Video Contest Early Bird Winners Named!

Psoriasis Cure Now, a nonprofit patient advocacy group, today announced the "Early Bird" winners in the Psoriasis Cure Now Video Contest. Each of the two winners announced today has won $1,000 for having the best video submitted in the first five weeks of the contest, which is accepting submissions through September 26, 2007. A $7,500 Grand Prize, and other cash prizes for Finalists, will be awarded in October.

Both winners are transplants to Los Angeles, California. Jason Forman's entry is an upbeat, animated video chronicling Sean, a stick figure with psoriasis. Jennifer Fitzgerald's video is a live action spoof of the snake oil salesmen that prey on psoriasis patients desperate to find relief from the incurable disease. The winning videos can be viewed at the Psoriasis Cure Now Video Contest website.

"Forman and Fitzgerald won the Early Bird round because their videos grab your attention in creative ways as they convey the serious challenges faced by people with psoriasis," said Michael Paranzino, president of Psoriasis Cure Now. "But six different videos had scores bunching them together near the top, and it is striking how diverse those videos are, including a serious and heartfelt tale that has brought many people to tears, as well as a couple that weave humor into their approach."

"I got psoriasis in the first grade and it has led me to many dark moments of frustration, humiliation and profound powerlessness," said Fitzgerald, a writer/performer whose video was directed by her friend Jennifer Carta. "We wanted our video to show the frustration of this disease but also the desperate hope involved in chasing the dangling carrot of a cure."

A minimum of six Finalists will be chosen in October, including these two videos, and then a public comment period will assist with the selection of the Grand Prize winner. All the videos will be judged anew in the Grand Prize round, meaning any one of the videos already entered could still be the Grand Prize winner.

"I was struck by the limited amount of government funding going to study psoriasis, especially after seeing some of the severe case photos I came across in my research," said Forman, who does not have psoriasis. "What I learned most was how much psoriasis affects people's lives and how hard it can be to live with."

"We wondered at the outset of this contest if the seriousness of psoriasis could be conveyed in 30 to 60 seconds," Paranzino added. "Already, the entries in this contest confirm that it is possible to do so in a meaningful and high-impact way. We look forward to seeing additional entries submitted in the weeks ahead."

Be sure to read the Psoriasis Cure Now Video Contest's Official Rules before entering.

FDA decisions affect us all

If the FDA lets a dangerous drug come to market, people are harmed and the damage is visible to all. But if the FDA blocks a promising drug from reaching market, the damage from that decision can be harder to document.

We believe that the FDA should err on the side of allowing patients and physicians to weigh a particular treatment's costs and benefits and decide whether that treatment makes sense for that particular patient. But we also see the value of a government agency that can give the public confidence that the treatments they are using have received careful scrutiny from independent experts.

The debate about whether the FDA is being too 'lax' or too 'restrictive' is likely to continue as long as there is an FDA. Is it being too restrictive now? With so many people with psoriasis still in need of relief, let's hope not.

Under growing scrutiny since the blockbuster painkiller Vioxx was pulled from the market, the Food and Drug Administration in recent months has rejected a slew of experimental drugs or delayed their approval and required more data.

Besides keeping drugs some patients might desperately need off the market, the rejections have battered drug company stock prices and are expected to increase the cost and time it takes to develop a new drug, not to mention the price of developing future ones.

... But Chris Milne, associate director of the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, said Friday the FDA has systematically implemented more controls for scrutinizing drugs, particularly for heart and liver side effects. While he thinks the trend on approvals is not yet clear, he said the FDA now is requiring experimental drugs similar to ones already on sale to be more effective and safer than their predecessors.

Some experts say they already see a trend toward increased rejections, although drugs for life-threatening diseases or conditions with no good current treatment are generally being approved.

... James Kumpel at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. just published a report showing FDA approvals of "new molecular entities" - drugs made from new chemical compounds rather than just twists on existing drugs - so far this year are at their lowest level in at least a decade. Only seven were approved through the end of July, versus an average of 12 over the first seven months of each year since 1998.

"The FDA certainly has made it more difficult for pharmaceutical companies by pushing for more data and for more participants and for longer studies," said Kumpel, barriers he said will start limiting the number of new blockbusters.

As we have written before, one of the dangers for the psoriasis community is that the FDA might place particularly restrictive demands on experimental psoriasis treatments, given that psoriasis is typically a non-life-threatening disease. We must make sure the good folks at the FDA understand that psoriasis is a serious disease for millions of Americans that is, for many, debilitating.

Short Sleeve Day sweeping the nation

Psoriasis Cure Now, a nonprofit patient advocacy group, today announced that participants from more than half the states are already registered for the first national Short Sleeve Day, to be held on September 15, 2007. On this day, psoriasis patients from coast to coast, and their loved ones, will don short sleeves and engage the public about psoriasis. Short Sleeve Day, which will include public events in San Francisco, Washington, DC, Chicago and Salt Lake City, also includes a national "virtual" event. Registration is free, and can be done via ShortSleeveDay.com or on the Psoriasis Cure Now Short Sleeve Day website.

"We need people from all 50 states participating in this national event and we are thrilled to be halfway there with one month to go," said Michael Paranzino, president of Psoriasis Cure Now. "Short Sleeve Day is the centerpiece of a campaign to shift the way psoriasis is perceived by the general public, and this strong early response suggests that psoriasis patients agree it's time to change the way we interact with the world."

The Short Sleeve Day website features personal pages that registrants can use to encourage their friends and family to contribute to the campaign, and to get involved themselves. All registrants and donors will then receive Psoriasis Cure Now educational materials they can distribute, in turn, to their family, friends and neighbors on Short Sleeve Day.

"On September 15, everyone from the 'virtual' participants to the people attending public events will be working together, in a very real way, to improve public understanding of psoriasis and make things better for the millions of Americans struggling with this painful disease," Paranzino added.

Short Sleeve Day is being made possible by educational funding from Amgen & Wyeth and from Genentech, as well as by contributions from people with psoriasis and their loved ones.

Psoriasis Cure Now Video Contest roaring on

The Early Bird submission phase of the Psoriasis Cure Now Video Contest has ended. Twenty-five videos are competing for the special $1,000 prize that will be announced next week. The winner will also be the presumptive frontrunner for the $7,500 Grand Prize to be announced in October, although the judging will start anew for the final phase of the contest.

Video submissions will be accepted through September 26, 2007--so there is plenty of time to enter and win!

You can view all the videos entered in the contest here. An impressive bunch!

Which is YOUR favorite?