Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Today I testified before a Congressional Hearing of the House Committee on Commerce and Energy, Health Subcommittee chaired by Congressman Pitts from Pennsylvania with Dr. Burgess of Texas as the vice chair, and Mr. Henry Waxman of California as the ranking member. It was a lively hearing that went very well but with some interesting sharp interchanges between me and Dr. Cassidy from Louisiana. He is a physician who tried to show off about his medical knowledge in the hearing; however, during the exchange it became clear that he really did not know what he was talking about. In addition, Congressman Tim Murphy somewhat attacked me saying that I have been condescending to people who question the issue of conmtrolled trials with placebo limb, transmission, patient isolation and quarantine. I did not have the opportunity to refute him; however, after he had left when Mr. Burgess who took over the chair of the committee when Mr. Pitts left gave us the opportunity of a summary statement, I question Mr. Murphy's characterization of me as being condescending and clearly stated that our most important goal with interventions is to first do no harm and then hopefully benefit people and although many individuals feel that this is insensitive, in fact it is not insensitive, but is the time-honored way of determining the safety and efficacy of interventions. In addition, after she had left I countered the somewhat snide remark of Mrs. Blackburn who had also made a statement without giving me the opportunity to respond. She said that we were negligent in not getting countermeasures done quickly and that industry can do better than we can. I stated after she left that we have been trying to get partnerships with industry for over 10 years in the development of Ebola vaccines and that only recently were pharmaceutical companies willing to partner with us. All in all it was a very positive Hearing.