Extraordinary World

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

At the beginning of 2003, the Journal of Health Economics published a paper of great importance in public policy by DiMasi, Hansen, and Grabowski (referred to hereafter as “DHG 2003”). The paper is based primarily on confidential, proprietary data supplied by pharmaceutical companies to the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, a research center that receives significant unrestricted ...

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

We thank Light and Warburton (2005) [hereafter LW] for providing a context for us to further discuss and clarify our studies on the cost of new drug development (DiMasi et al., 2003 [hereafter DHG]; DiMasi et al., 1991b [hereafter DHGL]; Hansen, 1979). We disagree, however, with their analyses, comparators, and conclusions. Although LW suggest, through the invocation of selected reported cost f...

Reply: Extraordinary Claims Without Extraordinary Evidence

This interchange is the latest in an ongoing debate beginning with Newman et al.'s [1999a] recommendation, based on analysis of GPS and earthquake data, that Frankel et al.'s [1996] estimate of California-level seismic hazard for the NMSZ should be reduced. Most points at issue, except for those related to the costs and benefits of the proposed new IBC2000 building code, have already been argue...

Extraordinary Leader Insights Excerpts from The Extraordinary Leader-ATEL50.13-5WEB.indd

Ecophenotypic plasticity leads to extraordinary gastropod shells found on the “Roof of the World”

The often extraordinary shell forms and shapes of gastropods found in palaeolakes, such as the highly diverse Gyraulus fauna of the famous Steinheim Basin, have been puzzling evolutionary biologists for centuries, and there is an ongoing debate whether these aberrant shell forms are indicative of true species (or subspecies) or ecophenotypic morphs. Interestingly, one of the Steinheim Gyraulus ...