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'This is a Quadfecta!' What We Heard This Week

— Quotable quotes from ֱ's sources

MedpageToday

"I think clinically we all strive to have our patients attain NEDA, even if it may be an imperfect measure or not always entirely possible." – Elisabeth Lucassen MD, of Penn State Hershey Neurology in Hershey, on a new analysis of dimethyl fumarate (Tecfidera) in multiple sclerosis.

"This is a quadfecta!" -- Anthony Reder, MD, University of Chicago, discussing the approval of ocrelizumab (Ocrevus) for progressive and relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

"There have definitely been consequences, and there may be more." -- Craig Smith, MD, surgeon-in-chief at New York Presbyterian/Columbia Medical Center in New York City, on the institution's Match Day goof-up that left it without cardiothoracic surgery residents from this year's class.

"People can generally take opioids for pain for a few days and it's not an issue, but when they are on them for weeks, months, or even longer, it becomes a chronic medical condition like diabetes, hypertension, or depression." – Nitin S. Damle, MD, president of the American College of Physicians (ACP) commenting on a set of ACP public policy recommendations for the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders.

"If you want to reduce the number of abortions in America -- to make them 'safe, legal, and rare,' as they say -- then provide access to family planning." Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) discussing a resolution that would allow states to bar Planned Parenthood from receiving Title X grant funds.

"The most important thing physicians can do is talk patients through the issues." -- Todd Tuttle, MD, of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, commenting on a study of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy in women with early breast cancer.

"Without a federal commitment, we are going to lose this fight." -- Journalist Maria Shriver on threats to government funding for Alzheimer's disease research.