About health insurance
3.7 Million People Would Gain Health Coverage in 2023 if the Remaining 12 States Were to Expand Medicaid Eligibility From the RWJF: “Key Findings:
Black individuals, young adults, and women—particularly women of reproductive age—would realize the largest coverage gains.
Federal spending on Medicaid and marketplaces in the 12 non-expansion states would be partially offset by $2.6 billion in federal government savings on uncompensated care.
State spending on Medicaid in those states would be partially offset by $1.7 billion.
Comprehensive analyses of states that expanded Medicaid demonstrate that expansion generated savings and increased revenues to outweigh any new spending.”
Illinois customers sue health insurance giant Centene “The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of the Northern District of Illinois on Friday, alleges that Centene, through its subsidiaries, sold ‘fraudulent health insurance policies’ to millions of consumers across 26 states, including Illinois, since 2013…
The primary issue consumers raise in the complaint is that many members of Ambetter, Centene's consumer-facing insurance plans, have difficulty finding an in-network provider and, in some cases, have been unable to find any provider that takes Ambetter plans.
As a result, some Ambetter members have suffered delays in treatment, been unable to find treatment, been forced to travel hundreds of miles to in-network providers and pay out-of-pocket fees. The complaint also alleges that Ambetter plans refuse to pay for some services they advertised covering.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Kaiser posts $1.3B loss in Q2 “Kaiser, which provides healthcare and health plans, reported operating revenue of $23.47 billion in the second quarter of 2022, down from $23.69 billion in the same quarter of 2021. The organization's expenses climbed from $23.34 billion in the second quarter of last year to $23.38 billion in the same period this year.
‘Much like the entire health care industry, we continue to address deferred care while navigating COVID-19 surges and associated expenses,’ Kathy Lancaster, Kaiser executive vice president and CFO, said in an Aug. 5 earnings release.
Kaiser ended the second quarter of this year with operating income of $89 million, down from $349 million a year earlier.”
About pharma
GSK bets $1.3B on Mersana’s preclinical ADC and chance to expand portfolio beyond Blenrep “GSK has paid out $100 million cash to Mersana Therapeutics for the potential to add a second antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) to its portfolio, which currently consists of approved multiple myeloma drug Blenrep. The new deal encompasses XMT-2056, Mersana’s preclinical ADC asset aimed at treating a range of HER-2 cancers.
The global agreement gives GSK an exclusive option to co-develop and commercialize XMT-2056. If GSK exercises the option, Mersana could make up to $1.36 billion in biobucks, making the deal one of the largest to date for a preclinical ADC asset.”
Pfizer to buy Global Blood Therapeutics under $5.4-billion deal “Pfizer agreed to buy Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) for $68.50 per share in cash, or a total enterprise value of approximately $5.4 billion, the companies said Monday… The boards of both drugmakers have unanimously approved the transaction, which represents a premium of nearly 43% to GBT's closing share price on August 4…
The purchase will give Pfizer rights to GBT's sickle cell disease therapy Oxbryta (voxelotor), which is approved in a number of markets, including the US and Europe, and generated sales of around $195 million last year. Pfizer said it ‘plans to accelerate’ distribution of Oxbryta to parts of the world most impacted by sickle cell disease.”
To avoid shortage of Merck's diabetes drug, FDA allows higher impurity levels temporarily “The FDA said Tuesday that it recently became aware of a nitrosamine impurity, Nitroso-STG-19 or NTTP, in certain samples of Merck’s type 2 diabetes drug Januvia.
To avoid a shortage of the drug that pulled in more than $10.5 billion for Merck in 2020 and 2021, and to help ensure patients have access to an adequate supply, the FDA said it will not object to the temporary distribution of sitagliptin containing the impurity above the acceptable intake limit.
Typically, if a drug contains levels of nitrosamines above the acceptable daily intake limit, the FDA recommends the manufacturer conduct a recall.”
I have never seen this permission before for any drug.
About the public’s health
Limited monkeypox vaccine supply would be stretched under FDA plan “The strategy, first described publicly by Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf last week, would allow the Biden administration to stretch its limited supply of monkeypox vaccines by changing how those shots are administered. Rather than inject doses of Jynneos subcutaneously, a traditional way of delivering vaccines into the fatty tissue under the skin, the doses would instead be injected under the top layer of the skin. This approach, known as an intradermal injection, uses a thinner needle and less vaccine, but leads to a small bubble forming on the surface of the skin that can scar.”
Group of 23 states tells U.S. court CDC lacks authority to set transit mask rules “A group of 23 state attorneys general led by Florida told a federal court on Monday that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lacks the legal authority to impose a nationwide transportation mask mandate to address COVID-19…
A group of 17 Republican U.S. lawmakers including Senator Rand Paul and Representative Thomas Massie also filed a brief Monday arguing the CDC lacked the authority to impose masking requirements.”
A Huge Amount of Data From Cancer Trials Remains Hidden, Researchers Warn “Data from more than half of cancer trials underpinning drug approvals remains inaccessible, according to a shocking new study that audited over 300 clinical trials backing anti-cancer medicines approved by the US drug regulator over the last 10 years.
Of the 304 industry-sponsored clinical trials that provided data for 115 anti-cancer drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 2011 and 2021, only 45 percent had publicly shared patient-level data – or said they would do so when the researchers enquired about accessing data.
What's more, less than one-tenth of trials cited on product labels of three of the top-selling anti-cancer drugs made individual patient data available, the study found.”
About healthcare IT
Predicting Race And Ethnicity To Ensure Equitable Algorithms For Health Care Decision Making [From Health Affairs, subscription required] “Algorithms are currently used to assist in a wide array of health care decisions. Despite the general utility of these health care algorithms, there is growing recognition that they may lead to unintended racially discriminatory practices, raising concerns about the potential for algorithmic bias. An intuitive precaution against such bias is to remove race and ethnicity information as an input to health care algorithms, mimicking the idea of ‘race-blind’ decisions. However, we argue that this approach is misguided. Knowledge, not ignorance, of race and ethnicity is necessary to combat algorithmic bias….
We describe two applications in which imputation of race and ethnicity can help mitigate potential algorithmic biases: equitable disease screening algorithms using machine learning and equitable pay-for-performance incentives.”
The Impact of Telemedicine on Physicians’ After-hours Electronic Health Record “Work Outside Work” During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Retrospective Cohort Study “Taking physicians’ clinical load into account, physicians who devoted a higher proportion of their clinical time to telemedicine throughout various stages of the pandemic engaged in higher levels of EHR-based after-hours work compared to those who used telemedicine less intensively. This suggests that telemedicine, as currently delivered, may be less efficient than in-person–based care and may increase the after-hours work burden of physicians.”
About health technology
Pathogenic variants damage cell composition and single cell transcription in cardiomyopathies “The cellular and molecular architectures that induce heart failure are both shared and distinct across genotypes. These data provide candidate therapeutic targets for future research and interventional opportunities to improve and personalize treatments for cardiomyopathies and heart failure.”
Hydrogel keeps vaccines alive “Most vaccines require constant refrigeration during shipment to remain effective. An international research team led by ETH Zurich has now developed a special hydrogel that vastly improves the shelf life of vaccines, even without refrigeration. The development could save many lives and lower the cost of cold chains.”