The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI) is a non-profit medical issues research group. It was founded by the "free-market think tank"

Pacific Research Institute The Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy (PRI) is a California-based free-market think tank which promotes "the principles of individual freedom and personal responsibility" through policies that emphasize a free economy, private initiat ...

. CMPI's research agenda deals with clinical outcomes and econometric studies that analyze the value of new medicines and genomic and molecular-based medical innovation. CMPI is a

501(c)3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 5 ...

organization and as such is not permitted to devote a substantial part of its activity to lobbying. Its officers have written articles on various issues including price controls on pharmaceutical products in publicly funded healthcare schemes in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, and restrictions on advertising in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. The Economist Intelligence Unit has written that the organisation generally takes a pro-drug industry viewpoint.

Issues

Universal healthcare

CMMPI is a strong opponent of

universal healthcare Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized ar ...

and favors a free-market approach to health care policy. The center created a website called BigGovHealth.org to tell the stories of people who faced difficulties with the health care systems in Europe and Canada. The site also included interviews with health policy experts in Europe and Canada. The website is no longer up, now showing a page where you can offer to purchase the domain.

Drug imports

The group opposes the importation of drugs in order to lower prices in the United States, arguing in part that Canadian pharmaceutical companies' products are dangerous because they are not regulated by the

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

but by foreign government agencies.

Personnel

CMPI was founded by Peter Pitts, former FDA Associate Commissioner for External Relations under the Bush administration, and Dr. Robert Goldberg, former fellow at the

Manhattan Institute The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (renamed in 1981 from the International Center for Economic Policy Studies) is a conservative American think tank focused on domestic policy and urban affairs, established in Manhattan in 1978 by Anto ...

. CMPI Senior Fellows include: *

Marc Siegel Marc K. Siegel is an American physician, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, author, and contributor to '' The Hill'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''Slate'', Fox News, and member of the board of contributors at ''USA T ...

*Doug Badger *John F. P. Bridges *Jacob Arfwedson

Funding

Funders include

PhRMA Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA, pronounced ), formerly known as the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, is a trade group representing companies in the pharmaceutical industry in the United States. Founded in 195 ...

and

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

Reports

CMPI has published studies on the value of new cancer drugs, the cost-effectiveness of certain Alzheimer's treatments, evidence-based medicine, and drug counterfeiting.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Center For Medicine In The Public Interest Political and economic think tanks in the United States Conservative organizations in the United States