About Covid-19
CDC: XBB.1.5 Responsible for 90% of New Coronavirus Infections “According to updated estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, XBB.1.5 caused nearly 90% of new coronavirus cases this week. That’s up from 85% of cases last week. It’s the only strain showing significant growth.
Coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths are on the decline, signaling that the U.S. has avoided a large seasonal COVID-19 surge like it saw the past two years. The main reason is likely the high level of immunity across the population whether through vaccination, infection or both.
Still, nearly half of U.S. counties are experiencing a “high” level of COVID-19 transmission, according to CDC data.”
Parental Nonadherence to Health Policy Recommendations for Prevention of COVID-19 Transmission Among Children “In this survey study of US parents, one-quarter engaged in misrepresentation or nonadherence regarding PHMs for their children. The most common reason was to preserve parental autonomy. Additional reasons included wanting to resume a normal life for their child and the inability to miss work or other responsibilities, among other reasons.
These results suggest that some PHMs implemented to limit the spread of COVID-19 may have been compromised due to misrepresentation and nonadherence by parents on behalf of their children, contributing to COVID-19–related morbidity and mortality. In addition, some children appear to have received a vaccine that was not fully tested and approved in their age group.”
About health insurance/insurers
Date Set for Restoring Medicaid Benefits in Covid-19 Rule Row “States that ended or modified Medicaid benefits due to a likely defunct HHS rule must restore benefit levels to those that were in effect at the time they were terminated, a federal court said.
Judge Michael P. Shea clarified a Jan. 31 order in which he certified a beneficiary class and told US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to reinstate previous guidance issued under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
The guidance prohibited states from kicking people off Medicaid or reducing their benefits in exchange for additional Medicaid money provided by HHS during the pandemic.”
About pharma
OGD sees higher approvals in 2022 “The number of US generic drug approvals rebounded in 2022 after a drop in 2021. In calendar year 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved or tentatively approved 917 abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs).
In 2021, FDA approved or tentatively approved 776 ANDAs for generic drugs, down from 948 in 2020 and 1,014 in 2019. The latest figures are part of FDA’s Office of Generic Drugs (OGD) 2022 Annual Report.”
About the public’s health
Rates of congenital syphilis are skyrocketing in the US. Here’s why “Over the past decade, ‘there’s been about a 700% increase in the cases of congenital syphilis in the United States,’ said Dr. Robert McDonald of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of STD Prevention, Surveillance and Data Management…
Rates of congenital syphilis, meaning the number of cases for every 100,000 live births, are highest in the South and Southwest, in states such as Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, according to a CNN analysis of CDC data.”
The multiple reasons for this surge, especially funding cutbacks, are discussed.
Cardiovascular Risk Factor Prevalence, Treatment, and Control in US Adults Aged 20 to 44 Years, 2009 to March 2020 “In this serial cross-sectional study of 12 924 adults aged 20 to 44 years, there were increases in the prevalence of diabetes (from 3.0% to 4.1%) and obesity (from 32.7% to 40.9%), no improvement in the prevalence of hypertension (from 9.3% to 11.5%), and a decrease in the prevalence of hyperlipidemia (from 40.5% to 36.1%) from 2009-2010 to 2017-2020. Black young adults had the highest rates of hypertension over the study period, and increases in hypertension were observed among Mexican American and other Hispanic adults, while Mexican American adults experienced a significant rise in diabetes. Blood pressure control did not significantly change among young adults treated for hypertension, while glycemic control remained suboptimal throughout the study period.”
About healthcare IT
Teladoc-owned BetterHelp to pay $7.8M to online therapy users for alleged data misuse, per FTC order “ As part of a proposed order announced Thursday, BetterHelp is banned from sharing consumers’ health data, including sensitive information about mental health challenges, with third parties for marketing and ad targeting.
BetterHelp also agreed to pay $7.8 million to consumers to settle charges that it revealed consumers’ sensitive data with third parties for advertising after promising to keep such data private, according to a FTC press release.”
About health technology
FDA warns of false negative results for food allergies after skin test recall “All skin tests doctors commonly use to check for food allergies can provide false negative results, the Food and Drug Administration has concluded — meaning people with potentially life-threatening allergies could mistakenly be told they are not at risk. The tests will now be required to include a warning urging doctors to consider double-checking the test with more accurate approaches.
The FDA's new mandated warning, announced Friday, comes after a recall in December of some skin tests used for testing food allergies.”
Precision medicine company Tempus inks 3rd major pharma deal, securing nearly $1B revenue boost “As part of a multiyear strategic collaboration, Pfizer will tap multiple parts of Tempus' AI platform and its data library to advance clinical discovery.
In the past two years, Tempus has notched partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies to boost its work in drug discovery and precision oncology. The company has an expanded collaboration with GSK to enable the U.K. pharma giant to leverage its AI-enabled patient data platform. GSK recently paid Tempus $70 million upfront for three more years of partnership.
Tempus also inked a partnership with AstraZeneca to use its AI technologies to advance cancer drug development.
These three pharma deals collectively represent approximately $700 million in revenue over the next few years, according to Tempus executives.”