Me, Too

Me-too drugs: is there a problem

Introduction This brief note presents an economic perspective on “me-too” drugs (sometimes also called “follow-on” drugs). Me-too drugs are products which largely duplicate the action of existing drugs. Several recent books (such as Angell (2004), Avorn (2004) and Goozner (2004)) have heaped criticism on the drug industry for the increasing extent to which investment appears to be focused on de...

Comment on “Me-too drugs: is there a problem?”

There is no standard definition of a “me-too” drug. The term has been used rather loosely over a number of decades. Professor Hollis proposes a definition for his analysis. That’s fine. One can restrict analysis to whatever one wants, as long as one is clear about what is being analyzed (although I question below whether the definition he proposes is what he really intends). However, by narrowi...

Making Sense of Data II: A Practical Guide to Data Visualization, Advanced Data Mining Methods, and Applications

“Making sense of data II: a practical guide to data visualisation, advanced data mining methods and application” had me excited with the title, but let me down with dry content and uninteresting data. The book does a good job of summarising the range of techniques used in modern data mining, but there is too much focus on describing each procedure, and too little focus on why you should use eac...

Graph modification problems related to graph classes

i Acknowledgements The first person I need to thank is my supervisor Pinar Heggernes. Without her guidance, encouragement and scolding from time to time, this work would not exist. Thank you for taking me as your student, teaching me so much and believing in me from the very start. I have never told you how much this meant to me, but I hope this thesis can make up for at least some of it. These...

The National Quality Forum: a 'me-too' or a breakthrough in quality measurement and reporting?