Under principal investigator Raymond Woosley, research at the Georgetown CERT will focus on drug interactions and adverse effects in women. One of the things we're beginning to realize is that many of the drugs being taken off the market are being withdrawn because of harm to women. There are another 40 drugs still out there that potentially have this same problem of causing arrhythmias in women, often due to drug interactions but maybe not. It's never been looked at because tamoxifen is an old drug. There are all sorts of potential complications that would result from it, but they are all theoretical.
Funding remains a major issue.
Woosley and Ray hesitate over the prospect of seeking industry funding. They cannot be beholden to someone else, or they will fail to serve the public interest. Rather than seeking funding from multiple private and public sources, Ray hopes for legislation that would establish regular funding by levying a fee upon the pharmaceutical industry, perhaps comparable to the user fees for New Drug Applications. On the face of it, paying a tax to fund studies investigating possible adverse reactions might not seem like an attractive proposal to pharmaceutical company executives. Ray argues, however, that better postmarketing safety surveillance and provider education would benefit industry.