Rheumatoid Arthritis Support

Tom Halstead is a patient technology rights activist, educator and advocate. Former President of Stadtlanders Pharmacy (10,000 employees and $600 million in sales), and co-founder of Hemotherapies, Inc.,, Halstead has been asked by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide expert testimony on a number of technology transfer and patient rights issues, including prescription drug advertising with AARP and Searle where he was the Searle board representative under Donald Rumsfeld for prescription drug advertising, and the safety of Rezulin.. Stadtlanders and Merck & Co. launched the first effective HIV medication under Halstead's leadership. As Executive Vice President of Quantum Health Resources, Halstead brokered a large number of biotech/pharmaceutical new technology/ rare biologicals distribution agreements, including Genentech, Genzyme, NORD (National Organization of Rare Disorders), Biogen, Glaxo, Pfizer, Searle, Rhone-Poulenc, Bayer, and many others, making previously unavailable rare biologicals available to children with rare, often genetic, disorders. These biologicals, not previously available to patients due to cost and rarity, include Factor VIII, IVIG, Ceredase, Prolastin, Prostacyclin, Indinavir, Riluzole, and numerous others in Neurology, AIDS, SCID / Severe Childhood Immune Deficiencies, ALS, Lyme Disease, CFIDS, Hemophilia, Cystic Fibrosis, Diabetes, Cancer and Heart Disease. As a General Manager at General Electric Medical Systems, Halstead was responsible for the launch of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) systems throughout Europe, and developed the proprietary MAPS software system of technology assessment, providing expert testimony to hundreds of technology assessment committees worldwide. Jack Welch stated that MAPS "brings the Wal Mart approach to medical technology, basing it on community needs." Halstead was on the first (Hillary Clinton) panel on healthcare reform, and testified on the economics of chronic illness and technology transfer. As an early civil rights activist, Halstead worked with Father William T. Cunningham on the establishment and growth of Focus: HOPE, and was a speechwriter for Michigan Governor William Milliken.


Adapted from the Wikipedia article Tom Halstead, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki