NEW CATEGORY OF NEWS TODAY: INTERESTING SCIENCE.
These postings will have articles about basic science that has potential to make significant inroads in treating disease and improving health
Interesting science
Bacteria shredding tech to fight drug-resistant superbugs: Innovative use of metal nanotech to treat/prevent drug resistant bacteria (and perhaps other organisms).
Study finds potential new treatment for preventing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): University of Toronto scientists discovered a protein complex [Glucocorticoid Receptor-FKBP51] that is elevated in PTSD patients. “The researchers also developed a peptide to target and disrupt the protein complex. They found that the peptide prevented recall or encoding of fear memories in early tests. This suggests that the peptide could treat PTSD symptoms or prevent them entirely.”
About the public’s health
Fewer in U.S. Continue to See Vaccines as Important: From Gallup:
84% in U.S. say vaccinating children is important, down from 94% in 2001
86% say vaccines are not more dangerous than the diseases they prevent
45% of Americans say vaccines do not cause autism in children [46% are unsure]
There is clearly a need for a social marketing campaign to change these dangerous perceptions.
Americans drink about 2.3 gallons of alcohol a year: study: The consumption is rising and is greater than it was before the start of Prohibition.
Spain cracks down on influencers who are bad for your health: “The Health Ministry is working to eliminate videos on social networks such as Instagram that promote drugs and treatments that should only be available on prescription,” such as antibiotics. What about anti-vaxers?
Urgent health challenges for the next decade: This list and explanations are from the WHO. (Go to the photos and then click right arrow for the next item and explanation below.) Items range from the climate crisis to personnel issues. Interesting topics for discussion and term papers.
There's a mismatch in the flu shot -- and it's not good news for children: Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says the current flu vaccine is a 58% match for B/Victoria. As matches generally go its not bad; people should still be immunized with the current vaccine.
More Studies Link Vaping to Asthma, COPD: E-cigarettes were fist touted as safer than regular cigarettes. But the evidence keeps mounting that they have the same health hazards.
More than 100 billion pain pills saturated the nation over nine years: “Newly disclosed federal drug data shows that more than 100 billion doses of oxycodone and hydrocodone were shipped nationwide from 2006 through 2014 — 24 billion more doses of the highly addictive pain pills than previously known to the public.” The issue here is that the government knew there was a big problem sooner than we thought— and did nothing.
About health insurance
Warren and Klobuchar Say They Can Lower Drug Prices Without Congress’ Help: No major news about healthcare insurance in last night’s Democratic debate. Klobuchar raised the issue of long term care. This article is a nice summary of the health issues in the debate.
New York, Rhode Island Spend Highest Percentages of Budgets on Medicaid: The top 7 states now spend about a fifth of their budgets on Medicaid. What has to give to pay these expenses? Education, infrastructure…
CVS to add 600 HealthHUBs, link them to lower Aetna copays: “CVS Health plans to add 600 HealthHUB locations by the end of the year and offer low to zero copayments for Aetna members.” This action continues the company’s efforts to integrate its system.
UnitedHealth raked in $13.8B in profit for 2019: “Much of the company's 2019 performance and its projected 2020 growth is attributable to strong performance of its diverse Optum subsidiary, which posted $3 billion in earnings from operations in the fourth quarter and $9.4 billion in 2019.”
About pharma
FDA Approval and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals, 1983-2018: Here are the major findings of this study:
“Review for new drugs has increased over time, with 81% (48/59) of new drugs benefiting from at least 1 such expedited program in 2018. The proportion of new approvals supported by at least 2 pivotal trials decreased from 80.6% in 1995-1997 to 52.8% in 2015-2017, based on 124 and 106 approvals, respectively, while the median number of patients studied did not change significantly (774 vs 816). FDA drug review times declined from more than 3 years in 1983 to less than 1 year in 2017, but total time from the authorization of clinical testing to approval has remained at approximately 8 years over that period.” In other words, “The FDA has increasingly accepted less data and more surrogate measures, and has shortened its review times.” The question is what about the safety of the faster-approved drugs?
Eli Lilly to offer half-priced versions of two more insulin products: Continuing a trend for insulin manufactures to sell lower price products, “Lilly will sell new versions of Humalog Junior KwikPen and Humalog Mix75/25, which contains a mix of fast- and intermediate-acting insulin, at a list price of $265.20 for a pack of five KwikPens. They will be available at that price by mid-April, the company said.” Recall last year Lilly said it would sell a half price version of Humalog.
To Generic Drug Manufacturers Considering Retiring or Withdrawing ANDAs for Essential Medicines: Civica Rx Is Interested: CivicaRx announced that “it is interested in talking to generic drug manufacturers who are considering retiring or withdrawing their Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) for essential medicines that are at risk of being in short supply.
Periodically, the FDA withdraws approvals of ANDAs due to manufacturer inactivity. According to published reports, the FDA is considering withdrawing close to 250 ANDAs for these reasons.” Recall the company is a consortium of hospitals/systems that contract for the manufacture of generic drugs in short supply.
Gene Therapy: Keeping Costs from Negating Its Unprecedented Potential: This informative white paper from CVS Health explains how gene therapy works and gives examples of pending treatments and their costs. Totals for the next 4 years estimated at $15 to 45 billion.