Update: The New England Journal of Medicine's subsequent response after this article is published is appended at the end.
Michael Brattain, University of Nebraska Medical Center Eppley Institute professor and associate director for basic research in the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, died unexpectedly in his sleep March 5. He was 68.
On May 25, 2012, I received an email from Len Zwelling:
Is Average Sales Price plus 6 percent the right amount to pay doctors under the Medicare Part B program?
After my conversation with Gilman, I called MD Anderson and asked to talk with somebody about the $18 million grant for a biotech incubator.
When the White House proposed a $1 billion startup fund for the National Cancer Moonshot, a largely unexpected directive to reform FDA raised many questions among oncology insiders.
Gilman's letter of resignation, dated May 8, 2012, concludes with a hard slam:
In early 2012, Gilman was under the impression that CPRIT was functioning smoothly.
Reform of the FDA oncology program is emerging as the immediately tangible element of the Obama administration's moonshot program.
Between the fall of 2011 and the spring of 2012, I watched MD Anderson from afar, and I didn't think about CPRIT at all.
