First Edition: Sept. 30, 2022
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KHN:
Pharma-Funded FDA Gets Drugs Out Faster, But Some Work Only ‘Marginally’ And Most Are Pricey
Dr. Steven-Huy Han, a UCLA liver specialist, has prescribed Ocaliva to a handful of patients, although he’s not sure it helps. As advertised, the drug is lowering levels of an enzyme called alkaline phosphatase in their blood, and that should be a sign of healing for their autoimmune disease, called primary biliary cholangitis. But “no one knows for sure,” Han said, whether less enzyme means they won’t get liver cancer or cirrhosis in the long run. “I have no idea if the drug will make them better,” he said. “It could take 10, 20, or 30 years to know.” (Allen, 9/30)
KHN:
Sports Programs In States In Northern Climes Face A New Opponent: Scorching Septembers
On a recent afternoon, it was a crisp 70 degrees on the football field at the high school in this northwestern Montana community less than 200 miles south of the U.S.-Canada border. Vikings head coach Jim Benn was running his team through drills in the pristine fall weather, without much interruption. Just a couple of weeks earlier, though, players needed frequent water breaks as they sweated through temperatures in the low to mid-90s, about 15 degrees higher than average for the time of year. Although temperatures have started to drop now that autumn is underway, Montana and many other states in the northern U.S. are getting hotter — and staying hot for longer. (Bolton, 9/30)
KHN:
Watch: Their Baby Died. The Medical Bills Haunted Them
Born with a congenital heart defect and other medical issues, Sterling Raspe lived just eight months. In that time, she needed dozens of medical procedures and often required round-the-clock care in the neonatal intensive care unit. At one point, her parents were told they owed $2.5 million for her care. “It’s an offensive amount of money,” said Sterling’s father, Kingsley Raspe, in this KHN video produced by Hannah Norman and reported by Lauren Weber. (9/30)
KHN:
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: On Government Spending, Congress Decides Not To Decide
Congress is supposed to complete its annual appropriations bills before the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1. But it rarely does, and this year is no different, as lawmakers scramble to pass a short-term funding bill so they can put off final decisions until at least December. Meanwhile, with an eye to the midterms, House Republicans put out a “Commitment to America,” which includes only the vaguest promises related to health care. It’s yet another demonstration that the only thing in health care that unifies Republicans is their opposition to Democrats’ health policies. It’s notable that this latest Republican plan does not suggest repealing the Affordable Care Act. (9/29)
The Washington Post:
FDA Approves First ALS Drug In 5 Years After Pleas From Patients
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday overcame doubts from agency scientists and approved a fiercely debated drug for ALS, a move that heartened patients and advocates who pushed for the medication but raised concerns among some experts about whether treatments for dire conditions receive sufficient scrutiny. “It’s a huge deal,” said Sunny Brous, 35, who was diagnosed with ALS seven years ago after she had trouble closing her left glove while playing softball. She plans to begin taking the drug as soon as she can. (McGinley, 9/29)
AP:
ALS Drug Wins FDA Approval Despite Questionable Data
The latest approval followed a remarkably turbulent path, including two negative reviews by the FDA’s internal scientists, who called the company’s results “borderline” and “not persuasive.” A panel of outside advisers backed that negative opinion in March, narrowly voting against the drug. But the FDA has faced intense pressure from ALS patients, advocates and members of Congress. In recent weeks the agency received more than 1,300 written comments from the ALS community supporting the treatment. (Perrone, 9/30)
The Boston Globe:
Cambridge Biotech Wins Approval For Much-Debated ALS Drug
Since 1995, only two drugs have been approved to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ― also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease ― and neither works very well. “This approval provides another important treatment option for ALS, a rare, life-threatening disease that currently has no cure,” said Dr. Billy Dunn, director of the Office of Neuroscience in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. (Saltzman and Cross, 9/29)
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Suicide Rates Rose In 2021 After Two Years Of Decline
The U.S. suicide rate rose in 2021 after two consecutive years of declines, federal data showed, underscoring concern about mental health in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic. The suicide rate last year increased 4% compared with the rate in 2020, provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed on Friday. The rise was driven largely by suicides among men. Males ages 15 to 24 experienced the sharpest increase at 8%, the report found. (Abbott, 9/30)
NBC News:
After 2-Year Decline, Suicide Rates Rise Again
It's a sign, experts say, that suicide rates are inching back up to levels seen before the pandemic. In 2021, 47,646 people in the United States died by suicide, up from 45,979 in 2020. That's an increase of nearly 4%. (Edwards, 9/30)
AP:
Florida Health Care Facilities Evacuate Patients After Ian
Thousands of people were evacuated from nursing homes and hospitals across Florida on Thursday even as winds and water from Hurricane Ian began receding. Hundreds of those evacuations were taking place across the hard-hit Fort Myers region, where damage cut off potable water to at least nine hospitals. Kristen Knapp of the Florida Health Care Association says 43 nursing homes evacuated about 3,400 residents as of Thursday morning, mostly in southwest Florida. As many as 20 facilities had reported electricity outages, but Knapp says generators are powering those buildings. Water was shut off at some facilities, too. And one area hospital began assessing the full damage from ferocious winds that tore away parts of its roof and swamped its emergency room. (Calvan and Hartounian, 9/29)
NBC News:
Florida Hospitals Report Evacuations, Lockdowns And Water Outages
Hurricane Ian has forced several Florida hospitals to evacuate patients and place staff members on lockdown as facilities contend with power outages and critical disruptions to water supplies. Mary Mayhew, the CEO of the Florida Hospital Association, said 16 hospitals across the state had evacuated or were in the process of evacuating Thursday afternoon. (Bendix, Syal and Martin, 9/29)
Bloomberg:
Raw Sewage Swirls Into Florida Floodwaters In Hurricane Ian’s Wake
Untold gallons of raw and poorly treated sewage have flowed into streets and rivers as floodwaters inundate infrastructure, power failures knock pumps offline, and manholes overflow. (Natter, 9/29)
The New York Times:
Army Doctor And Spouse Plotted To Give Russia Medical Records, U.S. Says
A Maryland doctor and her spouse, a U.S. Army doctor, were arrested on Thursday and charged with plotting to give the Russian government medical records of members of the American military, believing that the information could be exploited by the Kremlin, federal prosecutors said. The couple, Dr. Anna Gabrielian, a Baltimore anesthesiologist, and Dr. Jamie Lee Henry, an Army major and staff internist at Fort Bragg, were indicted after they met several times with an undercover F.B.I. agent who they believed was working for the Russian Embassy, prosecutors said. (Levenson, 9/29)
The Baltimore Sun:
Hopkins Doctor And Army Spouse Federally Charged With Trying To Pass Information To Russians
A Baltimore anesthesiologist and her U.S. Army major spouse were federally indicted Wednesday in an alleged conspiracy to disclose health information to the Russian government to assist its war in Ukraine. (Cohn, 9/29)
The Hill:
House Passes Bill Addressing Mental Health Concerns Among Students, Families, Educators
The House passed a bill on Thursday that seeks to address mental health concerns among students, families and educators aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which lawmakers say had a “severe impact” on those three groups. The bill, titled the Mental Health Matters Act, passed in a largely party-line 220-205 vote. One Republican, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), joined all Democrats present in supporting it. (Schnell, 9/29)
The Washington Post:
Bitten By A Fox, Rep. Bera Introduces Bill To Reduce The Cost Of Rabies Vaccine
Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) has introduced legislation aimed at reducing the cost of the rabies vaccine for uninsured Americans months after a fox bit him as he was walking on Capitol Hill. “Despite being a fatal disease, rabies is preventable if treated quickly,” Bera said in a statement Wednesday, which is World Rabies Day. “After being bit by a rabid fox, I was fortunate to have access to readily available and low-cost vaccines. But for too many Americans, the costs of treatment would break their banks.” (Scott, 9/28)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Obama Tells San Diego Audience Precision Medicine Held Back By ‘Creaky’ Health Care System
Former President Barack Obama lauded the advances that researchers are making in precision medicine but lamented the sluggish pace of adoption of these technologies in the U.S. health care system at an event in San Diego on Wednesday. ... Obama said the system has evolved so it is “more of a disease care system than a health care system. Until we reverse the incentive structure and the mindset inside that system, I suspect we are still going to have some problems.” (Freeman, 9/28)
Brisbane Times:
Unlike Flu, COVID-19 Attacks DNA In The Heart, New Research Shows
Direct research on the hearts of COVID-19 patients who have died from the disease has revealed they sustained DNA damage in a way completely unlike how influenza affects the body. The finding gives researchers clues about exactly how severe COVID-19 is affecting the body, and also a potential way to detect who will be seriously affected by the disease in the future. (Layt, 9/29)
Becker's Hospital Review:
Pulse Oximeter Flaws May Have Delayed COVID-19 Treatment For Black Patients: Study
Black COVID-19 patients may have faced 4.5-hour treatment delays due to pulse oximeters' inability to accurately read their blood oxygen levels, according to researchers at Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health. For 30 years, medical literature has documented that pulse oximeters overestimate blood oxygenation in individuals with darker pigmented skin, according to a study shared with Becker's on Sept. 28. However, the clinical impacts of this discrepancy have not been heavily investigated, a Sutter Health spokesperson said Sept. 28 in a statement shared with Becker's. (Kayser, 9/29)
CNN:
CDC Warns Of Severe Illnesses From Monkeypox As Ohio Reports Death Of A Monkeypox Patient
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a new warning to health care providers Thursday about severe illnesses in people with monkeypox. (Kounang and Dillinger, 9/29)
San Francisco Chronicle:
California Monkeypox Cases Plunge 95%, Outbreak Isn’t Over Yet
The number of people testing positive for monkeypox has plunged in California, with the seven-day average of new cases down about 95% since the peak of the outbreak in early August. Though health experts caution that the virus threat hasn’t disappeared, progress in fending it off so far constitutes a major public health success. (Vaziri, 9/29)
Detroit Free Press:
Black Michiganders Got 60% Of Monkeypox Cases, Only 17% Of Vaccines
Even though 60% of the people who have gotten monkeypox in Michigan so far are Black, 70% of the doses of the vaccine that can prevent infection or limit symptoms after exposure have gone to white Michiganders. Black residents have gotten just 17% of the doses administered so far in Michigan, new state health department data shows. (Jordan Shamus, 9/29)
Bloomberg:
Walmart, CVS Face Suits Blaming Common Painkiller For Autism
Dozens of lawsuits are challenging the long-standing belief that pregnant women can safely take acetaminophen, an over-the-counter drug used in Tylenol and generic pain medications. (Feeley, 9/29)
Fox News:
Acetaminophen During Pregnancy May Be Linked To Attention And Sleep Problems In Young Children: New Study
Taking the pain medication acetaminophen, also known under the brand name of Tylenol, during pregnancy may be associated with child behavioral issues at three years old. That's according to a new report published in the journal PLOS Medicine. (Sudhakar, 9/29)
Stat:
Fungi Find Their Way Into Cancer Tumors, But Why Is A Mystery
For a while, scientists thought the trillions of microbes on our bodies lived in landscapes connected to the outside world — our skin, hair, and gut — but research in the last few years has shown that’s not so. (Chen, 9/30)
The New York Times:
A New Approach To Spotting Tumors: Look For Their Microbes
Scientists have long known that our bodies are home to microbes, but have tended to treat tumors as if they were sterile. In recent years, however, researchers have laid that notion to rest, demonstrating that tumors are rife with microbes. In 2020, several research teams showed that tumors are home to various blends of bacteria. And on Thursday, two studies published in the journal Cell found that tumors are also home to many species of fungi. This so-called tumor microbiome is proving so distinctive in each type of cancer that some scientists hope to find early signs of hidden tumors by measuring the microbial DNA they shed into the blood. (Zimmer, 9/29)
Modern Healthcare:
HHS Must Stop 340B Cuts Through 2022, Judge Rules
The decision by Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is the latest blow to an HHS effort to limit spending on the 340B Drug Pricing Program and follows a Supreme Court ruling in June ordering the department to compensate providers for lower 340B payments they received in prior years. (Berryman, 9/29)
Bay Area News Group:
Senior-Care Chain Covering Up Third Bay Area Death From Liquid: Lawsuit
A senior-care chain whose San Mateo facility saw two residents die after drinking caustic liquid tried to cover up a third similar death at its care home in Walnut Creek, a new lawsuit claims. (Turner and Baron, 9/29)
Crain's Detroit Business:
High-Cost Travel Nurse Contracts Targeted In New Michigan Bill
Michigan is joining at least 15 other states in an attempt to tamp down the high costs of contract travel nurses, even as demand for healthcare workers continues to grow post-pandemic. (Walsh, 9/29)
Fox News:
Anxiety Screenings Recommended By US Task Force Will Cause Overdiagnosis, Overprescription, Psychologist Warns
"It’s the wrong solution at the wrong time," Dr. Jonathan Shedler, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, told Fox News. "You can’t just carve the world into disorders and think you’re doing an adequate job of determining someone’s mental health needs." (Sahakian, 9/29)
Stateline:
Health Groups Urge States To Spend Juul Settlement Dollars On Tobacco Prevention
Major medical groups are urging states that won a $438.5 million settlement earlier this month in a case against electronic cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. to use the money for tobacco prevention and cessation programs, particularly those aimed at young people. (Vestal, 9/28)
Bloomberg:
Illumina Delivers $200 Genome With New DNA Sequencing Machine
Illumina Inc. says it can read a person’s entire genetic code for as little as $200 with its new sequencing machine, bringing the company within reach of its long-promised goal of the $100 genome. (Peebles, 9/29)
Noticias Telemundo for Axios:
Study: Creating A Diversity Score Could Improve Medical Research
Measuring racial and ethnic diversity within medical trials — and requiring a certain threshold to be met for researchers to publish in major journals — could be key to improving research into cancer and other diseases, a recent study found. (Franco, 9/29)
USA Today:
Clinical Trials In Line For A Major Post-COVID Change: More Diversity
Before the pandemic, trial organizers said they aimed for diversity. "We talked a good game about it, but we never really did that much," said Dr. Paul Evans, CEO and president of Velocity, which conducts later-phase trials for drug companies. "It's no longer lip service." (Weintraub, 9/30)
Bloomberg:
Vaping Is Far Less Risky Than Smoking And Helps People Quit, UK Study Shows
Vaping poses significantly fewer risks than smoking and has a slightly better success rate than other methods of giving up cigarettes, according to a study commissioned by the UK government. (Lyu, 9/29)
USA Today:
Coffee Linked To Living Longer, Lower Heart Disease Risk, Study Says
In the study, published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, researchers found that mild to moderate intake of ground, instant and decaffeinated coffee were all linked to "significant reductions" in mortality and cardiovascular disease – including coronary heart disease, cardiac failure and ischaemic stroke. (Grantham-Philips, 9/29)
Fox News:
Kids With Head Lice Don't Need To Leave School: Report
Health experts at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) say children don't have to be sent home from school if they have head lice. The Illinois-based association of pediatricians issued a clinical report on Monday, Sept. 26, which states lice are not a "health hazard" because they are not connected to disease and have a low transmission rate. (Moore, 9/29)
The Boston Globe:
Annoying, Yes, But Will They Also Make You Sick? UMass Professor Calls For More Study Of Risk From Houseflies
Here’s some disturbing food for thought when a housefly buzzes around your lunch. A University of Massachusetts Amherst professor is arguing that more attention needs to be paid to “synanthropic” flies — the non-biting flies that live alongside us — as potential disease carriers. (Finucane, 9/29)
The Washington Post:
How Exercising Now Could Benefit Your Future Grandchildren
Exercising now is good for you. But could it also be good for your future children and grandchildren? A provocative new study says it might be. The findings, based on research in mice, suggest that the exercise we do today etches itself into our cells in ways that can be passed to later generations. (Reynolds, 9/28)
USA Today:
Wonder Pill, Sold On Amazon, Walmart, Recalled For Tadalafil
Certain lots of a daily dietary supplement called Wonder Pill sold by Walmart and Amazon are being recalled because lab tests detected the presence of tadalafil, a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction, according to an announcement on the Food and Drug Administration website this week. (Mayorquin, 9/29)