About Covid-19
Vaccines drive optimism about containing COVID-19 pandemic — CBS News poll: “A majority [55%] of Americans say they'll get a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them or already have had at least one shot…One important change … is that today Black and Hispanic Americans are as likely as White Americans to say they'll get vaccinated if they haven't been already…. Republicans and conservatives are the most likely group to express hesitancy. However, there are clear differences by age, with older Republicans more likely to express willingness to get their shots. In fact, a majority of Republicans age 65 and older report having already been vaccinated, while most of those under age 45 express hesitancy, indicating potential hurdles ahead in maximizing the vaccinated share of the population.”
Association of Acute Symptoms of COVID-19 and Symptoms of Depression in Adults: “Among more than 3900 individuals with prior COVID-19 illness surveyed between May 2020 and January 2021, 52.4% met criteria for moderate or greater symptoms of major depression. In regression models, these symptoms were more likely among younger respondents compared with older respondents and among men compared with women as well as among those with greater self-reported overall COVID-19 severity compared with those with lower severity.
We did not replicate a prior finding among 114 individuals with COVID-19 that loss of smell and taste were associated with greater near-term depressive and anxious symptoms.”
Regular booster vaccines are the future in battle with COVID-19 virus, expert says: “Regular booster vaccines against the novel coronavirus will be needed because of mutations that make it more transmissible and better able to evade human immunity, the head of Britain’s effort to sequence the virus’s genomes told Reuters.”
Report on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Smoking Cessation: “In 2012, the CDC began a national media campaign, Tips from Former Smokers, to promote state quitline services to tobacco users using the national portal, 1-800-QUIT-NOW. The campaign has been highly effective in increasing calls to the quitlines, with calls ranging from 700,000 to 900,000 annually since the campaign began. However, in 2020 calls to the state quitlines decreased by over 190,000 (-27%) compared to 2019 (525,609 compared to 715,624). The decrease in calls to state quitlines was not uniform over the year. Instead, the decrease mirrored the timeline of the pandemic…
Cigarette sales have been impacted by the pandemic as well. Although cigarette sales have shown a steady decline of 4-5% annually since 2015, sales increased 1% in the first 10 months of 2020 compared to the same time frame for 201910. This increase was not expected by the industry, which revised its expectation for sales mid-year in 202011. Stress and anxiety resulting from the pandemic may be factors in the increased use of tobacco, alcohol and other substances. NAQC [North American Quitline Consortium] suggests these factors also may have contributed to the decrease in calls to state quitlines.”
Potential for False Results with Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. cobas SARS-CoV-2 & Influenza Test for use on cobas Liat System: “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting clinical laboratory staff, point-of-care (POC) facility staff, and health care providers that false positive results can occur with the Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. (Roche) cobas SARS-CoV-2 & Influenza A/B Nucleic Acid Test for use on the cobas Liat System.” This FDA letter explains the reasons for the false positives and measures to address these errors.
OSHA Rolls Out Biden-Ordered Virus Protection Program: “Under the program, OSHA will conduct both new inspections as well as follow-ups of work sites inspected in 2020 to make sure that potentially hazardous conditions have been corrected, the agency said in a memo.
The program beefs up OSHA's oversight of "high hazard" industries that expose the greatest number of workers to "serious risk," including hospitals, assisted living centers, nursing homes and other health care and emergency response providers treating COVID-19 patients, the agency said.”
Moderna Begins Dosing With COVID-19 Variant Booster Shot: “Moderna said participants will receive either a booster targeted at the South African variant or the company’s new multivalent vaccine candidate that targets both the original coronavirus strain and the variant strain.”
About the public’s health
Should I Get a Coronary CT Scan?: A helpful chart answers the title question.
Bombshell analysis traces new Ebola outbreak to survivor of West Africa crisis: “A survivor of the massive 2014-2016 West African Ebola outbreak almost certainly triggered an outbreak currently underway in Guinea, according to a new genetic analysis, news that has landed like a bombshell in the community of researchers who study the dangerous virus.
The analysis suggests that a survivor of the historic Ebola outbreak continued harboring the virus at least five years after being infected, eventually transmitting it to someone. Previously, the longest an Ebola survivor was believed to have shed the virus was about 500 days.”
About healthcare IT
More Than 1M Patients Had Data Exposed In Healthcare Data Breaches In February: More than 1.1 million patients “had data exposed in healthcare data breaches reported to the federal government last month.” Nearly 6.9 million patients “have had data exposed in breaches reported so far in 2021.” Healthcare providers, insurers and their business associates “reported 74 breaches in January and February combined, marking the second-highest number of breaches reported in the first two months of the year since HHS’ Office for Civil Rights began maintaining its breach database in 2010.”
About healthcare technology
Cardinal Health to sell off its Cordis device division in $1B deal: “After six years, Cardinal Health is dropping its Cordis medical device division, makers of cardiovascular catheters and diagnostic hardware, in a $1 billion deal with private equity firm Hellman & Friedman.
The healthcare services and distribution giant previously spent $1.9 billion to acquire Cordis from Johnson & Johnson in 2015, following months of rumors, with the hope of using it to grow its global footprint and deliver a broader device portfolio.
However, establishing the infrastructure needed to do so became more expensive than Cardinal Health anticipated—with large write-offs by 2018 due to expiring product inventories plus difficulties in optimizing Cordis’ manufacturing plants.”
About health insurance
CMS delays effective date of rule intended to hasten Medicare device coverage approval until May: “The delay of the rule, which also comes with a new 30-day comment period, is part of a larger regulatory freeze instituted by the Biden White House to review last-minute regulations approved under the Trump administration…
The rule would create a new pathway that would speed up the Medicare coverage process for devices that are approved via the Food and Drug Administration’s ‘breakthrough’ pathway that are intended to address an unmet medical need.
Devices approved under this pathway would get national Medicare coverage for four years simultaneously with approval by FDA. Normally it can take a year or more to get Medicare coverage for new devices after FDA approval or clearance.
A new concern laid out by the Biden administration is the volume of devices approved under FDA’s breakthrough pathway.”
About pharma
Takeda eyes sales of $9 billion from emerging, growth markets over next decade: “Takeda said it is looking to more than double revenues in its growth and emerging markets business unit, targeting sales of JPY 1 trillion ($9.2 billion) by fiscal year 2030, with expansions planned in regions such as Brazil, China and India.”
Read the articles for more details of this company’s strategy.
Two New Diabetes Drugs May Work Better in Asian People: “Two relatively-new but increasingly commonly-used diabetes drugs (with one of these classes also now approved for used in heart failure in people with or without diabetes) are possibly more effective in people with an Asian background than in people with a White background, according to new research.
The study – published today in Diabetes Care and led by the University of Glasgow – found the diabetes drug classes GLP-1 receptor agonists and SGLT2 inhibitors may work better at lowering the risk of heart attack and stroke, and heart failure and death from heart disease, respectively.”
Of interest is that drug approval in Japan, and some other Asian countries, requires testing in their own populations or, sometimes, in those of other Asian countries.
Lilly Alzheimer's drug shows benefit on cognition, function in mid-stage trial: “Eli Lilly and Co on Saturday said its experimental Alzheimer’s drug slowed the rate of decline in a measure of cognition and function by 32% compared with a placebo in a mid-stage trial of patients at an early stage of the mind wasting disease.
The drug, donanemab, also showed positive trends that failed to reach statistical significance on a range of secondary trial goals, the company said, providing details for the first time.”