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Omnicare, IVAX Settle

Settlements and kickbacks and corporate integrity agreements, oh my (to the tune of "lions and tigers and bears, oh my") To quote the <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/nov2009/db2009114_700374.htm">BusinessWeek version</a> of the story: <blockquote>A $112 million settlement involving alleged drug kickbacks that the Justice Dept. announced with the nation's largest nursing home pharmacy and a generic drug manufacturer on Nov. 3 is part of a wide-ranging investigation of suspected Medicaid fraud by the pharmaceutical industry. Under Tuesday's settlement, Omnicare will pay $98 million plus interest to the federal government and a number of state Medicaid programs to settle allegations that it participated in kickback schemes with IVAX, J&J [Johnson & Johnson], and two nursing home chains. IVAX, a subsidiary of Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA), agreed to pay $14 million plus interest. Omnicare and IVAX entered 'corporate integrity agreements' to establish new training and policies to prevent future problems. Neither company admitted any wrongdoing. </blockquote> Here are some details of the alleged wrong-doing: <blockquote>Omnicare is a publicly traded pharmacy benefit manager for long-term care facilities that operates in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. It had revenues of $6.3 billion in 2008. According to the settlement, Omnicare allegedly received $8 million in payments from IVAX in 2000-04 to buy $50 million in generic drugs and recommend that physicians prescribe them to their nursing home patients. Omnicare entered the contract even though its outside counsel repeatedly warned it might violate the federal anti-kickback law, the government alleged in its complaint, filed in March. Omnicare also took payments from New Brunswick (N.J.)-based J&J from 1999 to 2004 to aggressively persuade doctors to prescribe Risperdal, an anti-psychotic drug, and discourage use of alternative medications, according to the settlement. In addition, Omnicare allegedly paid $50 million to nursing home chains Mariner Health Care and SavaSeniorCare in 2004 to keep referring their Medicaid and Medicare patients to Omnicare for pharmacy services. </blockquote> It is noteworthy that these activities went on despite repeated advice of at least one attorney: <blockquote>According to the government's complaint, Omnicare again ignored its outside counsel's advice that the payment was illegal. </blockquote> The activities also went on despite Omnicare's participation in a previous corporate integrity agreement. <blockquote>This isn't the first time Omnicare has had to settle civil fraud complaints filed by the government. In 2006, Omnicare agreed to pay $102 million to settle Medicaid fraud cases in 43 states, without admitting wrongdoing, including a $52.5 million settlement with Michigan. One complaint accused Omnicare of switching two drugs from tablet to capsule form to boost Medicaid payments. Omnicare had to enter a five-year corporate integrity agreement. </blockquote> As I have written again and again regarding many other cases that resulted in <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/legal%20settlements">legal settlements</a> or <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/crime">guilty pleas</a>, the companies involved only need to pay fines, and no individual who performed, directed or approved unethical or illegal acts will suffer any negative consequences. I submit once again that such fines are viewed merely as costs of doing business by the affected companies, and do not deter future bad behavior. For once, the coverage of this case included some opinions similar to mine: <blockquote>The Office of Inspector General of the Health & Human Services Dept. has the authority to bar health-care companies from participating in the Medicaid, Medicare, and other federal health programs as a penalty for violating anti-fraud laws. That's a severe sanction given the huge size of those programs. The settlements with Omnicare and IVAX left open the possibility of exclusion. Some experts say Omnicare should be barred as a repeat offender, to send a strong message to other pharmaceutical industry players that fraud will no longer be tolerated. 'If the government were really serious, they'd give Omnicare the death sentence,' said Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan who follows the pharmaceutical industry. 'Then all the other players would say this isn't just the cost of doing business, this is a bet-the-company thing.' West declined to comment on whether the Justice Dept. will recommended the exclusion of the two companies, saying only that his office works closely with the OIG's office on appropriate penalties. [Patrick] Burns, with Taxpayers Against Fraud, said the government has been hesitant to exclude health-care companies for fraud, fearing it will be seen as overzealous. But he believes that's the wrong attitude. 'Doing business with the U.S. government is a privilege, not a right,' he said. 'I think Omnicare has abused the privilege.' </blockquote> Finally, note that the description of this case suggested that the kickbacks had effects on physicians' prescribing and hence the use of specific drugs. The Justice Department's filing alleged that in return for the payment from IVAX, Omnicare tried to get physicians to prescribe that company's products, and that in return for the payment from J&J, Omnicare pushed them to prescribe the atypical anti-psychotic Risperdal. Thus the activities that went on this case could have lead to the use of inappropriate, useless or even harmful drugs by certain patients. I submit that would-be health care reformers who want to improve care, reduce costs and improve access should advocate for real negative consequences for people who implement, direct or approve the various versions of fraud, kickbacks, and miscellaneous corruption and malfeasance we have discussed on Health Care Renewal. By the way, it appears one of the members of <a href="http://ir.omnicare.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=65516&p=irol-govboard">Omnicare's Board of Directors</a> is also a leader in academic health care.  She is Andrea R. Lindell, DNSc, RN, who is also <a href="http://webcentral.uc.edu/eProf/viewoutput.cfm?Action=PublicDoc&code=WebPage&shci=0&epid=OTAwNA%3D%3D">Dean of the College of Nursing</a> at the University of Cincinnati.  One would think that someone who thus <a href="http://nursing.uc.edu/">boasts</a> "the success of our students, faculty, staff and alumni who work together to promote excellence in education, research, service and practice" needs to keep a closer eye on the ethical aspects of her company's management.

Omnicare, IVAX Settle

Settlements and kickbacks and corporate integrity agreements, oh my (to the tune of "lions and tigers and bears, oh my") To quote ...

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Suppression of Clinical Trials of Sumatriptan

Correspondence to the Lancet two weeks ago revealed another instance in which clinical research studies that failed to provide results favorable to a sponsor's product were suppressed. [Tfeft-Hansen  PC. Unpublished clinical trials of sumatriptan. Lancet 2009; 374: 1501-2.  Link <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2809%2961906-1/fulltext">here</a>.] Sumatriptan, sold as Imitrex by GlaxoSmithKline, and now available generically, is a commonly used treatment for acute migraine headaches.  A Cochrane review from 2003 concluded that multiple clinical trials versus placebo showed that the drug is a safe and effective treatment of acute migraine [link <a href="http://mrw.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD002915/pdf_abstract_fs.html">here</a>.]  A comparison of multiple guidelines for headache treatment noted considerable variability in how guidelines were developed, but that a number recommended sumatriptan as a first-line agent based apparently mainly on trials against placebo, while noting a lack of head-to-head comparisons among sumatriptan (and other triptans) and older, simpler treatments, like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).  [Schuurmans A, van Weel C. Pharmacologic treatment of migraine: comparison of guidelines. Can Fam Physician 2005; 51: 838-843.  Link <a href="http://www.cfp.ca/cgi/reprint/51/6/838">here</a>.] Tfelt-Hansen had written a review of treatment of migraine with a combination of ergotamine and caffeine, which included a single trial comparing that combination to sumatriptan.  He noted that the results of this trial appeared on "the homepage of the Swedish Medical Agency," but were not published in a peer-reviewed journal.  The trial suggested that sumatriptan was inferior to the combination.  Tfelt-Hansen looked up this trial in the GlaxoSmithKline trial register.  Recall that this database was the source of information on unpublished trials of Avandia (rosiglitazone, GSK) that Dr Steven Nissen and colleagues meta-analyzed to suggest that Avandia may produce adverse cardiovascular effects (see post <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2007/05/dream-turns-to-nightmare-avandia-and.html">here</a>).   Recall also that the registry was created as part of a settlement of a lawsuit by then New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer that accused GSK of concealing clinical research unfavorable to its drug paroxetine (Paxil, GSK).  [Steinbrook R. Registration of clinical trials - voluntary or mandatory? N Engl J Med 2004; 351:1820-1822.  Link <a href="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/351/18/1820">here</a>.] Tfelt-Hansen's main finding was that there were six trials comparing sumatriptan to other treatments, including paracetamol (acetaminophen) plus metaclopamide (2 trials), buclizine chloride, paracetamol and codeine (2 trials), ergotamine tartrate, cyclizine HCl, caffeine (1 trial), and ergotamine tartrate plus caffeine (1 trial).  In 3 trials, sumatriptan treated patients were not significantly more likely to have relief of their headaches within 2 hours.  In 1 trial, there was a non-significant trend favoring sumatriptan.  In two trials, sumatriptan was superior to the comparison.  In 4 trials, the rate of relief after sumatriptan treatment was 50% or less.  Tfelt-Hansen concluded: <blockquote>It is easy to understand why these RCTs were never published when sumatriptan was introduced: in only one of the oral trials did more than 50% of patients have headache relief (the primary efficacy measure) after sumatriptan 100 mg for the first attack treated (table), and in the RCT with rectal sumatriptan, the drug was found inferior to ergotamine. These findings would at the time have spoiled the very positive picture of sumatriptan as a new wonder drug for migraine. </blockquote> Of course, this points out that health care corporations may regard clinical trials more as marketing tools than as science. We have discussed <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/suppression%20of%20medical%20research">numerous instances</a> in which trials that did not show commercial sponsors' products in a favorable light were suppressed by these sponsors. Individual trials only at best produce approximations of the truth about the drugs or devices they compare. Trials may be positive due to chance alone when the test or treatment under study actually has no good effects. Post-hoc suppression of "negative" trials therefore may exaggerate the benefits (and safety) of tests or treatments. Physicians and patients who try to uphold the ideals of evidence-based medicine, and base decisions on the best possible evidence can be misled when evidence unfavorable to vested interests is systematically suppressed. Suppression of evidence unfavorable to vested interests may lead to excess use of tests and treatments that really are less beneficial or more risky than the published evidence suggested, and to willingness to pay exaggerated prices for such tests and treatments. Thus suppression of evidence can lead to excess costs and bad outcomes. Also, as we have said before, suppression of results of clinical research that are unfavorable to the vested interests of research sponsors violates the trust of research subjects.  Research subjects are often assured that their participation is for the benefit of science and health care.  Suppressing results unfavorable to vested interests distorts science and makes health care more dysfunctional. Evidence that is purposefully suppressed is by definition hard to find. Nonetheless, we have seen several recent examples in which suppressed evidence was later revealed, and when combined with existing evidence, showed that previously hyped treatments were really not as safe and effective as was thought.  In particular, the suppression by various drug companies of evidence unfavorable to new anti-depressants they were marketing has generated some discussion (see post <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/08/high-costs-and-poor-outcomes-lesson.html">here</a>). This parade of examples suggests that stronger measures are needed to assure that clinical research is not suppressed due to the vested interests of research sponsors.  One seemingly radical, but increasingly plausible approach would ban corporations that sell health care products or services from influencing clinical research done to evaluate those products.  Would be health care reformers who really want to improve outcomes, improve access and decrease costs might want to think about how to make the evidence available about the outcomes of health care interventions more honest.

Suppression of Clinical Trials of Sumatriptan

Correspondence to the Lancet two weeks ago revealed another instance in which clinical research studies that failed to provide results favor...

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Google's movie showtimes, digitally remastered

Did you know you can immediately discover movie times and locations by typing a simple search on Google? For example, search for [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=where+the+wild+things+are&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10">where the wild things are</a>] and you'll see times and places to watch the film, or try [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=glendale+18+los+angeles">glendale 18 los angeles</a>] to see movies playing at your local theater. You can also click on the showtimes search result to get more complete movie listings and information. Today, we're making a few improvements to movie results on Google, including more detailed movie pages, genre filters and a new map view. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4VD-vRQPCWp8KnLh7OZNOTaOavJfIPA-jPwJMBsGohwwwPv0hMOAACeGWA1Lpv6-H1-Jb5tFgBCWBgMMiKWk4cojcep8HKUYuXOFa0OaicfgNB6b-Dm-cgilJd89jfBC870qSTWDofTg/s1600-h/dc7xwjbz_1974kc3r5cd_b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403007936457876194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4VD-vRQPCWp8KnLh7OZNOTaOavJfIPA-jPwJMBsGohwwwPv0hMOAACeGWA1Lpv6-H1-Jb5tFgBCWBgMMiKWk4cojcep8HKUYuXOFa0OaicfgNB6b-Dm-cgilJd89jfBC870qSTWDofTg/s400/dc7xwjbz_1974kc3r5cd_b.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 103px;" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;">Click "showtimes" in your search results for more detailed information. </div> When you visit google.com/movies, you'll discover a new, more comprehensive resource with all the information you need to decide what movie to see and where to see it: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWyqkcyhefUSjroLALgU-baA0v3ozA-sIoYmu6wpZmYbd2rM4bBWlkWgNi62pjfO0XjTbRtqx2fhEHFGIjqs1_tlHw1T4TPV9-WvChlGhIo80wjU012ipYpr9yr-M4GrCx7yInvoWuu6g/s1600-h/dc7xwjbz_192dkf3fbhf_b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403008123638094802" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWyqkcyhefUSjroLALgU-baA0v3ozA-sIoYmu6wpZmYbd2rM4bBWlkWgNi62pjfO0XjTbRtqx2fhEHFGIjqs1_tlHw1T4TPV9-WvChlGhIo80wjU012ipYpr9yr-M4GrCx7yInvoWuu6g/s400/dc7xwjbz_192dkf3fbhf_b.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 239px;" /></a> <ul><li>Comprehensive movie pages: Deciding what movie to see can take a few searches: What's it about? How are the reviews? Where is it playing near me? Our new <a href="http://www.google.com/movies?hl=en&near=ny&sort=1&mid=62ccbb212f92d5bc&view=list">detailed layout</a> brings together all the basic information you need with a plot synopsis, trailer, reviews and photos in the same page.</li><li>Genre filters: The new movie pages also give you new ways to explore films by genre and find one you're in the mood for. Sometimes, you might feel like seeing a <a href="http://www.google.com/movies?near=los+angeles&hl=en&sort=1&view=list&genre=Science%20Fiction">sci-fi flick</a> or a <a href="http://www.google.com/movies?near=seattle&hl=en&sort=1&view=list&genre=Romance">romance</a>, but you're not sure what's out in theaters. With genre filters you can start browsing right away and quickly find the right movie for you.</li><li>Map view: After you've chosen a movie, the new <a href="http://www.google.com/movies?near=san+francisco&hl=en&view=map">map view</a> shows you nearby theaters playing that exact film. You no longer need to do a separate search to find out where you're going.</li></ul>We hope these improvements will help you spend more time at the movies and less time researching. Visit <a href="http://www.google.com/movies">google.com/movies</a> or click through a "showtimes" result to try them out, and treat yourself to a movie! Posted by Dan Stokeley, Associate Product Manager

Google's movie showtimes, digitally remastered

Did you know you can immediately discover movie times and locations by typing a simple search on Google? For example, search for [ where the...

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Googlers receive prestigious ITOJUN Service Award

Googlers Lorenzo Colitti and Erik Kline have <a href="http://isoc.org/wp/newsletter/?m=200911">received</a> the <a href="http://www.isoc.org/awards/itojun/">ITOJUN Service Award</a> while attending the 76th Internet Engineering Task Force meeting in Hiroshima, Japan. The Itojun Service Award honors the memory of Dr. Jun-ichiro "itojun" Hagino, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 37. The friends of itojun and the <a href="http://www.isoc.org/">Internet Society</a> (ISOC) came together to establish this award last year. The award recognizes and commemorates the extraordinary dedication exercised by itojun over the course of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv6">IPv6</a> development. Lorenzo and Erik have been the spark plugs and workhorses of Google's <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/looking-towards-ipv6.html">implementation</a> of the IPv6 protocol that will help to carry the Internet beyond the anticipated exhaustion of the IPv4 address space in mid-2011. The two undertook, at their own initiative, to analyze the requirements and begin implementation of IPv6 throughout our networking infrastructure. Their leadership has placed us in the forward ranks of companies prepared for this important expansion. They are role models for others around the world, in the spirit of Itojun Hagino who was, himself, a model leader in this domain. We're all proud to be associated with Lorenzo, Erik and the others at Google who recognized this challenge and took it head on. Posted by Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist

Googlers receive prestigious ITOJUN Service Award

Googlers Lorenzo Colitti and Erik Kline have received the ITOJUN Service Award while attending the 76th Internet Engineering Task Force me...

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Boston Scientific to Plead Guilty (of Suppressing Information about Failure-Prone Defibrillators)

In the early days of Health Care Renewal (2005-2006) we posted several times about allegations that Guidant hid information about defects in the implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) the company manufactured.  As we noted in early 2005 <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2005/05/guideants-short-circuit.html">here</a>, Guidant executives allegedly knew that ICDs made from 2000-2002 were at risk for short-circuiting and failing, thus making them unable to deliver potentially life saving electrical shocks meant to prevent cardiac arrests, but the company only revealed the problem in 2005.  By failing to notify physicians and the public, Guidant executives let expensive and profitable, but potentially useless devices to continue to be implanted, potentially increasing the risk of sudden death for the patients who received them.  Then here we <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2005/06/guidants-short-circuit-reloaded.html">noted</a> reports that Guidant continued to ship failure-prone devices even after it had designed and started to manufacture new ICDs that were supposed to be less likely to fail.  By June, 2005 we <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2005/06/more-short-circuits-for-guidant.html">posted</a> that Guidant had recalled thousands of ICDs, including models that were previously not identified as likely to fail.  Later that year, the case <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2005/07/new-england-journal-of-medicine-on.html">rated</a> an article by Robert Steinbrook in the New England Journal of Medicine.  Towards the end of 2005, we <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2005/11/eliot-spitzer-sues-guidant-for-fraud.html">noted</a> that Eliot Spitzer had sued Guidant for fraud.  At the end of the year, more information <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2005/12/for-guidant-these-people-are-just.html">appeared</a>, suggesting that Guidant knew the ICDs were flawed, but continued to sell them.  <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2006/03/more-about-guidant-it-is-possible-that.html">Still more</a> appeared early in 2006.  Then the business media became interested in the bidding war between Johnson and Johnson and Boston Scientific for Guidant, provoking a bit <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2006/01/new-problems-for-guidant-and-boston.html">more interest</a> in the tale of the suppression of data about the flawed ICDs. And then there was silence.  The story of the suppressed information about the defective defibrillators became old news, as did the story of the merger between Boston Scientific and Guidant.  The story vanished, nothing more happened, until last week A lone echo from this story from what now seems long ago was heard, as <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aW7jGYK573f4">reported by Bloomberg</a>, <blockquote>Boston Scientific Corp. agreed to pay $296 million to settle a U.S. Justice Department investigation into its Guidant unit’s handling of heart devices and restated third-quarter results to show a loss. Guidant will plead to two criminal misdemeanors for failing to properly alert the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about problems with some of its implantable defibrillators, Boston Scientific said today in a statement. The probe concerned product advisories sent by Guidant before its acquisition by Boston Scientific in April 2006, the parent company said. </blockquote> So even though Boston Scientific's now subsidiary Guidant will plead guilty to a crime involving suppression of information about the flaws in its defibrillators, the current CEO of Boston Scientific denied anyone did anything wrong: <blockquote>'Guidant and its employees acted in good faith and believed they complied with applicable laws and regulations,' Boston Scientific Chief Executive Officer Ray Elliott said in the company’s statement. 'We elected to resolve this matter so we could put it behind us and devote our full energies and resources to developing our innovative technologies.' </blockquote> I guess it's not hard to put a little matter of criminal conduct behind a big health care corporation and its leaders when the only downside of pleading guilty is a fine paid seven years after the criminal conduct occurred.  Moreover, that fine that will come out of the company treasury, and its impact will thus be spread among stock-holders, employees, and customers, not targeted at those who performed, directed or approved the acts that lead to the guilty plea. Although the Bloomberg report was more detailed than others I found, none mentioned that the information that was concealed back in the day was about the failure of an expensive device that was supposed to be life-saving, and whose failure might doom some of its recipients to an early death.  Anyone reading these late 2009 articles would get a sense that Guidant personnel were guilty of some technical reporting violations, not of withholding information that supposed life-saving treatments might be useless. As in the case of many other cases that resulted in <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/legal%20settlements">legal settlements</a> or <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/crime">guilty pleas</a>, the company involved only needs to pay a fine, and no individual who performed, directed or approved unethical or illegal acts will suffer any negative consequences.  I submit once again that such fines are viewed merely as costs of doing business by the affected companies, and do not deter future bad behavior. In this vein, note that in 2005, Boston Scientific agreed to a $74 million settlement of charges that it knowingly sold a defective coronary artery stent system (see post <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2005/06/boston-scientific-settles-case-of.html">here</a>), which did not deter the company from merging with Guidant.  This case also demonstrates how the<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/anechoic%20effect"> anechoic effect</a> continues.  Bad behavior by large health care organizations still gets little notice, and when it is noticed, its real clinical and human effects are discounted.  Real health care reform would address how leaders of health care organizations can continue to act with impunity even when their actions can lead to sickness, disability, and death.

Boston Scientific to Plead Guilty (of Suppressing Information about Failure-Prone Defibrillators)

In the early days of Health Care Renewal (2005-2006) we posted several times about allegations that Guidant hid information about defects in...

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Commemorating Veterans Day at Google

Today is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day">Veterans Day</a>, the annual U.S. holiday honoring military veterans who have served our country in the armed forces. It is also celebrated as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world, falling on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I in 1918. We want to take a moment to highlight a few things we're doing at Google to reflect on the service of our veterans. YouTube has become an important platform for current service members as well as veterans who want to share their stories. Starting today, you can visit <a href="http://www.youtube.com/veterans">www.youtube.com/veterans</a> to hear from these brave men and women. In addition, on the homepage, YouTube is featuring content from some institutions and organizations that have provided much-needed support to veterans. You can read more about how YouTube is recognizing Veterans Day on the <a href="http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2009/11/youtube-salutes-vets-and-their.html">YouTube Blog</a>. We also <a href="http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/google-voice-invitations-for-blue-star.html">launched</a> a Google Voice partnership with Blue Star Families, a group of military spouses who work hard to educate civilian communities and leaders about the hardships faced by military families. We're giving priority Google Voice invites to U.S. members of Blue Star Families to help bring them closer to their loved ones during deployments. Finally, we're commemorating Veterans Day in Google offices around the country with an event hosted by the Google Veterans Network, our employee group dedicated to veterans' issues. The highlight of the event is a fireside chat with Google veterans discussing the values associated with military service, issues they face at Google and in the world in general, their hopes to end conflicts, similar groups at other companies and the company's efforts to support our Googler service women and men. We hope to make this Veterans Day a memorable one and we want to thank everyone in the armed forces for their service. Posted by Carrie Laureno, Learning & Development Manager and Founder, Google VetNet

Commemorating Veterans Day at Google

Today is Veterans Day , the annual U.S. holiday honoring military veterans who have served our country in the armed forces. It is also celeb...

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World Bank public data, now in search

When we first <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/adding-search-power-to-public-data.html">launched public data</a> on Google.com, we wanted to make statistics easier to find and to encourage <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVhWqwnZ1eM">debate based on facts</a> rather than intuition. The day after we launched, a friend who worked at the World Bank called me, her voice filled with enthusiasm, "Did you know that the World Bank also just released an API for their data?" Excited, I <a href="http://developer.worldbank.org/">checked it out</a>, and found an amazing treasure trove of statistics for most economies in the world. After some hard work and analysis, today we're happy to announce that 17 <a href="http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/0,,menuPK:232599%7EpagePK:64133170%7EpiPK:64133498%7EtheSitePK:239419,00.html">World Development Indicators</a> (list below*) are now conveniently available to you in Google search. With today's update, you can quickly access more data with a broad range of queries. Search should be intuitive, so we've done the work to think through queries where public data will be most relevant to you. To see the new data, try queries like [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&q=gdp+of+indonesia">gdp of indonesia</a>], [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&gl=us&q=life+expectancy+brazil&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g-m1">life expectancy brazil</a><a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&gl=us&q=children+per+woman+in+brazil&aq=f&oq=&aqi="></a>], [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&q=rwanda%27s+population+growth">rwanda's population growth</a>], [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&q=energy+use+of+iceland">energy use of iceland</a>], [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&q=co2+emissions+of+iceland">co2 emissions of iceland</a>] and [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&q=GDP+growth+argentina">gdp growth rate argentina</a>]. For example, if you search for [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&q=internet+users+in+the+united+states">internet users in the united states</a>], you will see the following chart at the top of the results page: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjilVQGMrWTko02lU3QnzIrk-uDQCq3_i8PYXiGM0ov8euELW4SdC5oJqILrT_3KbZlO7CJtRKIcb-BMdAa9YUYUWShqMxw1UIefudetQkKjMd9BIUtc3gYQW092R0tvI1zqkHEqF48mPk/s1600-h/WB.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402903748423560802" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjilVQGMrWTko02lU3QnzIrk-uDQCq3_i8PYXiGM0ov8euELW4SdC5oJqILrT_3KbZlO7CJtRKIcb-BMdAa9YUYUWShqMxw1UIefudetQkKjMd9BIUtc3gYQW092R0tvI1zqkHEqF48mPk/s400/WB.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 123px;" /></a> Clicking on the result will bring you to an <a href="http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=it_net_user_p2&idim=country:USA">interactive chart</a> where you can compare the United States with other regions around the world. We've also added a new feature to enable you to embed these charts in your own website or blog by clicking on the "Link" button in the upper right-hand corner of the <a href="http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=it_net_user_p2&idim=country:USA">chart page</a>. You have the option to either embed the chart with static data, or you can also set the chart to update dynamically when new data becomes available. To give you a sense of what these charts look like, we've embedded the chart below comparing Internet users in the United States and South Korea: <iframe marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" src="http://www.google.com/publicdata/embed?ds=wb-wdi&met=it_net_user_p2&idim=country:KOR:USA" width="400" frameborder="0" height="325" scrolling="no"></iframe> We hope this new data and our new embedding feature will help facilitate quick and easy access to public statistics. There are still many other data sets and sources out there, and we're excited about the possibilities for the future. If you're a data publisher interested in making your data more easily discoverable in Google, please <a href="http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/request.py?contact_type=public_data">contact us</a>. * Complete list of World Bank indicators currently available: <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/co2-emissions" style="font-style: italic;">CO2 emissions per capita</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/electric-power-consumption" style="font-style: italic;">Electricity consumption per capita</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/energy-use" style="font-style: italic;">Energy use per capita</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/exports-goods-services-gdp" style="font-style: italic;">Exports as percentage of GDP</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/fertility-rate-total" style="font-style: italic;">Fertility rate</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/inflation-gdp-deflator" style="font-style: italic;">GDP deflator change</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/gdp-growth-annual" style="font-style: italic;">GDP growth rate</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/gni-per-capita-ppp" style="font-style: italic;">GNI per capita in PPP dollars</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/gdp-current" style="font-style: italic;">Gross Domestic Product</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/ppp-gni" style="font-style: italic;">Gross National Income in PPP dollars</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/imports-goods-services-gdp" style="font-style: italic;">Imports as percentage of GDP</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/internet-users" style="font-style: italic;">Internet users as percentage of population</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/life-expectancy-at-birth" style="font-style: italic;">Life expectancy</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/military-expenditure" style="font-style: italic;">Military expenditure as percentage of GDP</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/under-5-mortality-rate">Mortality rate, under 5</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/population-total" style="font-style: italic;">Population</a>, and <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/annual-population-growth-rate" style="font-style: italic;">Population growth rate</a>. Update at 11:26am: We've updated this post to include a better example. Posted by Chung Wu, Software Engineer

World Bank public data, now in search

When we first launched public data on Google.com, we wanted to make statistics easier to find and to encourage debate based on facts rathe...

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