A Great Nobel Story

I enjoyed this Christopher Lee article in the Washington Post on University of Utah Professor Mario Capecchi who shares the Nobel Prize in Medicine this year.

I was Governor of Utah for eleven years and, in that capacity, followed Dr. Capecchi’s work closely. My friend Dr. Steve Prescott who now runs the Oklahoma Research Foundation has told me for years that Dr. Capecchi would be a Noble Prize winner.

The emphasis I have placed on personalized medicine as Secretary of HHS is actually a continuation of interests I have cultivated in Utah as Governor. I was able to visit the labs of genetic pioneers and look at their work in isolating gene markers, growing tissue and splicing genes. It was a remarkable education for a policy maker. I’ve always appreciated the time they took to teach me.

In addition to great scientists like Mario Capecchi, Utah has a unique genetic resource called the Utah Population Database. It is a database that overlays genetic and medical histories with genealogy records. The database was used extensively in the gene mapping project. In fact, I’m told the gene mapping project was hatched when a bunch of scientists were trapped at Alta Lodge by a snow storm for several days.

Anyway, those of us with interests in genetic research, and common links to Utah, celebrate the honor given to Dr. Capecchi and Sir Martin J. Evans.

Visit the HHS Personalized Health Care Web site.

Comments

Mr Secretary,

Would you know if the Utah Population Database researchers have queried the database for common traits amongst those who survived and those who perished in the pandemics of 1918-19, 1957-8, 1968-69? It would be interesting to view the information on such variables as blood type/rh factor, and family lineages who experienced higher death rates. If we could pinpoint predispositions perhaps we could vaccinate the population with more effectiveness in the future.

Posted by: standingfirm | October 12, 2007 at 09:16 AM

It is very hard for adults to say no to children. Yet I have to agree with the veto on the S-CHIP bill.
It has merrits in many areas from health care to more stringent documentaion rules.
Yet people who are involved with their health care do better than those who are not.
I would like to see matching funds program. The feds match the state who match what people pay into a health care system. Health care is tierd at different levels.
If we are to do medicin for prevention - like immunization then there should also be education.

By the way - what will happen to all the S-CHIP families during a pandemic? This worries many on the flu boards.

Please keep posting as we keep reading.

Regards,
Allen

Posted by: Allen | October 15, 2007 at 02:31 PM

Mr. Mike Leavitt, Secretary Health & Human Services:

We are professional people. We are neither felons nor mental patients but a family of Veterans. Our question to you is when is Health and Human Services
going to tackle the problem of microchip implants and "classified intelligence" experiments that could be labelled Brain Computer Interface Experiments? Why not check out the article in DEFENSE NEWS 29, Jan. 11-17, 1993. The article's title is "U.S., Russia Hope to Safeguard Mind-Control Techniques." For years, the U.S. Government has had a secret "directed frequency" (non-lethal weapons) program that tries to change human behavior by remote with cruel punishments like shocks, and causing bleeding from the rectum (in physically healthy humans), and sleep deprivation for over 90 days at a time, etc. What are you going to do about this advancing microchip technology? Do you know how scared the average citizen will be when we disclose this atrocity before the government does? Some elected officials are now stepping up and showing some concern. This is a scandal that will shake the foundations of this country in its brutality and the cover-up that went on for years. You see, citizens now have access to quick communication and these cruel "intelligence doctors" miscalculated. You should ask Senators Harry Reid and Clair McCaskill about it...even Tierney and Bart Gordon. We have lots of emails from elected officials going back over 14 years! We even have meail from people in your department! From Dr. & Mrs. Kenneth W. Locke, 11942 Loxley Lane, Maryland Heights, MO 63043-1236

Posted by: Marlene DiFiori Locke | October 21, 2007 at 09:43 PM

Mr. Mike Leavitt, Secretary Health & Human Services:

We are professional people. I was an officer during the Viet Nam War. We are neither felons nor mental patients but a family of Veterans. Our question to you is when is Health and Human Services
going to tackle the problem of microchip implants and "classified intelligence" experiments that could be labelled Brain Computer Interface Experiments? Why not check out the article in DEFENSE NEWS 29, Jan. 11-17, 1993. The article's title is "U.S., Russia Hope to Safeguard Mind-Control Techniques." For years, the U.S. Government has had a secret "directed frequency" (non-lethal weapons) program that tries to change human behavior by remote with cruel punishments like shocks, and causing bleeding from the rectum (in physically healthy humans), and sleep deprivation for over 90 days at a time, etc. What are you going to do about this advancing microchip technology? Do you know how scared the average citizen will be when we disclose this atrocity before the government does? Some elected officials are now stepping up and showing some concern. This is a scandal that will shake the foundations of this country in its brutality and the cover-up that went on for years. You see, citizens now have access to quick communication and these cruel "intelligence doctors" miscalculated. You should ask Senators Harry Reid and Clair McCaskill about it...even Tierney and Bart Gordon. We have lots of emails from elected officials going back over 14 years! We even have mail from people in your department! From Dr. & Mrs. Kenneth W. Locke, 11942 Loxley Lane, Maryland Heights, MO 63043-1236

Posted by: Kenneth William Locke | October 21, 2007 at 09:48 PM

Anyway, those of us with interests in genetic research, and common links to Utah, celebrate the honor given to Dr. Capecchi and Sir Martin J. Evans.

Posted by: güzel sözler | October 27, 2007 at 12:34 PM

It is wonderful that you and HHS understand the importance of personalized health care. It is ironic, however, that one of the first successful personalized therapies of lymphoma, Bexxar, (targeted radionuclide therapy with a dose personalized to each patient's own handling of the drug) is having its reimbursement cut under 1/1/08 CMS rules to 15K less than the cost of the drug. This cut is based on flawed billing data. But if FDA approved personalized therapies of cancer aren't made available to the public by CMS due to low reimbursement rates, what is the realistic prospect that other similar drugs will be developed? CMS represents the final link in the chain of translation of science to practice. CMS must be careful not to be the "weakest link" in this chain or all the good you propose will never come to fruition. I am sure this is not CMS intent, but it represents current reality lest CMS change its position.

Posted by: Dr. Richard Wahl | December 12, 2007 at 11:50 PM

I agree with Dr. Richard Wahl's comment. The CMS ruling that undercuts radioimmunotherapy will almost certainly give pause to researchers and drug sponsors -- knowing how difficult it is to develop a drug that really works and then to prove it -- about 10 years for Bexxar (when only 1 in 10 agents tested in clinical phase win approval) -- and then to have it go extinct because of highly questionable CMS methodology in calculating the costs. I can promise you this: patients will not be passive bystanders in this matter, because we have too much to lose. For patients, this is also an urgent time-senstive matter, because these agents are invaluable - inducing durable remissions even when other treatments have failed. Please do what you can to help us. ~ Karl Schwartz, President, Patients Against Lymphoma

Posted by: Karl Schwartz | December 14, 2007 at 09:37 AM