Medical Devices, Capital Bikeshare, and the CEI Podcast

Medical Devices

The FDA has approved a device to help doctors’ detect skin cancer.

Senior Fellow Greg Conko explains what happened.

“In March 2010 and again last November, the FDA rejected approval for a new medical device designed to help doctors detect cancerous skin lesions caused by melanoma, even though the agency’s scientific advisory board voted in favor of approval both times. But yesterday, the manufacturer, Mela Sciences, announced that the FDA had reversed course and agreed that the device is in fact approvable — pending agreement on labeling and the compilation of an appropriate user manual for physicians.That’s good news. About 70,000 people are diagnosed with melanoma in the U.S. every year, and nearly 9,000 die from it. But it is nearly 100 percent curable if detected early.”

Capital Bikeshare

Last week, the D.C. Capital Bikeshare program celebrated its one-year anniversary.

Policy Analyst Marc Scribner comments.

“The Capital Bikeshare bikes cost around $1,000 a piece and have a life cycle of six years. Annual operating costs are somewhere closer to $2,000 per bike. In the past two years, I have spent approximately $500 on my personal bike that I commute to work on daily — $250 a year. And I average more trips per day and distance per trip than Capital Bikeshare. The program’s costs given the benefits are simply absurd. If the District’s transportation elite must maintain their warped set of priorities and subsidize cycling to induce ridership, why not instead offer vouchers to partially cover the initial purchase and annual maintenance of a bike? It would certainly be cheaper, although that would take the look-at-the-shiny-objects-we-wasted-tax-dollars-on fun out of the whole thing.”

CEI Podcast

In the new CEI podcast, Director of CEI’s Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs John Berlau talks about what’s going to happen when debit card price controls go into effect on Saturday. Listen here.