The March piece for the West Virginia University Health Sciences Library exhibit Prescriptions for Change: Value Voting in Healthcare is "Formulary Paperchain."

"We live in the upside-down" Jon Stewart exclaimed in the February 24, 2025 Episode from Season 30 of The Daily Show. A smashed coffee mug punctuated his exasperation at government subsidies for the pharmaceutical industry which, in turn, charges Americans as much as it pleases. We are so used to it, he reminds us, that we've become numb.  

We can do better. 

In February, "Patent Thickets Begin" was on display in the West Virginia University Health Sciences Library in Morgantown. The exhibit Prescriptions for Change: Value Voting in Healthcare rotates one work per month along with a response from a member of the community during the 2024-25 academic year. Here's an abstract for a New England Journal of Medicine article by WVU College of Law Professor S. Sean Tu. Co-authored with Bernard Chao, University of Denver Sturm College of Law; Ryan Whalen, University of Hong Kong; and Aaron S. Kesselheim, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, it includes a link to the full article, "Clearing Dense Drug-Patent Thickets."  

​If you don’t look carefully 
it’s like any other chandelier 
shimmering prim 
from the finial.                          
If you do,
you’ll see medic-alert charms                        
Hygeia bowls and dollar signs cut 
from Bohemian glass.                      

This barkeep commissioned it
to illuminate
an otherwise sparse space.

If you listen carefully 
the barkeep can explain 
how pharmacy benefit managers
and drug companies 
and their lobbyists work.
Then, 
he’ll hear what you have to say. 
He’ll measure and pour 
and listen. 

He’ll listen fully to you 
as all good barkeeps do.


​

"The Barkeep's Chandelier" was published by the journal North of Oxford in February, 2025.

I'm smitten by the effective logo for Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAE). I'm even more impressed by this global movement. The irony that drug development takes place on university campuses is not missed by these students. The UAE mission is "to promote access to medicines and medical innovations, change norms and practices in academic patenting and licensing, and empower students to advocate for a biomedical R&D system that works for everyone. Guided by principles of non-partisanship, democracy, transparency, solidarity and respect, we are a non-profit organization driven by the passion and commitment of our members."

Thank you! Keep up the good work. 

​Learn more about Universities Allied for Essential Medicines here, or visit the UAEM Blog here.

Looking back on 2024 I am grateful for the spring morning spent at the Frostburg Center For Literary Arts in Northwestern Maryland. The Center's Director, Jen Browne, runs a range of marvelous and varied literary programs on the FSU campus and in town. As part of the "Coffee with a Writer" series, we had a conversation around poetry and access to medicines on April 6. I thank Jen and Nina and every person present for their wisdom, attention and hospitality. 

I love strong editorial artwork. This detail from Sara Gironi Carnevale's illustration for Science's  "2024 Breakthrough of the Year" literally illuminates the wow-factor potential for one injectable HIV drug. It suits what lenacapavir, as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), could mean for controlling HIV infections. The question, as usual, is about access. Let's hope it will be as accessible as possible, as soon as possible. Read the article by Jon Cohen here. 

The exhibit Prescriptions for Change: Value Voting in Healthcare rotates one work per month in the West Virginia University Health Sciences Library in Morgantown during the 2024-25 academic year. Organized by WVU Art in the Libraries Curator Sally Brown, each piece is accompanied by a brief written response from a member of the WVU community. "Dirty Laundry: Drug Formulary Exclusions" is on display in November. This mixed-media piece was previously published in AMA Journal of Ethics.

Prescriptions for Change relates to a larger initiative on campus for value voting. The exhibit Our Votes, Our Values runs from September 6-December 15, 2024 at the Art Museum of WVU. This exhibit is co-curated by Erik Herron, Professor of Political Science and 2023 Art Museum Faculty Fellow, Robert Bridges, Curator, Art Museum of WV and Heather Harris, Curator of Education, Art Museum of WVU. The works explore how the values we maintain influence our voting.

As the days grow darker I am reminded of this photograph from Protect Our Care's Lite-Brite Action in Washington, D.C. on September 28, 2021. Read about it in the February 24, 2023 Time article by Tahir Amin and David Mitchell. It is an illuminating reminder of progress made by the Biden Administration. This progress is under threat.

This month I remember the September 30, 2018 vigil T1International organized at the Eli Lilly Headquarters to honor lives lost from insulin rationing. This was before blockbuster weight loss drugs came to market, the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the signing into law of the Alec Smith Insulin Affordability Act, the increased scrutiny into the role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the release of the documentary Pay or Die, and many other developments. Progress and stubbornness continue. Here is the postcard I brought to the 2018 vigil.