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			Friday, April 17, 2009 News Clipping Archives *Maryland / Regional* State Center project in Baltimore may get the ax (Baltimore Business Journal) Local, State Agencies Lack Resources to Ensure Food Safety (Washington Post) Small gains and an eye to future of health care (The Gazette) City housing agency faces legal action over lead paint (Annapolis Capital) Maryland first to cover homeless in hate crime law (Daily Record) *National / International* Defective Fitness Balls, H.I.V. in Prisons and Obese Airline Passengers (New York Times) Glaxo and Pfizer Join Forces to Develop and Market H.I.V. Drugs (New York Times) Health advocates tout new model of female condom (AOL News) *Opinion* More measles (Cumberland Times-News) *Maryland / Regional* State Center project in Baltimore may get the ax State treasurer could decide fate of $1.6B redevelopment By Daniel J. Sernovitz Baltimore Business Journal Friday, April 17, 2009 Maryland lawmakers may have dealt a lethal blow to the massive State Center redevelopment planned for midtown Baltimore, a $1.6 billion project hailed by supporters as the most significant economic development effort in the city since the Inner Harbor’s revitalization. The fate of the long-anticipated proposal now rests in the hands of state Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp, who will decide if the state can afford to take on the project. Kopp’s report is due by May 15, and its contents could determine whether State Center moves forward or is scrapped. But the project has become a point of contention between its supporters, who believe it will bring jobs and taxes to Baltimore, and its opponents, who worry about its impact on the state’s already diminished finances. Because of those concerns, state legislators led a charge to derail the project. The effort didn’t succeed, but it resulted in a state budget amendment pinning the development to Kopp’s review. The treasurer, along with Comptroller Peter Franchot and various bond rating agencies, will focus on whether undertaking the project would max out the state’s ability to borrow money for other projects in need of state money. As part of the development project, the state would lease the 25-acre office complex to State Center LLC, led by Baltimore developer Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse Inc. The state would then rent the office space it needs — estimated at between 1 million square feet and 1.5 million square feet — from Struever Bros. State Center has been in the works since 2005, when the state began to seek plans from developers to remake the property off Martin Luther King Boulevard. Struever Bros. was picked in March 2006 to redevelop the property, home to a number of state agencies. The Baltimore developer hopes to convert the office complex into a mixed-use community with 1,200 residential rental and for-sale units, 2 million square feet of office space, 250,000 square feet of retail space and 7,000 parking spaces. Groundbreaking for the project was slated for late fall 2010 — but that timetable does not include Kopp’s review. The project would be developed in phases over a period of 10 years. With a favorable report from Kopp, the development deal would still need to be reviewed by the General Assembly’s budget committees and formally approved by the state Board of Public Works. Among the lawmakers leading the opposition to State Center was Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer, a Democrat representing Baltimore and Howard Counties. Kasemeyer said he does not believe the state transportation and general services departments have been open about the process or the development’s financial terms. Kasemeyer believes the project is fraught with problems and unanswered questions. He said he is concerned about how much the state will be charged in rent for office space it now owns rent-free. He also questions whether the state has considered less-expensive alternatives, and the struggling Struever Bros.’ ability to finance its development. Michael Gaines, assistant secretary for General Services’ real estate department, said Kasemeyer’s concerns are legitimate and should be explored as part of the project. But he said his department, along with the transportation department, have considered those issues already and he does not believe they should keep the project from moving forward. As proposed, Struever would borrow $888 million toward the $1.6 billion project, according to legislative services data. Another $338 million would come from state-issued debt. State and federal tax credit programs would cover $234 million in project costs, and the remaining $145 million would come in equity from the developers and from outside investors. Struever Bros. spokesman Bob Rubenkonig acknowledged the financing market has impacted the developer’s projects. He said the company is seeking an equity partner to help with the project’s costs but does not expect the credit crunch will affect State Center because of its location, size and development potential. He declined to comment on the pending treasurer’s report or questions about the project by state legislators. All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved. Local, State Agencies Lack Resources to Ensure Food Safety Congress Must Fix System, Report Says By Lyndsey Layton Washington Post Friday, April 17, 2009 Local and state health officials trying to prevent food illness outbreaks are stymied by scarce resources, weak leadership from the federal government and bureaucratic barriers, according to a new study public health experts released yesterday. While much of the current debate about improving food safety has focused on federal agencies -- the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- the bulk of food safety work is performed by about 3,000 local and state agencies, which handle everything from inspections of restaurants, food processing plants and grocery stores to detecting outbreaks and removing unsafe products from stores. But those agencies are struggling, and Congress must reengineer the national system, according to an analysis by the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, based on consultations with health experts, consumer groups and food executives nationwide. "Congress needs to take responsibility for telling the government what its job is," said Michael R. Taylor, an author of the study who teaches at George Washington and is a former top official at the FDA and USDA. The study urges Congress to invest at least $350 million over five years to bolster underfunded state and local agencies and ensure a basic level of food safety in each state. The analysis describes a fractured collection of food safety professionals all trying to do the same thing -- prevent illness from contaminated food -- but their efforts are hampered by weak coordination, poor communication, varying abilities, inconsistent methods and a lack of federal leadership. The report urges Congress to create a single cohesive food safety network composed of local, state and federal agencies and accountable to the secretary of health and human services. "We need one food safety system, not 50," said Joseph Corby, executive director of the Association of Food and Drug Officials. "State and local agencies do 2.5 million inspections a year, analyze hundreds of thousands of food samples, and most of this work is not done in a coordinated fashion and not used by the federal agencies." Communication between state and local officials and federal agencies is often disjointed, the study found. During a recall of a tainted product, for example, the FDA will often obtain from a food processor a distribution list that identifies retailers who received the product, but the agency does not routinely share that information with local or state officials, even though they are responsible for checking store shelves to make sure tainted products have been removed. Meanwhile, states that interview people who have become sick from food to figure out which products may be suspect often do not share victims' identities with the CDC, citing privacy laws, even if that data would help federal officials better track an outbreak. In Tennessee and several other states recently, consumers who took a food supplement complained that it made their hair fall out and damaged their fingernails. The supplement contained too much selenium and was recalled by the manufacturer, said Tim Jones, the Tennessee state epidemiologist. The FDA would not give the distribution list to the state, he said. "The information is just not flowing," Jones said. "We all have different laws and rules." And the quality of epidemiology varies from state to state, the study found. Some, such as Minnesota, have well-funded public health agencies that lead the nation in detecting outbreaks and tracing contamination to the source. But others are underfunded and less equipped. That creates problems, Taylor said. He pointed to the recent national outbreak of salmonella illness that was traced to a peanut processing plant in Blakely, Ga. In the middle of the outbreak, when the Peanut Corporation of America was allegedly knowingly shipping contaminated peanut products, state inspectors approved the facility. They did not note several structural deficiencies in the plant that federal officials later flagged as signs that contamination was likely. In addition to their own inspections, state employees now perform more than half of the FDA's inspections under contracts with the agency. The study can be found at http://www.thefsrc.org. Copyright 2009 Washington Post. Small gains and an eye to future of health care Advocates, providers ready for Medicaid expansion By Sean R. Sedam The Gazette Friday, April 17, 2009 In sports parlance, the 2009 session was supposed to be a rebuilding year for health care advocates in Annapolis. With state revenues in decline, few saw much opportunity to further the health care expansion passed during the 2007 special session. But legislative leaders and advocates this week lauded the progress, however small, that they were able to make this year and said they are committed to working on legislation to further expand health care in 2010. The General Assembly made progress on two fronts, said House Health and Government Operations Committee Chairman Peter A. Hammen (D-Dist. 46) of Baltimore, citing two bills that he and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Thomas McLain Middleton cross-filed. Lawmakers passed a Hammen-sponsored bill that will leverage a federal dollar-for-dollar match to provide more than $13 million annually for substance-abuse treatment for low-income, childless adults. A second front, Hammen said, was a bill drafted with nonprofit health care provider CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield that would require all uninsured people to enroll in the Healthy Maryland Program. It would replace the Maryland Health Insurance Program, administered by CareFirst, which would also administer Healthy Maryland. Under the plan, employers with more than nine employees who do not offer a health plan would be required to contribute to the program. The bill also provides tax penalties for people who make more than three times the federal poverty guidelines but do not have health coverage. The bill did not pass, but will be the starting point for conversations over the coming months, Hammen said. Another failed bill, sponsored by Del. James W. Hubbard (D-Dist. 23A) of Bowie and backed by the Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative, also would have required coverage. It would have created a health insurance pool for individuals and small businesses to use to purchase coverage and would have been funded in part by a 2 percent payroll tax increase, a political nonstarter for legislators this year. Advocates, including a coalition of 617 organizations, are ready to work with the chairmen and CareFirst on the plan, said Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative. "So we're going to have the policy ready, and we're going to have the grass roots ready to make health care happen," DeMarco said. Copyright 2009 The Gazette. City housing agency faces legal action over lead paint By Ryan Justin Fox Annapolis Capital Friday, April 17, 2009 Federal and state officials are seeking civil and possible criminal action against the Annapolis Housing Authority and a painting company the agency hired for failure to remove lead paint from two public-housing complexes. Foundation For Clinical Research The authority still is not complying with a pact it made with the state to abate lead paint from units in the Annapolis Gardens neighborhood off Admiral Drive and the College Creek Terrace and Obery Court communities on Clay Street, according to an audit released last month by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The state Department of Environment also filed a contempt-of-court complaint against the agency in county Circuit Court last week, asking the court to enforce the pact. HUD's Inspector General Office said a possible criminal investigation into Sparkle Painting Co., the firm hired by the city housing authority, should be completed by June. It was unclear what, if any, criminal action would come from probe. "The whole issue is moot," said Eric Brown, executive director of the housing authority. "There is nobody living in Obery Court." Brown, who was hired a year after the agreement by former housing authority Chairwoman Trudy McFall, said there is no need to obtain lead certificates, since the College Creek-Obery Court and Annapolis Gardens properties are scheduled to be vacated and demolished this year. Brown said the Obery Court community has already been vacated to make way for demolition, which starts later this month. The housing authority is building new energy-efficient, privately managed low-income housing on the sites as part of its effort to redevelop and modernize its aging properties. The authority entered an agreement with the MDE in April 2004 to inspect and abate lead in units at its older communities after the housing authority failed to inspect units at the nearly 60-year-old College Creek Terrace-Obery Court properties. The agreement allowed the authority to avoid fines for failing to inspect the property. State law requires property owners to inspect apartments and homes built before 1950 for lead paint. Property owners must obtain lead-treatment certificates from state-approved inspectors before leasing the space. Exposure to lead in paint or other toxic materials can significantly harm a child's development, resulting in an inability to read, aggressive behavior, hearing loss and even mental retardation, according to state environmental officials. Experts have linked record-high levels of violence in the 1970s in the country's inner cities to lead poisoning. When the authority failed to fully comply with the agreement by its 2007 deadline, a Circuit Court judge ordered that it obtain full certificates for Annapolis Gardens and Obery Court or have the units vacated by Dec. 31, 2008. But according to MDE's motion filed in Circuit Court last week, as of March 12 a dozen units were still occupied in Obery Court without proper certificates filed with the MDE. Public housing officials said all Obery Court residents were moved out by the end of March. The housing authority hired Sparkle Painting in January 2005 for $700,000 to perform lead abatement when harmful levels of lead were found in units at College Creek and Obery Court, Brown said. Susan Sullam, press secretary for U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., received a report from HUD's Inspector General Office stating that the housing authority was not fully in compliance with lead paint removal pact and that Sparkle Painting may be referred for criminal prosecution. The letter was sent March 6. "We are certainly being kept informed of the progress," Sullam said. Sparkle was awarded the contract with the housing authority without a competing bid, Brown said. Brown said provisions in the authority's procurement rules allow the authority to expedite the bid process under extenuating circumstances, such as trying to comply with a court order. "I hesitate at calling it a 'no-bid' contract," Brown said. "I can't say what was in the mind of the (previous housing authority administration) when they awarded the contract." Brown said many of the records for the Sparkle contract have been lost or scattered, or are hard to interpret because of high turnover within the housing authority several years ago. McFall, who was president of the authority's Board of Commissioners from 2002 to 2007, said the agency went through at least five different executive directors during her tenure. "That was a difficult period because we had a lot of transition," McFall said. Sparkle and its chief executive officer, Sandy Glover III, filed a lawsuit in county Circuit Court against the housing authority in November 2005 seeking money owed to the company for completing its work at College Creek-Obery Court. The two sides agreed to an undisclosed settlement in 2006, Brown said. Attempts to reach Glover at Sparkle Painting offices in Lorton, Va., were unsuccessful. Annapolis attorney Alan Legum , who represented Glover during his 2006 lawsuit with the housing authority, said he was not aware of any separate federal or state investigation being conducted during the case. Legum said he had not been in contact with Glover since the case was settled, saying it was "strictly a contract dispute." Brown said he has heard of two complaints of elevated levels of lead in residents' blood. Those tenants have since been moved into other public housing communities in the city. Brown said the affected units were inspected for lead before, during and after they were occupied. "If this is an enforcement issue, there is nobody (living in the units) for us to get certified," Brown said. A hearing in MDE's lawsuit against the housing authority has been scheduled for June 9, according to court records. Copyright © 2009 Capital Gazette Communications, Inc., Annapolis, Maryland. Maryland first to cover homeless in hate crime law Associated Press Daily Record Friday, April 17, 2009 ANNAPOLIS — Maryland is on track to become the first state to protect the homeless in hate crime statutes. The state legislature this week approved adding extra penalties for violent crimes against victims singled out because of gender, disability or because the person is homeless. The statute already covers victims attacked because of race, religion, national origin or sexual orientation. In previous years, Frederick County Sen. Alex Mooney has struggled to convince the House of Delegates to add homeless people to the list. Some said they thought the Republican's bill was a cynical attempt to water down hate crime laws. This year, Democrat Delegate Ben Kramer recommended age, gender and disability be included, and the two chambers agreed to all proposed additions except age. Copyright 2009 Daily Record. *National / International* Defective Fitness Balls, H.I.V. in Prisons and Obese Airline Passengers Morning Rounds By Roni Caryn Rabin New York Times Friday, April 17, 2009 Civilian Workers Injured in War Are Denied Care, Report Finds Civilian workers injured while supporting the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan must battle to get medical care, mental health services, artificial limbs and other help once they arrive home, an investigation by the Los Angeles Times and Propublica reports. Insurance companies responsible for their treatment under taxpayer-funded policies have consistently denied some of the most serious medical claims, the investigation found. Obese Airline Passengers Must Purchase an Additional Seat United Airlines will start bumping obese passengers from sold-out flights and asking them to buy two tickets or upgrade to business class, the airline announced. United says it received more than 700 complaints last year from passengers who were uncomfortable because the person next to them "infringed on their seat," a spokeswoman for the company said. Millions of Fitness Balls Recalled Millions of fitness balls have been recalled after 47 reports that they had burst unexpectedly, causing injuries in some cases, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. The balls, sold under the names Bally Total Fitness, Everlast, Valeo and Body Fit, were overinflated, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. U.N.: H.I.V. Spreading Through Prisons Worldwide H.I.V. is spreading through overcrowded prisons around the world, mostly through rampant drug abuse, according to the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Reuters reports. The official, Antonio Maria Costa, warned of a "health bomb" that will be set off when infected prisoners are released; overcrowding is particularly bad in Africa and Central America. Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company. Glaxo and Pfizer Join Forces to Develop and Market H.I.V. Drugs By Natasha Singer New York Times Friday, April 17, 2009 Hoping to challenge Gilead Sciences, the leader in H.I.V. drugs, the pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer said Thursday that they would form a specialty company to research, develop and market treatments for H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. By combining products from both companies, the new entity would have 11 H.I.V. drugs, representing a 19 percent share of the market, and six other drugs in various stages of development. “It absolutely restates GSK’s commitment to be a leader in this field,” Andrew Witty, the chief executive of Glaxo said Thursday in a conference call with journalists. Mr. Witty described the joint venture as having “the focus of a specialist company with the support of two big parents.” Drug makers have often combined forces to develop and market single drugs. Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis, for example, are partners in the anticlotting drug Plavix. But the decision by Pfizer and Glaxo to form a joint venture focused on an entire drug category represents a new model of industry collaboration. “It does stand as a first,” said Kevin Scotcher, an analyst with Liberum Capital, an investment bank based in London and New York. H.I.V. drugs are a lucrative market, with global sales last year of about $12.3 billion — $7.2 billion of it in the United States, according to IMS Health, a market research firm. Glaxo will initially have an 85 percent equity interest in the joint venture. The combined entity, which will not have a name until the expected closure of the deal in the last quarter of this year, could save about $90 million annually by merging sales and management infrastructure, the companies said. Glaxo has been struggling to maintain its share of the H.I.V. market in the face of looming patent expirations on several of its drugs and rising competition. H.I.V. is typically treated with a cocktail of medications — including one kind of drug to stop the virus from entering cells and other kinds of drugs to inhibit it from replicating. Glaxo formerly led the field with Combivir, a pill that combines two H.I.V. drugs and is taken twice a day. But three years ago, Gilead introduced a pill that combines three drugs and can be taken once a day. The pill, called Atripla, combines two Gilead drugs with one from Bristol-Myers Squibb. Last year, Gilead’s H.I.V. franchise had sales of about $4.3 billion. And there are newer competitors. Isentress, a novel H.I.V. drug introduced by Merck in late 2007, had worldwide sales last year of $361 million. Glaxo’s H.I.V. franchise has had effectively flat sales for the last three years of about $2.2 billion annually, according to a note to investors from Alexandra Hauber, a JPMorgan analyst. Glaxo “had their lunch stolen by Gilead because they lost focus on the H.I.V. business,” said Seamus Fernandez, an analyst with Leerink Swann. Pfizer, which is trying to complete its more than $62 billion acquisition of Wyeth, has not been an H.I.V. powerhouse. For its minority stake in the Glaxo partnership, it stands to gain access to Glaxo’s established marketing presence and distribution channels in the H.I.V. field. Glaxo’s portfolio would gain longevity with Selzentry, a new H.I.V. drug from Pfizer that does not face patent expiry in the United States until 2021, as well as several drugs Pfizer has under development. The joint venture could also develop new combinations of the companies’ existing drugs, Mr. Fernandez said. Shares of Pfizer rose 4 cents, to $13.90 on Thursday. Shares of Glaxo fell a penny, to $30.82. Shares of Gilead rose 31 cents, to $44.85. Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company. Health advocates tout new model of female condom By David Crary AOL News Friday, April 17, 2009 NEW YORK -Advocates of the female condom are promoting a less costly, more user-friendly version that they hope will vastly expand its role in the global fight against AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. An early version of the female condom was introduced in 1993, and it remains the only available woman-initiated form of protection against both STDs and unintended pregnancy. Yet despite global promotion by the United Nations and other organizations, its usage is still minuscule, even as women bear an ever-growing share of the AIDS epidemic. Advocates hope the dynamics will change following last month's approval by the Food and Drug Administration of the FC2, a new version of the female condom produced by the Chicago-based Female Health Co. About 35 million female condoms were distributed worldwide last year, but that compares to more than 10 billion male condoms, which are far cheaper and, at least initially, easier to use. However, in some nations with high HIV rates, many men refuse to wear condoms, putting women at risk. Though it looks similar to its predecessor - a soft, transparent sheath with flexible inner and outer rings - the FC2 is made from synthetic rubber rather than polyurethane, making it cheaper to produce. Mary Ann Leeper, former president of Female Health Co. and now its strategic adviser, said the FC2 also is less noisy during use. Complaints about squeaky noises were among the factors that slowed acceptance of the original version. The cost of the FC2 is one-third less than its predecessor, and may go lower, enabling health organizations to distribute many millions more than at present. For now, the price is about 60 cents compared to less than 4 cents for mass-distributed male condoms - a difference that's an issue in the developing world. The FC2 had been accepted previously by some international organizations, and the Female Health Co. distributed 14 million of them abroad last year along with 21 million of the older version. Advocates of the female condom praised the FDA announcement because it opens the door for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), one of the largest global providers of condoms, to distribute the FC2 overseas. "This is a tremendous victory," said Susie Hoffman, an assistant professor of clinical epidemiology at Columbia University who contends the female condom has suffered from misconceptions. "In the United States, there has been strong bias against it," Hoffman said. "Some people involved in AIDS and family planning would say, 'Why do we need these? ... It's so weird that women are not going to pick it up.'" "But if presented in the right way, many women do like it," Hoffman said. "To find these people and help them and train them, you need systematic programming, which costs money." Resistance is less of a problem in some developing nations. The U.N. Population Fund, government agencies and nonprofits are aggressively promoting female condoms in places such as Brazil, Ghana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Women's groups in Zimbabwe collected more than 30,000 signatures demanding access to the female condom. In Ghana, nonprofits say more than 10,000 people have attended training programs that teach women how to insert female condoms - they require careful instruction to be used properly - and how to negotiate with their male partners. "The mindset is changing, but there are still a lot of challenges," said Bidia Deperthes, the Population Fund's HIV technical adviser for condoms. "Accessibility is still minimal. There's a huge demand, and we're not meeting it." Deperthes hopes that with FDA approval of the FC2, the number of female condoms distributed globally could climb to 50 million this year. If the numbers keep rising, she said, the cost to public-sector distributors for each FC2 could drop as low as 25 cents. Jeff Spieler, a science adviser with USAID's Office of Population and Reproductive Health, said the female condom's future may depend on whether its promoters can develop a private-sector market. Its commercial price in the United States generally has been more than $2. Another challenge is a stigma associated with the female condom in some places because prostitutes are among those deemed to benefit most from using it. On the other hand, advocates of the female condom say it has invaluable safe-sex potential for married women whose husbands are unfaithful and shun male condoms. Serra Sippel, executive director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity in Washington, said FDA approval of the FC2 is a key step toward "putting the power of prevention in women's hands." But she bemoaned the product's limited over-the-counter availability. "We'd love to see the profile raised, to have commercials about it and normalize it so people aren't embarrassed," she said. Mary Ann Leeper said the Female Health Co. is seeking a corporate partner to help market the FC2. She suggested that concern about HIV/AIDS may generate interest among women in communities with high infection rates. The female condom's advocates stress that it will never be the "magic bullet" that by itself turns the tide in fighting AIDS. But, they say, it should be a bigger part of the arsenal. "It's not going to be the one answer," Hoffman said. "But it's got a lot more to contribute than it has to date." U.N. Population Fund: http://www.unfpa.org/hiv/female.htm Female Health Co. http://www.femalehealth.com/ Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. *Opinion* More measles Cumberland Times-News Editorial Thursday, April 16, 2009 The discovery this week of a fourth case of measles in Maryland confirms that there is an increase in the disease in the United States. The outbreak began last month and is believed to have started with unvaccinated travelers from foreign countries. All four cases are in Montgomery County. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County, health officials report this week that the source of an outbreak there was a traveler from India who arrived in the U.S. on March 7. Initial exposures occurred at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 63 cases of measles in the U.S. between 2000 and 2007 and 131 cases between January and July of 2008. The rubeola virus becomes airborne when an infected person sneezes or coughs or comes in close contact with another person. Surfaces and air remain contaminated up to two hours after contact or a sneeze or cough. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, or MMR, has virtually eliminated measles in most developed countries. Unfortunately, measles still remain only a plane ride away because of infection problems in some foreign countries. Clearly, all children need routine immunization against measles. It is a highly contagious disease and can cause major illness and severe complications in children. Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc. BACK TO TOP


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