Three thousand colleges and universities received letters from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan this week encouraging them to prepare for the proposed federal Direct Loan Program for the 2010-2011 school year, The New York Times reported on Monday. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act last month, which extends the government's direct lending and discontinues the present program that includes government subsidies and loan guarantees for private lenders, The Times reported. If the bill passes in the Senate, colleges will be required to switch to the federal Direct Loan Program by July 1, 2010 a move most institutions are not prepared for, according to The Times.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is demanding that the National Institutes of Health address the cases of 14 university-affiliated physicians who receive grant support from the NIH and who accepted money from the drug maker Merck to promote Vytorin, the company's controversial anti-cholesterol drug, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. The NIH has declined to provide any information so far. Merck paid more than $400,000 to the 14 doctors to promote Vytorin, even though the company had determined that the drug was not significantly more effective than less expensive alternatives, The Chronicle reported. Earlier this month, another pharmaceutical giant, Eli Lilly, released an online registry of doctors who were compensated for their work on behalf of the company. Five Dartmouth Medical School professors were included on the list for their health care professional education work and advising activities, The Dartmouth previously reported.
