While You Were Time Traveling

OK we haven't seen it yet but on the combined strength of AO Scott's NYT review and the commercials we've seen, we'll go ahead and call next year's best picture winner for "Hot Tub Time Machine". And if you think that isn't a device designed to tie together a few of the weekend's industry happenings, well, you're not paying attention to In Vivo Blog.

While you were finding plutonium for your flux capacitor ...

• One person in the know called it "the worst kept secret in Washington": President Obama will nominate Donald Berwick to head up CMS. We suggested that might happen way back in February 2009. People, either this has taken a very long time, or we have bent space and time. Your call.
• Novartis would probably like to have a spin in the HTTM today, to go back and prevent its younger self from plunking down more than a few million for rights to Antisoma's ASA404 cancer compound. Sadly that drug didn't show a survival benefit in a Phase III lung cancer study, the companies said today. We covered their deal--the second around that compound after original partner Roche handed back rights--back in April 2007. Man, the In Vivo Blog is getting old.
• Predicting benefit from drugs before treatment? How futuristic. Bloomberg reports on the Nature paper that describes a test that may predict response to beta interferons in MS patients.