•HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE: (01/22/08) — Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) want to know how much the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) spends on Vytorin, a popular anti-cholesterol drug, through the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Dingell and Stupak contend that a clinical trial demonstrated that Vytorin “has no significant effect when compared to a cheaper, generic version of Zocor,” according to a letter sent Monday to Kerry Weems, acting CMS administrator.

“We are writing to express our profound regret about FDA’s proposed rule to amend the regulations that permit companies to promptly update their drug and device labels with new safety information,” Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and seven other top Democrats wrote FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach on Wednesday.  

“We are concerned that the intent of this proposal is to protect companies in the pharmaceutical and device industry from being held liable for marketing products they know are unsafe,” the letter said.

• HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE (01/23/08) — Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) opened a hearing by saying he was “very troubled” by a recent meeting with military officials concerning the progress of U.S. operations in Afghanistan.

“I believe that we currently risk a strategic failure in Afghanistan and that we must do what it takes to avoid this disastrous outcome. We must re-prioritize and shift needed esources from Iraq to Afghanistan,” Skelton said. “We must once again make Afghanistan the central focus in the war against terrorism.”