S., drug companies are being criticized for spending their R&D dollars too heavily on products that are good for profits but only marginally good for society as a whole. In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has classified only about 20 per cent of the drugs developed over the last 10 years as qualitative breakthroughs. In a nutshell, Hollis’s idea involves governments setting up a fund to compensate drug companies based on how much their product improves a person’s quality of life and how often a product is used. Hollis believes this approach would encourage corporations to spend more R&D dollars on breakthrough medicines while increasing patient access to these more meaningful drugs. “This can be done within the same budget as we devote to pharmaceuticals now,” he added.

A registered dietician with the Faculty of Kinesiology’s Trym Gym health management program is cheering the federal government’s plan to eliminate trans fatty acids from the diets of Canadians. These bad fats are linked to heart disease and obesity. “As a dietician I am thrilled,” Jane Rose told the Calgary Herald, adding that Canadians consume an average of 8.4 grams of trans fats per day, nearly double what they should be eating. Fast foods and processed foods are two big fat reasons why Joe and Jane Canuck are digesting too many trans fats. To avoid these bad fats at the grocery store, nutritionists advise consumers to scan product labels and avoid items with hydrogenated oils, partially hydrogenated oils or shortening. Healthier alternatives include canola oil or olive oil.

Members of the Alberta Liberal party, which won 17 seats in the provincial election, may want to give members of the Alberta Alliance Party a big hug. “The Liberals have made inroads, and the Alliance has stolen many Tory voters, making them (Conservatives) much more vulnerable,” political scientist Dr. Anthony Sayers told the Edmonton Journal. Now that two thirds of Tory MLAs are from rural ridings, coupled with the new threat of the Alberta Alliance, the Journal speculates that the Tory caucus and their policies will be going further right on the political spectrum.

Less than half of Alberta voters – and even fewer eligible voters in Calgary – marked an Elections Alberta ballot last month. “(The low voter turnout) raised tremendous questions about the state of democracy in Alberta,” political scientist Dr. Lisa Young told the Calgary Herald. “Provincial politics is more important than federal politics in the sense that it delivers health care, it delivers education … But no one came.” Young believes there are many reasons why most Albertans didn’t vote, including the lack of public debate on the issues of the day, let alone issues of the future. “There were no issues. The government refused to engage in any kind of discussion of issues.”

• Compiled by Dennis Urquhart
  Making News highlights staff and faculty featured in the media.