This week is the annual JP Morgan conference. For yesterday’s highlights, see:
JPM24, Day 1: Mayo Clinic partners with Cerebras; Corewell Health's post-merger savings
JPM24: Uber Health, Socially Determined team up to connect patients to healthy food, prescription delivery
For your amusement and chagrin: 10 healthcare names get Shkreli Awards for bad behavior
About healthcare quality and patient safety
Diagnostic Errors in Hospitalized Adults Who Died or Were Transferred to Intensive Care “Findings In this cohort study of 2428 patient records, a missed or delayed diagnosis took place in 23%, with 17% of these errors causing temporary or permanent harm to patients. The underlying diagnostic process problems with greatest effect sizes associated with diagnostic errors, and which might be an initial focus for safety improvement efforts, were faults in testing and clinical assessment.
Meaning Among hospitalized adults transferred to the ICU or who died in the hospital, diagnostic errors were common, harmful, and had underlying causes, which can be used to design future interventions.”
About pharma
Walgreens to Pay Humana $360 Million to Settle Drug-Pricing Dispute “Walgreens… has agreed to pay $360 million to insurance company Humana to settle a lawsuit alleging the retail-pharmacy chain overcharged for prescription-drug reimbursements.
Walgreens disclosed the settlement in a securities filing last week. The company said it had asked a federal court to vacate a previous award in Humana’s favor for $642 million.”
J&J to pay $700 mln to settle states' talc-marketing probe “Johnson & Johnson has come to a tentative agreement to pay about $700 million for settling claims by over 40 U.S. states that it wrongfully marketed its talc-based baby powder, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.
The settlement would avert potential lawsuits alleging J&J hid any links between the talc in its powder and various cancers, the report said citing people familiar with the deal.
J&J and representatives for state attorneys general are still working out the specific terms of the deal but have agreed on the total amount, Bloomberg News reported.”
About the public’s health
Estimating The Impact Of Out-Of-Pocket Cost Changes On Abandonment Of HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis “In a sample of 58,529 people with a new insurer-approved PrEP prescription, we estimated risk-adjusted percentages of patients who abandoned (did not fill) their initial prescription across six out-of-pocket cost categories. We then simulated the percentage of patients who would abandon PrEP under hypothetical changes to out-of-pocket costs, ranging from $0 to more than $500. PrEP abandonment rates of 5.5 percent at $0 rose to 42.6 percent at more than $500; even a small increase from $0 to $10 doubled the rate of abandonment. Conversely, abandonment rates that were 48.0 percent with out-of-pocket costs of more than $500 dropped to 7.3 percent when those costs were cut to $0. HIV diagnoses were two to three times higher among patients who abandoned PrEP prescriptions than among those who filled them. These results imply that recent legal challenges to the provision of PrEP with no cost sharing could substantially increase PrEP abandonment and HIV rates, upending progress on the HIV/AIDS epidemic.”
Red Cross facing severe blood shortage “The American Red Cross sounded the alarm Sunday over a severe blood shortage facing the U.S. as the number of donors dropped to the lowest levels in two decades.
The Red Cross said in an announcement that the number of people donating blood in the U.S. dropped 40 percent over the last 20 years, which can majorly disrupt those needing emergency blood transfusions and other operations. The organization added there was a 7,000-unit shortfall in blood donations between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day alone.”
About healthcare IT
2023 year-end digital health funding: Break on through to the other side “Following trends in the broader venture market, 2023 saw venture funding dive in digital health—continuing the downhill trajectory that began in 2022. Annual venture funding for 2023 closed out at $10.7B raised across 492 deals, the lowest amount of capital invested in U.S.-based digital health startups since 2019.”
About healthcare finance
Medical device maker Boston Scientific to buy Axonics for $3.7 billion “Medical device maker Boston Scientific said on Monday it had agreed to buy Axonics Inc for $3.7 billion, gaining access to devices used to improve bladder function.
The deal marks Boston Scientific's entry into sacral neuromodulation, a minimally invasive procedure used in the treatment of overactive bladder and fecal incontinence, and is the latest in efforts to scale up its urology business.”
Merck to Acquire Harpoon Therapeutics, Further Diversifying Oncology Pipeline “Merck… and Harpoon Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Merck, through a subsidiary, will acquire Harpoon for $23.00 per share in cash for an approximate total equity value of $680 million…
Harpoon has developed a portfolio of novel T-cell engagers that employ the company’s proprietary Tri-specific T cell Activating Construct (TriTAC®) platform, an engineered protein technology designed to direct a patient’s own immune cells to kill tumor cells, and ProTriTAC™ platform, applying a prodrug concept to its TriTAC® platform to create a therapeutic T-cell engager that is designed to remain inactive until it reaches the tumor.”
GSK boosts respiratory portfolio with $1.4 bln Aiolos Bio deal “GSK on Tuesday said it would acquire asthma drug maker Aiolos Bio in a deal worth up to $1.4 billion, as the British drugmaker boosts its growing respiratory diseases portfolio.
Founded in 2023, Aiolos is focused on developing therapies for respiratory and inflammatory conditions. It is currently developing 'AIO-001', a treatment for asthma which is ready to enter mid-stage clinical trials.”