About Covid-19
U.S. to lift coronavirus testing requirement for flyers returning to the country “International travelers flying to the United States will no longer need to show proof of a negative coronavirus test before boarding their flights to the U.S., a senior Biden administration official said Friday, ending one of the nation’s last pandemic-related travel requirements.
The requirement will end at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.”
About health insurance
Disparities in Health Care Spending and Utilization Among Black and White Medicaid Enrollees “In this cross-sectional study of 1 966 689 Black and White Medicaid enrollees in 3 states, Black enrollees used fewer services, including primary care, and generated lower spending than White enrollees, but were more likely to utilize the emergency department for avoidable reasons. Differences persisted among enrollees residing in the same zip codes who were treated by the same health care professionals.”
About pharma
New Drug Prices Soar to $180,000 a Year on 20% Annual Inflation “The median launch price of a new drug in the US soared from $2,115 in 2008 to $180,007 in 2021, a 20% annual inflation rate over the period, researchers at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found. Even after adjusting for factors such as drugmakers’ focus on expensive disease categories like cancer and estimated discounts that manufacturers give some purchasers, the annual inflation rate in launch prices over the period was still almost 11%…
Over 47% of new drugs introduced in 2020 and 2021 cost more than $150,000 per year, compared to just 9% of new drugs from 2008 to 2013, the researchers found.”
CVS study: Using evidence-based guidelines may decrease total cost of cancer care “Researchers at CVS studied the relationship between total cost of care and the use of National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines to direct care and found savings among both breast cancer and colon cancer patients…
The first study included 937 patients with colon cancer. Among Medicare beneficiaries, concordance with NCCN guidelines was linked to a 33% reduction in total cost per care per member per month. The results were less significant among commercially insured patients.
In the second study, the researchers retrospectively looked at 315 patients with breast cancer. They found total cost of care reductions for patients treated in ways consistent with NCCN across multiple insurance types, including 25% among fully insured commercial patients, 28% among self-insured commercial patients and 43% in Medicare.”
The Facts About Medicare Spending A great overview of current Medicare stats from the KFF.
Bluebird bio's gene therapy for blood disorder gets FDA panel backing ”The panel of 13 outside experts on Friday voted unanimously for beti-cel as a one-time gene therapy to treat Beta-thalassemia patients dependent on blood transfusions.
The FDA is expected to decide on beti-cel's fate by Aug. 19 and eli-cel's by Sept. 16.”
Cancer Therapy Approval Timings, Review Speed, and Publication of Pivotal Registration Trials in the US and Europe, 2010-2019 “This cross-sectional study found that of 89 new oncology therapies approved by both the FDA and EMA from 2010 to 2019, the FDA approved 95% of therapies first, with a median delay to market authorization in Europe of 241 days…
The FDA received licensing applications sooner and had shorter review times. However, more therapies were approved prior to licensing study publication, leaving uncertainty for practitioners regarding clinical utility and safety of newly approved therapies.”
An accompanying editorial (The Timing of Cancer Drug Approvals in the United States and Europe) notes, among other things: “Although the speed of FDA review times and subsequent number of approvals have increased over time, the proportion of cancer drugs that improve survival has declined. Furthermore, although other countries approve fewer medicines than the US, available therapies tend to offer more benefit to patients.” In other words, quality not quantity or speed.
How to Retain Employees by Offering the Right Health Benefits “To prevent employees from becoming another statistic in the Great Resignation, companies may want to revisit the health benefits they offer. Some small business owners are embracing a perk once rarely found outside of the U.S. military--no-cost health insurance…
Nearly half of the 475 companies on Inc.'s 2022 Best Workplaces list now offer entirely employer-paid health insurance. And 90 percent of employers rank health as the benefit their workforce values the most, according to the Society for Human Resource Management Benefits Survey.”
Read the article for examples.
About the public’s health
GSK announces positive pivotal phase III data for its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine candidate for older adults Key findings:
“First RSV vaccine candidate to show statistically significant and clinically meaningful efficacy in adults aged 60 years and above
The magnitude of effect observed was consistent across RSV A and B strains, key secondary endpoints and in those aged 70 years and above”
European Commission and United States sign cooperation arrangement on preparedness and response to public health threats “Following the statement by President Ursula von der Leyen and U.S. President Joe Biden marking the second Global COVID-19 Summit, the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have signed an arrangement to strengthen cooperation on preparedness and response to public health threats. This will enable the Commission and the U.S. to work together on a broad range of topics to jointly tackle health emergencies, contributing to establishing a strong global health architecture.”
Takeda's dengue vaccine shows continued efficacy through 4.5 years “Takeda on Thursday reported results from a long-term exploratory analysis indicating that its dengue vaccine TAK-003 continued to protect against illness and hospitalisations from the mosquito-borne infection 4.5 years after immunisation in the Phase III TIDES study, with no important safety risks emerging. The tetravalent vaccine candidate, which is based on a live-attenuated dengue serotype 2 virus, is currently undergoing regulatory review for the prevention of dengue disease in children and adults in the EU and select dengue-endemic countries.”
About healthcare personnel
Trends and Disparities in the Distribution of Outpatient Physicians’ Annual Face Time with Patients, 1979–2018 “Our sample included n = 1,108,835 patient visits. From 1979 to 2018, annual outpatient physician face time per capita rose from 40.0 to 60.4 min, an increase driven by a rise in mean visit length and not in the number of visits. However, since 2005, mean annual face time with a primary care physician has fallen, a decline offset by rising time with specialists. Face time provided per physician changed little given growth in the physician workforce. A racial/ethnic gap in physician visit time present at the beginning of the study period widened over time. In 2014–2018, White individuals received 70.0 min of physician face time per year, vs. 52.4 among Black and 53.0 among Hispanic individuals. This disparity was driven by differences in visit rates, not mean visit length, and in the provision of specialist but not primary care.”