• Merck & Co. said it will acquire Prometheus Biosciences Inc. for approximately $10.8 billion as it continues to look for additional revenue streams to offset losses expected when its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda loses patent protection this decade. Merck’s deal for Prometheus, one of the biggest in recent pharma history, will strengthen its research pipeline and boost its portfolio of autoimmune drugs. (Bloomberg)
• Moderna Inc.’s experimental mRNA vaccine combined with Merck’s Keytruda reduced the risk of death or recurrence of melanoma cancer by 44% compared with Keytruda alone, according to data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research. The cancer returned in 24 of 107 study subjects who received the combination therapy (22.4%), compared with 20 out of 50 who received just Keytruda (40%). (Reuters)
• The Department of Health and Humans Services told governors that pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy interns will still be able to administer COVID-19 vaccines and tests and influenza vaccines through December 2024, about 19 months after the COVID-19 pandemic public health emergency is scheduled to expire. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote in a letter to governors that while the pandemic is not over, “we are in a position to end the emergency phase of our response because of the Administration’s whole-of-government approach to combatting the virus.” (Stat News)
• UnitedHealth Group Inc. Chief Executive Andrew Witty told investors on a first-quarter earnings call that the company will add more Medicare Advantage members than previously expected despite regulatory crackdowns on the program designed to rein in insurers’ profits. Witty said the company expects to add more than 900,000 MA members this year, adding that the three-year phase-in period for stricter risk adjustment policies finalized by the Biden administration will help the company adapt its operations and minimize benefit cuts. (Modern Healthcare)

Worth watching today:

• Washington Post Live event on what’s next for the Supreme Court, featuring Joan Biskupic, author of “Nine Black Robes.”

Virtual Clinics Have Been a Fast-Growing Method of Abortion. That Could Change.

The New York Times

Covid is still a leading cause of death as the virus recedes

Dan Diamond, The Washington Post

Few Americans are treating it as a leading killer, however — in part because they are not hearing about those numbers, don’t trust them or don’t see them as relevant to their own lives.

 

What to know about Arcturus, a new coronavirus subvariant the WHO is tracking

Victoria Bisset, The Washington Post

A new coronavirus subvariant, XBB. 1.16, has been designated as a “variant under monitoring” by the World Health Organization. The latest omicron offshoot is particularly prevalent in India, where it has sparked a rise in infections, and a return to mask mandates in parts of the country.

 

COVID led to the biggest drop in births in 50 years. But not in every state.

Adrianna Rodriguez, USA Today

Researchers found some states experienced steep decreases in fertility while other saw little change, according to the report published last week in the peer-reviewed journal Human Reproductions.

Kamala Harris rallies as high court eyes abortion pill rules

Bobby Caina Calvan and Stefanie Dazio, The Associated Press

Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday urged Americans to take action during “a critical point in our nation’s history” as thousands of protesters demonstrated across the country against new limits to abortion rights making their way through the courts.

 

Abortion bans raise fears inside GOP about backlash in 2024

Steve People and Anthony Izaguirre, The Associated Press

Allies for leading presidential candidates concede that their hardline anti-abortion policies may be popular with the conservatives who decide primary elections, but they could ultimately alienate the broader set of voters they need to win the presidency.

 

Blue states stockpile abortion pills amid legal uncertainty

Oriana González, Axios

At least two states say they are creating reserves of mifepristone to continue enabling access to the two-pill regimen for medication abortion that’s at the center of the legal battle. Two others are focusing on the other pill, whose availability isn’t threatened, to offer an alternative.

 

Out-of-staters are flocking to places where abortions are easier to get

Mallika Seshadri, NPR News

Even before Roe v. Wade was overturned last June, almost 10% of patients seeking abortions traveled out of state. But since the Supreme Court’s decision, providers in some so-called “sanctuary” states where abortion access is protected are seeing record high out-of-state demand.

 

The Fight Over the Abortion Pill Erases Years of Progress on Expanding Drug’s Reach

Fiona Rutherford, Bloomberg

The latest move in the fight over the abortion pill erases years of progress in increasing access to the drug, with the leader of the country’s biggest medical body calling it a “profoundly dangerous step backwards.”

 

Abortion pill: Clinics are making backup plans as Supreme Court decision on mifepristone looms

Annika Kim Constantino, CNBC

Some in-person clinics in New York, California and Kansas will offer mifepristone for now, but are preparing to provide an alternative abortion pill if a subsequent decision essentially bans the drug. Several in-person providers in Ohio could stop offering mifepristone altogether. One telehealth provider has plans to shut down for up to two weeks to pivot to new operations.

 

Overdose deaths of older Americans quadrupled in past 20 years

Linda Searing, The Washington Post

Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers reported that the rate of fatal overdoses for the age group quadrupled — rising from 3 deaths per 100,000 people in 2002 to 12 deaths per 100,000 people in 2021. 

 

Study reveals bias in drug testing pregnant patients

Arielle Dreher, Axios

Black patients were no more likely to test positive for using substances while pregnant, but even those with no history of substance use were asked to get urine toxicology testing more often than other racial groups, the study of more than 37,000 patients found.

 

Genetic prostate cancer risks identified for men of African descent

Erin Blakemore, The Washington Post

Researchers looked at 10 studies that included genetic data from over 80,000 men of African descent, comparing data from 19,378 men with prostate cancer and 61,620 healthy men.

 

Why melanoma is so deadly for men, and why it doesn’t have to be

Andrea Atkins, The Washington Post

Men are much more likely to get skin cancer — and to die from it — than women. Here’s what makes men so vulnerable to melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

 

Adults with Down syndrome face a health care system that often treats them as kids

Tony Leys, KFF Health News

A directory published by the Global Down Syndrome Foundation lists just 15 medical programs nationwide that are housed outside of children’s hospitals and that accept Down syndrome patients who are 30 or older. The United States had about three times as many adults with the condition by 2016 as it did in 1970.

 

Adult ADHD Is the Wild West of Psychiatry

Yasmin Tayag, The Atlantic

The Adderall shortage exposed a troubling gap in how doctors care for the disorder.

 

Transgender adults brace for treatment cutoffs in Missouri

Hannah Schoenbaum and David A. Lieb, The Associated Press

A first-of-its-kind emergency rule introduced this week by Missouri’s Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey will impose numerous restrictions on both adults and children before they can receive puberty-blocking drugs, hormones or surgeries “for the purpose of transitioning gender.”

 

At least 1 dead, 96 sickened in fungal outbreak that shuttered Michigan paper mill

Alexander Tin, CBS News

The latest tally by Public Health Delta & Menominee Counties in the outbreak linked to the Escanaba Billerud Paper Mill includes 21 confirmed cases, where labs have been able to spot the fungus in samples collected from people with symptoms. An additional 76 cases are considered “probable,” with those people having showed symptoms and tested positive in an antibody or antigen test. 

 

Bird Flu Sample from Chilean Man Showed Some Signs of Adaptation to Mammals

Emily Anthes, The New York Times

These changes were unlikely to be enough to allow the virus to spread easily among humans, and the health risk to the public remains low, experts said.

 

Ghana first to approve University of Oxford’s malaria vaccine

Zoey Becker, Fierce Pharma

The shot, known as the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine, achieved 77% efficacy over 12 months of follow-up in a phase 2b trial. Those results made it the first malaria vaccine to meet the WHO’s 75% target for malaria vaccine efficacy.

Supreme Court looks at whether Medicare and Medicaid were overbilled under fraud law

Nina Totenberg, NPR News

Arguments on Tuesday center on a powerful tool for fighting fraud in government contracts and programs. The case examines whether major pharmacies knowingly overcharged Medicare and Medicaid.

 

UnitedHealth says medical costs aren’t soaring. The reality is murkier

Bob Herman, Stat News

Even though UnitedHealth beat Wall Street’s first-quarter estimates for both profit and “medical loss ratio” — the percentage that shows how much of insurance premiums were spent on health care — the company’s stock fell more than 2% on the day on fears those costs are eating into its insurance business.

 

Here’s what the exchanges look like in 2023

Tim Broderick and Nona Tepper, Modern healthcare

National insurers expanded the most, sold more policies and reduced premiums for Silver plans this year, the consulting firm reported Tuesday. Blue Cross Blue and Shield companies and insurers with large Medicaid operations such as Centene continue to dominant the exchanges, however.

 

Teen with life-threatening depression finally found hope. Then insurance cut her off

Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR News

The denial of health insurance coverage for mental health treatment continues to be extremely common, despite federal and state parity laws that are supposed to ensure fairness. But as Rose’s parents discovered, the parity laws are rarely enforced and people with severe mental illness often must rely on their own resources to get care.

Physician gender pay gap narrowing, but women still earn 19% less than men

Shannon Muchmore, Healthcare Dive

The gender pay gap among physicians narrowed last year for the first time in five years, although women physicians still earned 19% less than their male counterparts, according to Medscape’s annual physician compensation report out Friday. The racial pay gap, however, remained unchanged and Black physicians were found to earn 13% less than White physicians.

 

800,000 nurses planning to leave the profession by 2027

Dave Muoio, Fierce Healthcare

Nearly 100,000 registered nurses were estimated to have left the field during the COVID-19 pandemic and almost 800,000 intend to follow them out by 2027, according to a survey analysis released Thursday by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.

GSK’s New Drug to Treat Urinary Infection Beats Rival in Trial

Suzi Ring, Bloomberg

Gepotidacin demonstrated efficacy of 50.6% and 58.5% in two advanced trials for the treatment of uncomplicated infections, higher than the 43.6% and 47% shown by nitrofurantoin, the most commonly used antibiotic now, according to results published by GSK on Saturday and presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Denmark.

 

A bellwether moment: Once a distant dream, gene therapy for Duchenne nears historic decision

Jason Mast  and Adam Feuerstein, Stat News

In September, Sarepta asked the Food and Drug Administration to conditionally approve its gene therapy known as SRP-9001 for any Duchenne patient who can still walk. The agency’s review is based on preliminary evidence, and its decision is expected by May 29.

 

FDA advisers back Rexulti new use in nearly unanimous vote

Zoey Becker, Fierce Pharma

In a 9-1 vote on Friday, experts on the FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee and the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee recommended a favorable benefit-risk profile for the proposed Rexulti use.

 

Patient deaths taint Roche’s landmark adjuvant liver cancer data

Angus Liu, Fierce Pharma

Roche has detailed Tecentriq’s performance in early-stage liver cancer from a positive phase 3 trial. But a negative sign of patient deaths might raise some eyebrows, and it could force the company to delay a potential FDA filing.

 

Proposed EPA rule prompts concern over device shortages

Kara Hartnett, Modern Healthcare

The EPA proposed stricter controls on facilities to protect workers from exposure to the cancer-causing chemical. Ethylene oxide is used to clean spices, produce antifreeze, in textile manufacturing and as a pesticide. The carcinogen also sterilizes 20 billion medical devices annually, including syringes, catheters, infusion pumps, surgical kits and pacemakers.

 

FDA flags disparity in Philips’ actual recall work, online tally

Andrea Park, Fierce Biotech

According to an update the agency added Thursday to its webpage regarding the recall, “the number of replacement and remediated devices that have been shipped to consumers in the U.S. is considerably less than the 2,460,000 number of ‘new replacement devices and repair kits’ posted on Philips’ website.”

Free Uber rides helped patients keep their prenatal appointments. Now the company wants insurers to pay for it

Mohana Ravindranath, Stat News

Medicaid plans typically offer patients a benefit covering non-emergency medical transportation, but it often requires providers to call into a third-party dispatch service that can be difficult to coordinate with patients in real time, Community of Hope perinatal care and transportation coordinator Hannah Low told STAT.

 

Digital therapeutics at a crossroads after Pear’s downfall

Gabriel Perna, Modern Healthcare

After Pear Therapeutics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the digital therapeutics industry is staring down a challenging reimbursement and funding environment.

 

A robot answers questions about health. Its creators just won a $2.25 million prize

Ari Daniel, NPR News

The Skoll Foundation, which invests in and honors social change, selects a group of social innovators each year “whose work targets the root causes of societal problems that are ripe for transformational social change.” Other awardees this year included groups tackling the climate crisis, strengthening democracy and promoting economic growth for all.