General
Bronx Teenager’s Death Is the Youngest Vaping Fatality in U.S.
Ed Shanahan and Azi Paybarah, The New York Times
The 17-year-old who died last week is the youngest of 23 people to die nationwide of a vaping-related lung illness.
Lawsuits around US seek to block Trump’s public charge rule
Deepti Hajela, The Associated Press
The scene is playing out in courtrooms from coast to coast — federal judges being asked to block a new Trump administration policy scheduled to take effect next week that would deny legal permanent residency to many immigrants over the use of public benefits.
Planned Parenthood announces $45M campaign to defeat Trump, flip Senate
Jessie Hellmann, The Hill
Planned Parenthood’s super PAC announced a $45 million electoral campaign on Wednesday to defeat President Trump and Republicans in key Senate races.
How Syphilis Sneaked Up on Americans
Olga Khazan, The Atlantic
The U.S. stopped taking STDs seriously, and now we’re suffering the consequences.
Los Angeles could ban all e-cigarettes and vaping devices
Soumya Karlamangla, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles officials are considering banning all e-cigarettes and vaping devices in the city, one of the most extreme proposals yet to curb a nationwide outbreak of lung illnesses linked to vaping.
Teens to share their vaping experiences with Melania Trump
Darlene Superville, The Associated Press
Melania Trump will hear directly from teens and young adults about their experiences with electronic cigarettes and vaping.
Alibaba to Suspend Sales of E-Cigarettes, Accessories to the U.S.
Yifan Wang, The Wall Street Journal
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) said Wednesday that it will suspend sales of e-cigarettes and accessories to buyers in the U.S., following a rash of vaping-related pulmonary illnesses and several deaths in the country.
Most pregnant women aren’t getting flu and whooping cough shots, CDC warns
Katie Hunt, CNN
Most pregnant women in the United States don’t get flu and whooping cough vaccines even though the shots are safe and recommended as part of routine prenatal care, a report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Bernie Sanders says he’ll scale back campaigning after heart attack
Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that he plans to scale back his campaigning after suffering a heart attack last week in Las Vegas.
Stocks Rise on Fresh Trade-Deal Hopes; Dollar Dips: Markets Wrap
Robert Brand, Bloomberg
U.S. index futures jumped along with stocks in Europe as China revived hopes of progress in trade talks with America this week despite a host of potential headwinds. Gold slipped with Treasuries.
Payers
Michigan wants to save $40 million by cutting PBMs out of Medicaid
Michael Brady, Modern Healthcare
Michigan’s Medicaid program would like to stop using pharmacy benefit managers to oversee prescription drug claims and negotiate prices with drugmakers, according to a notice from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Providers
They Enrolled in Medical School To Practice Rural Medicine. What Happened?
Lauren Weber, Kaiser Health News
The University of Kansas School of Medicine-Salina opened in 2011 — a one-building campus in the heart of wheat country dedicated to producing the rural doctors the country needs.
Colorado’s proposed public option uses lower hospital pay to cut premiums
Shelby Livingston, Modern Healthcare
Colorado state agencies unveiled a draft proposal of a public insurance option on Monday that they say could reduce residents’ average monthly premiums, largely by paying hospitals less.
Feds to Investigate Hospital Alleged to Have Kept Vegetative Patient Alive to Game Transplant Survival Rates
Caroline Chen, ProPublica
Spurred by a ProPublica investigation, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will also carry out an inquiry.
Pharma, Biotech and Devices
Drug list prices climb 8% annually in California
Tara Bannow, Modern Healthcare
Drugmakers are only partially complying with a new California law that requires they disclose price increases; most ignored the requirement that they cite reasons for those increases.
ICER says price hikes on 7 drugs were made without proof of new benefits, costing the U.S. $5.1 billion
Ed Silverman, Stat News
During 2017 and 2018, drug makers raised prices on seven widely used medicines by large amounts, but without any new clinical evidence to justify the increases, leading patients and insurers in the U.S. to spend an added $5.1 billion, according to a new analysis.
Humira, Rituxan top list of U.S. drugs with biggest price increases: report
Caroline Humer, Reuters
AbbVie Inc’s rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira and Roche Holding AG’s cancer drug Rituxan topped a list of seven treatments whose combined 2017 and 2018 price hikes accounted for a $5.1 billion increase in U.S. spending, a report released on Tuesday showed.
GSK recalls popular heartburn drug Zantac globally after cancer scare
Justin George Varghese, Reuters
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) on Tuesday said it is recalling the popular heartburn medicine Zantac in all markets as a “precaution”, days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found “unacceptable” levels of probable cancer-causing impurity in the drug.
Soylent Co-Founder Seeks to Raise Biotech Venture-Capital Fund
Heather Mack, The Wall Street Journal
Rob Rhinehart, the self-professed biohacker best known for co-founding meal-replacement drink startup Soylent Nutrition Inc., is raising a venture-capital fund to back early-stage bioscience companies.
Health IT
Doctors turn to thumbs for diagnosis and treatment by text
Tom Murphy, The Associated Press
Dr. Anna Nguyen spoke with none of the five patients she treated on a recent weekday morning. She didn’t even leave her dining room.
A Message From Better Medicare Alliance:
Congress: Co-sponsor H.R. 1398 and S. 172 and talk to leadership to stop the Health Insurance Tax on seniors. In previous years, Congress has recognized the serious consequences of reinstating the Health Insurance Tax and has suspended it from going into effect. Allowing the tax to return would impact seniors who rely on Medicare Advantage. Medicare Advantage keeps costs low, provides additional benefits and protects seniors. Click here to learn more.
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
Keeping Medicine at the Heart of Telemedicine
Melynda Barnes, Morning Consult
For years, I trained and worked as an ENT and surgeon at institutions like Stanford and Yale. Then, to the surprise of many, I left to join a telemedicine startup.
Research Reports
Unsupported Price Increase Report: 2019 Assessment
Institute for Clinical and Economic Review
We selected drugs to review whose estimated net price increases over a two-year period would have caused the greatest increase in drug spending in the United States (US).
The Biosimilar Opportunity: A State Breakdown
Wayne Winegarden, Pacific Research Institute
The federal government enforces patents and data exclusivity rights in order to provide innovator companies with an opportunity to recoup their capital costs. And, since developing a new medicine is risky, requires up to $2.9 billion, and takes up to 10 to 15 years to bring to market, the development of innovative medicines would cease without these opportunities.
Economic Impacts of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Dan Wei and Adam Rose, Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California
This report focuses on the various economic impacts of CIRM over and above its main functions of improving health and well-being. These increases in economic output, employment and tax revenues represent valuable co-benefits of CIRM activities.
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