Endocrine Insider
October 1, 2008 

Members of The Endocrine Society's Advocacy and Public Outreach Core Committee (APOCC) visited Capitol Hill on September 22, 2008 to discuss issues of concern to the Society's membership with key House and Senate offices.  Committee members focused on four main issues: support for the Society's recently released white paper titled Increasing Minority Participation in Clinical Research, biomedical research funding, legislation to reverse cuts to physician reimbursement for dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and the Society's new position statement on steroid abuse.

Society members discussed the Society's white paper on minority participation in clinical research with top staffers of Senators Biden (D-DE) and Dorgan (D-ND), and Representatives Cantor (R-VA), Camp (R-MI), Bilbray (R-CA), and DeGette (D-CO). While the National Institutes of Health (NIH) requires that women and minorities be included in the research it funds, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require the same of pharmaceutical companies' drug trials when bringing new drugs to market. Without inclusion of diverse populations in clinical trials of new drugs, the safety and efficacy of these drugs cannot be verified in all populations. In an effort to address the complex issue of participation by minorities, the Society's white paper makes recommendations for all stakeholder groups. Suggestions for Congress include the establishment of an office of minority health within the FDA to oversee the regulatory changes that the agency must implement to ensure adequate diversity in trials.

Congress was working on appropriations at the time of the Hill visits (see related story in this week's Endocrine Insider), enabling Society members to address the need for increased funding for biomedical research in the Fiscal Year 2009 Continuing Resolution with those offices listed above and with Representatives Pascrell (D-NJ), Murtha (D-PA), and Inslee (D-WA).

Although action on the Medicare Fracture Prevention and Osteoporosis Testing Act (HR 4206 and S 2702) is unlikely in this Congress, Society members encouraged those members of Congress that they visited to support the legislation should it be introduced in the next Congress.  Society members also met with Senator Salazar's (D-CO) staff, expressing the Society's appreciation for the Senator's efforts to introduce the bill in the Senate and to develop support among his colleagues.  The legislation would return reimbursement for DXA and VFA scans back to their 2006 levels.

Finally, APOCC members mentioned the approval of a new Society position statement on steroid abuse.  Anabolic steroids can have serious and potentially life-threatening side effects, and their abuse by athletes and others is evolving into a major health problem in the United States, especially for our nation's youth. The Endocrine Society strongly believes that anabolic steroids and all other hormones should be prescribed and administered only when medically necessary and only by doctors specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of hormonal disorders.