Happy New Year.  The Applied Biostatistics Association (TABA) invites you to a seminar and dinner:

Speaker:  Merrick Zwarenstein,   Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital, Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto

Title: Who Killed VIOXX

Abstract:

The VIOXX debacle stands as a monument to the folly of pharmaceutical companies, the FDA, medical journals, scientists and other individuals and systems. One view is that a bad drug with untenable side effects was knowingly launched by a greedy manufacturer on an unsuspecting public. But as a result of legal proceedings, freely available public documentation on the behind-the-scenes discussions of the trial design, both within the company and with the FDA  suggest a more complex picture.

Viewing this information in conjunction with what we know about the drug and about trial design  illuminates our thinking about the evaluation  of new drugs, and hints at more pragmatic designs for  randomised trials that may better protect the patients using,  the physicians prescribing, the scientists evaluating, the journals publishing and even the shareholders investing in patented pharmaceuticals and the companies which produce them.
When:  Wednesday, January 25, 2012
6-7 pm seminar
7 pm dinner (optional, but registration required)

Where:  Room 7-605, Princess Margaret Hospital, 610 University Avenue

Cost: Seminar – free

Cost: Seminar – free
Dinner – $15  (students $5)
Please RSVP to Tina Haller at taba.exec@gmail.com by Monday, January 23 if you plan to attend the seminar or the dinner (see dinner cancellation policy below).
If you plan to attend the dinner, please mail a cheque payable to TABA to
Tina Haller
xxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx
xxx xxx
If you have signed up for dinner, and have to cancel, we request a 48 hour notice.  Otherwise, TABA does have to pay for the dinner, and we will have to pass the cost back onto you.
********************************************************************
TABA seminars are made possible thanks in part to generous donations from Amgen.

If you would like to see your company name here as a sponsor, please contact Tina Haller  or Ruth Croxford (ruth.croxford@ices.on.ca).
*********************************************************************
TABA executive:
Ruth Croxford
Marguerite Ennis
Tina Haller
Lorinda Simms