School Notes: School of Public Health
January/February 2020

State attorney general on campus

Connecticut attorney general William Tong outlined an elaborate network of alleged price-fixing and collusion in the generic drug industry during a presentation on November 1 as part of the Dean’s Lecture series and the Yale School of Medicine’s Health and Policy Management Seminar. The allegations form the basis of two national antitrust lawsuits filed by his office and supported by a coalition of attorneys general in 49 states. Prices for some common generic medications have gone up by as much as 1,000 percent in recent years without justification, Tong said. “What we uncovered was a multi-billion-dollar fraud and multi-year conspiracy to fix prices and allocate market share for hundreds of generic drugs that we depend on to live 
every day.”

Biopsy not needed for some breast cancers

A routine surgical procedure to check if cancer has spread is not recommended for older women with a very early, non-invasive breast cancer known as ductal carcinoma in situ or DCIS. New YSPH research has found that the procedure does not reduce the likelihood of dying from breast cancer, nor does it decrease the chances of developing invasive breast cancer or the number of additional cancer treatments. The procedure does, however, increase patients’ risk for side effects associated with the biopsy, which include pain, wound infection, and lymphedema, a painful condition that can restrict a woman’s arm movements. Between 17 percent and 40 percent of women with DCIS currently undergo sentinel lymph node biopsies, according to Shi-Yi Wang, associate professor and the study’s lead author.

YSPH olive oil symposium in Delphi

Researchers from around the world descended on the legendary city of Delphi December 1 for YSPH’s second International Symposium on Olive Oil and Health. Organized by Professor Vasilis Vasiliou and associate research scientist Tassos Kyriakides ’99PhD, the four-day event brought together a host of international speakers with diverse expertise to explore the many human and planetary health benefits associated with the olive tree and its products.