Illustration by Dante Hong Carlos

By Robert Frichtel 2012-07-01T22:30:32Z

Lets start by stating that driving while impaired by drugs or alcohol is a crime and must be punished. All 50 U.S. states have clear laws prohibiting this activity.

But there is one intoxicant that is trickier than the others: marijuana, especially when used for medical purposes.

During the past two years, Colorado and Montana, along with more than a dozen other states, have proposed laws that set a strict threshold for determining when a marijuana user is deemed too impaired to drive. These would consider a concentration of more than 5 nanograms of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC (the psychoactive component of marijuana) per milliliter of blood, as hands-down proof of intoxication or impairment.

The result would be an automatic guilty verdict, with all that entails: a temporary loss of driving privileges, fines, lawyers fees, possible jail time and greatly increased insurance premiums. By some estimates, a conviction for driving under the influence (DUI) can cost a driver as much as $10,000.

Several states are going further and have either adopted or are considering zero-tolerance laws for THC levels. This means any THC in the blood would result in a conviction.

Heres the problem with these laws: There are questions about how, and at what level, cannabis use impairs driving ability. For a patient in one of the 17 states where marijuana has been legalized for medicinal use, how are you to know when its legal to drive? After consuming marijuana, should you wait 12 hours to drive or one day? When will your THC level be below the 5-nanogram threshold? The answer is complicated.

Although marijuana is readily detectable in toxicology tests of blood, hair, urine or saliva, what isnt clear is just how quickly THC passes through the body. We know, for example, that THC may be detected in the blood of occasional users several hours after ingesting. But in some chronic users there may be traces for days after the last use, long after any performance-impairing effects have subsided.

This is a very clear contrast with alcohol. There is a firm understanding of the rate at which the body metabolizes alcohol and there are well-known guidelines on how much time must pass after drinking before one is fit to drive. Tests can easily be administered in roadside stops. Those who fail simple benchmarks of sobriety -- not to mention breath tests -- are usually convicted or plead guilty.

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Marijuana as Medicine Needs Rules to Drive By

PHILADELPHIA Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH, has been appointed to the role of Executive Vice Dean for Institutional Affairs, at Penn Medicine. The appointment, made by J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Dean of the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, will take effect on March 1, 2012.

In his new role, Strom will assume the responsibilities of coordinating Penn Medicine's efforts in comparative effectiveness research, as well as the Neuroscience of Behavior Initiative, which seeks to strengthen Penn's programs in basic, translational, clinical, and population research in the areas of addiction, depressive disorders, and neurodegenerative disease. In consultation with Dean Jameson, Strom will also provide administrative leadership for the recruitment of department chairs, center and institute directors, and other senior faculty members. Along with other members of Penn

Medicine leadership, he will also assist with implementing recommendations that emerge from the School's current strategic planning process.

Since 2007 Strom has served as vice dean for institutional affairs, with primary responsibilities as Penn Medicine's liaison to the Philadelphia Veteran's Administration Medical Center and Penn's global health programs in Guatemala and Peru. He will continue to serve the Perelman School of Medicine in these areas.

Strom is the founding chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology and the founding director of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Penn Medicine. As the George S. Pepper Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, he has served as chair and center director since 1995. Author of more than 550 papers and principal investigator of more than 250 grants, he is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and one of the few clinical epidemiologists elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and American Association of Physicians. He is renowned for his work in the field of pharmacoepidemiology, and serves as editor-in-chief for Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, the official journal of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology.

The Perelman School of Medicine is currently ranked #2 in U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $479.3 million awarded in the 2011 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top 10 hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; and Pennsylvania Hospital the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Penn Medicine also includes additional patient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2011, Penn Medicine provided $854 million to benefit our community.

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Penn Medicine Appoints Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH, as Executive Vice Dean for Institutional Affairs

Americans should rejoice in a move towards a European healthcare model. Here's why, according to a 27-year-old MS patient.

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How Socialized Medicine Is Saving My Life

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Inform Genomics, Inc., a private company focused on developing novel platforms of genomic based personalized medicine products for cancer supportive care and inflammatory diseases, today announced preliminary results from its initial study for its lead product, OnPART, which is designed to determine an individuals risk of side-effects associated with chemotherapy regimens based on his or her individual genomic profile. The study utilized advanced Bayesian network technology to identify (single-nucleotide polymorphism) SNP networks associated with common side-effects of chemotherapy regimens. In the plenary session Molecular Predictors in Supportive Care, Dr. Stephen T. Sonis, D.M.D., D.M.Sc. who is a co-founder of Inform Genomics and also a Clinical Professor of Oral Medicine at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, reported that for patients receiving dose-dense doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, plus paclitaxel (AC+T) a preliminary SNP network correctly identified patients at risk for chemotherapy-induced diarrhea with an accuracy of 96.7% and an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.994.

We are very encouraged by these early results and they are in line with what we previously demonstrated with a high-degree of precision using our Bayesian network technology to predict oral mucositis with our transplant product, said Ed Rubenstein, President & CEO of Inform Genomics. We are excited to see further data demonstrating OnPARTs ability to predict serious toxicities from chemotherapy regimens based on his or her individual genomic profile which may lead to actions to reduce the burden of potentially curable interventions for patients with cancer.

About OnPART

OnPART, Oncology Preferences And Risk of Toxicity, is Inform Genomics lead platform personalized medicine product for treatment decisions in patients who will receive chemotherapy for colorectal, breast, lung, or ovarian cancer. Based upon response rates and survival, more than one chemotherapy regimen may be considered appropriate care for patients with these common solid tumors, yet the regimens vary widely in their side-effect profiles. OnPART is being developed to assess genomic risk for common and often debilitating therapy-related side-effects, including fatigue, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, oral mucositis, cognitive dysfunction and peripheral neuropathy. The product includes a differentiating factor in personalized medicine, quantifying patient concerns for side-effects, using a copyrighted patient questionnaire (Preference Assessment Inventory). OnPART is expected to provide valuable information for patients and medical oncologists to help clarify critical clinical choices and be commercially available in 2014.

About Cancer Supportive Care

Most patients with cancer receive supportive care as part of their multimodal anti-cancer therapy, regardless of cancer diagnosis, stage of disease, or treatment modality. Common symptoms associated with cancer or its treatments include fatigue, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, oral mucositis, cognitive dysfunction, and peripheral neuropathy. Some of these conditions are manageable with commercially available medications, while others are the focus of drug development programs. The development of these side-effects may interfere with ongoing anti-cancer treatment, impair patient functioning, negatively impact the patients quality of life, and may increase the risk of mortality. Treatment of these side-effects also results in significant costs for payers and providers.

About Inform Genomics

Inform Genomics, Inc. is a private company focused on developing novel platforms of genomic based personalized medicine products for cancer supportive care and inflammatory diseases, including its lead platform product, OnPART, designed to determine an individuals risk of side-effects associated with chemotherapy regimens based on his or her individual genomic profile. The companys business model leverages existing technology in conjunction with proprietary analytic methods for conducting genome-wide association studies. Product development programs will lead to commercial, single source laboratory tests consisting of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) networks that determine the likelihood of individual patient clinical outcomes to drug therapies. The U.S. market opportunity for these differentiated products exceeds $2 billion annually. Inform Genomics is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit http://www.informgenomics.com.

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Inform Genomics Announces Preliminary Results of OnPART™ Personalized Medicine Product: SNP Network Identifies ...

WALTHAM, Mass., July 2, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BG Medicine, Inc. (BGMD), a company focused on the development and commercialization of novel cardiovascular diagnostics, announced today that Bill Densel has joined the company as General Manager, CardioSCORE. In this role, he will report to President and CEO Eric Bouvier, with overall responsibility for the development and growth of CardioSCORE, BG Medicine's diagnostic blood test designed to improve the identification of individuals at high risk for near-term major cardiovascular events such as heart and stroke. Mr. Densel brings nearly two decades of developing and commercializing breakthrough technologies in medical devices, biotechnology and diagnostics to BG Medicine. He most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Dune Medical Devices.

"Bill is a welcome and strategically important addition to our management team," said Eric Bouvier, President and Chief Executive Officer of BG Medicine. "We believe that his proven general management experience, coupled with an extensive sales and marketing background focused on cardiology and oncology, will provide us with an ideal skill set to commercialize and build the CardioSCORE franchise, which is a key component of our product portfolio. CardioSCORE is designed to identify high risk patients who would not otherwise be identified using traditional risk scales, particularly in the near-term, and has the potential to enable optimized preventative treatment and save many lives."

Prior to Dune Medical Devices, Mr. Densel held positions of increasing responsibility at Hologic Corporation where he was Vice President of Marketing for the GYN Surgical business and Sr. Director of the Neuroscience Business Unit of Cytyc Corporation. Previously, he held roles in Strategic Planning and Market Development for Boston Scientific. Mr. Densel began his career at Snowden Pencer, a surgical instrumentation company that was acquired by Genzyme Corporation, where he held positions of increasing responsibility in sales, marketing and business development. Following his graduation from Duke University, Mr. Densel received a commission in the U.S. Navy and served for four years as a Special Operations Officer.

About CardioSCORE

CardioSCORE is a diagnostic blood test designed to improve the identification of individuals at high risk for near-term major cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke, over conventional risk factor scoring, in otherwise asymptomatic adults. The test is a proprietary in vitro diagnostic multivariate index assay that measures the levels of several protein biomarkers in blood and integrates the results to yield a single numerical score that is related to an individual's near-term cardiovascular risk. BG Medicine filed a 510(k) Premarket Notification with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2011 for regulatory clearance of CardioSCORE, following the successful completion of a pivotal clinical validation study.

The American Heart Association estimates that in the United States alone, more than one million people die annually from complications from atherosclerosis and atherothrombosis, and that the total annual cost of treating these conditions exceeds $360 billion.

About BG Medicine, Inc.

BG Medicine, Inc. (BGMD) is a life sciences company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel cardiovascular diagnostics to address significant unmet medical needs, improve patient outcomes and contain healthcare costs. The Company's first commercialized product, the BGM Galectin-3(TM) test for use in patients with heart failure, is available in the United States and Europe. BG Medicine is also developing CardioSCORE, a blood test designed to identify individuals at high risk for near-term major cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke. For additional information about BG Medicine, heart failure and galectin-3 testing, please visit http://www.bg-medicine.com and http://www.galectin-3.com.

The BG Medicine Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=10352

Safe Harbor Statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements made in this news release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the "safe harbor" created by those sections. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "believe," "expect," "may," "will," "should," "could," "seek," "intend," "plan," "estimate," "anticipate" or other comparable terms. Forward- looking statements in this news release may address the following subjects, among others: our expectations concerning our belief that CardioSCORE may improve the identification of individuals at high risk for near-term major cardiovascular events over conventional risk factor scoring; our expectations for the market potential of CardioSCORE; our expectation that the FDA will provide regulatory clearance for our CardioSCORE test; and our beliefs regarding expected contributions from our new General Manager. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, as a result of various factors including those risks and uncertainties described in the Risk Factors and in Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of our recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. We urge you to consider those risks and uncertainties in evaluating our forward-looking statements. We caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to publicly release any updates or revisions to any forward- looking statement contained herein (or elsewhere) to reflect any change in our expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

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BG Medicine, Inc. Appoints Bill Densel, General Manager, CardioSCORE