First Edition: Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024

KFF Health News: Super Bowl Rally Shooting Victims Pick Up Pieces, But Gun Violence Haunts Their Lives
Twenty-four minutes before the mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory parade in February left one person dead and at least 24 people injured, Jenipher Cabrera felt a bullet pierce the back of her right thigh. The 20-year-old and her family were just four blocks from Union Station, in a river of red-shirted Chiefs fans walking toward the massive rally after the parade that warm Valentine’s Day. The bullet — fired by teen boys fighting in the street — thrust Cabrera forward. (Lowe, KCUR and Sable-Smith, 10/17)

KFF Health News: Patients Are Relying On Lyft, Uber To Travel Far Distances To Medical Care
When Lyft driver Tramaine Carr transports seniors and sick patients to hospitals in Atlanta, she feels like both a friend and a social worker. “When the ride is an hour or an hour and a half of mostly freeway driving, people tend to tell you what they’re going through,” she said. Drivers such as Carr have become a critical part of the medical transportation system in Georgia, as well as in Washington, D.C., Mississippi, Arizona, and elsewhere. (Scaturro, 10/17)

Roll Call: CDC Reports Record Drop In Drug Overdose Deaths 
Drug overdose deaths dropped a record amount during the past year, according to provisional data the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Wednesday. The CDC reported that 94,758 individuals died because of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending May 2024 — a 15 percent drop from the previous 12-month period. The agency estimates that number may rise to 98,820 when finalized, which would be a 12.7 percent drop. Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, commended the data, which showed a decline in nationwide drug-related deaths for the sixth month in a row. (Raman, 10/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco Overdose Deaths Plummet 
The number of people in San Francisco who died from accidental overdoses of fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid at the heart of the nation’s overdose epidemic, fell to a four-year low in September — a bright spot after years of the drug’s escalating devastation. Twenty-three people died from fentanyl overdoses last month, according to preliminary figures released by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Wednesday. That is the lowest number since the city began releasing monthly overdose data in January 2020. (Ho, 10/16)

Reuters: McKinsey Close To Settling US Opioid Investigations, Sources Say
Consulting firm McKinsey & Co is close to an agreement with U.S. prosecutors to pay more than $500 million to resolve longstanding federal investigations into its past work helping opioid makers boost sales that allegedly contributed to a deadly addiction epidemic, two people familiar with the matter said. A deal, which has not been finalized, would resolve U.S. Justice Department criminal and civil probes, the people said. (Raymond and Spector, 10/16)

ABC News: Weight Loss Drugs Like Ozempic May Help Reduce Overdose Risks: Study
A new study suggests that GLP-1 agonist medications like Ozempic, which are used for diabetes management and weight loss, may help reduce the risk of overdose and alcohol intoxication in people with substance use disorders. "It helps to underline another significant benefit of this class of medication," Dr. Angela Fitch, the co-founder, and chief medical officer of knownwell, a company that provides weight-inclusive health care, told ABC News. (Shareef, 10/17)

The New York Times: Man Whose Fentanyl Stash Killed Child At Day Care Gets 45-Year Sentence
Felix Herrera Garcia’s wife called him on a September afternoon last year, just after she had discovered that three children in her Divino Niño day care center would not wake up. He ran to the basement facility in the Bronx, which prosecutors say he had long used to store and package opioids. There, prosecutors said, Mr. Herrera Garcia would have stepped over a 22-month-old boy lying on a kindergarten mat, poisoned by fentanyl. ... The events last year at Divino Niño, in which four healthy toddlers were grievously sickened within hours of being dropped off by their parents, horrified people across New York City and beyond. (Moynihan, 10/16)

AP: Three States Try To Make Abortion Pill Mifepristone Harder To Access 
Three states are renewing a legal push to restrict access to the abortion medication mifepristone, including reinstating requirements it be dispensed in person instead of by mail. The request from Kansas, Idaho and Missouri filed Friday would bar the drug’s use after seven weeks of pregnancy instead of 10 and require three in-person doctor office visits instead of none in the latest attempt to make it harder to get a drug that’s used in most abortions nationally. (Mulvihill, 10/16)

AP: Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Over Old Abortion Rights Ruling In Mississippi 
A Mississippi judge dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday that challenged a potential conflict between a 2022 state law that bans most abortions and a 1998 state Supreme Court ruling that said abortion is guaranteed in the Mississippi Constitution because of the right of privacy. Hinds County Chancery Judge Crystal Wise Martin wrote that the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists lacks legal standing for the lawsuit it filed against the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure in November 2022. (Pettus, 10/16)

AP: Abortion Ballot Measures May Not Have Quick Impact On Access 
Voters in nine states are deciding next month whether to add the right to abortion to their constitutions, but the measures are unlikely to dramatically change access — at least not immediately. Instead, voter approval would launch more lawsuits on a subject that’s been in the courts constantly — and more than ever since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade and opened the door to state abortion laws. In some states where the issue is on the ballot, it’s already widely available. (Mulvihill, 10/17)

The Hill: Florida Health Officials Sued For Censorship Over Abortion Campaign Ad
The citizen-led ballot initiative Floridians Protecting Freedom has filed a lawsuit against state health officials alleging political speech has been censored in the state. The Florida Department of Health previously sent a cease and desist letter to television stations across Florida that aired an ad in support of an abortion-rights ballot initiative, Amendment 4. The ballot initiative would enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution, overturning the current law that bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. (Irwin, 10/16)

Military.com: Supreme Court Weighs Arguments In Lawsuit Over Veterans Getting 'Benefit Of Doubt' In Claims Decisions 
The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case that could determine how the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims considers decisions on veterans' requests for disability compensation. For more than an hour Wednesday, the justices peppered attorneys for the plaintiffs and the federal government on whether the Veterans Court is obligated to determine whether the Veterans Board of Appeals -- the VA's deciding panel on denied claims -- must always consider, when there is equal evidence supporting and against a claim, the VA decided in favor of the veteran. (Kime, 10/16)

CIDRAP: CDC Issues Interim Recommendations To Prevent Sexual Oropouche Virus Spread 
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday said it has received reports of 90 imported Oropouche virus from 5 states, mostly from Florida, and it also issued recommendations for male travelers to prevent possible sexual spread. The group has warned about the risk of infected pregnant women passing the virus to their fetuses and the possibility of poor fetal outcomes. In its latest update, the CDC also acknowledged the risk of sexual transmission, raised in a recent scientific report, but said no sexual transmission cases have been reported. (Schnirring, 10/16)

Reuters: US FDA Pauses Novavax's Trial Of Combo COVID-Flu Shot On Safety Concerns
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has put on hold a trial of Novavax's COVID-influenza and its standalone flu vaccines after a participant who took the combination shot reported nerve damage, the company said on Wednesday. (Satija, 10/16)

Reuters: Northwestern Sues Moderna For Patent Infringement Over COVID-19 Vaccines
Moderna was hit with a new patent lawsuit on Wednesday in Delaware federal court from Northwestern University, which accused the company of misusing the school’s innovations to develop its blockbuster COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax. The lawsuit said, Moderna uses Northwestern-developed lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology without a license in Spikevax shots to transport fragile messenger RNA into the human body. (Brittain, 10/16)

Stat: Vaccine Veteran Adds To Criticisms Of Response To Bird Flu In Cows
Barney Graham, who for decades helped lead U.S. vaccine development efforts, said Wednesday that the lack of cooperation among U.S. agencies is hindering the country’s response to the H5N1 bird flu outbreak among dairy cattle, echoing criticisms that have been building over the past six months. (Joseph, 10/16)

CIDRAP: Michigan Reports Avian Flu In Another Dairy Herd 
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) today announced another avian flu outbreak in dairy cattle, its first since early September. The state’s latest outbreak occurred at a farm in Clinton County, which is near Lansing. Michigan has now reported 30 outbreaks in dairy cattle. (Schnirring, 10/16)

Stat: Medicare Advantage Insurers Used Tech To Help Deny Claims: Senate Report 
The nation’s three largest Medicare Advantage insurers increasingly refused to pay for rehabilitative care for seniors in the years after adopting sophisticated technologies to aid in their coverage decisions, a Senate investigation found. (Herman and Ross, 10/17)

The Boston Globe: Newton-Wellesley Hospital Nurses Plan Strike Authorization Vote
Nurses at Newton-Wellesley Hospital plan to picket and hold a strike authorization vote next week, amid labor contract negotiations with the hospital’s parent organization, Mass General Brigham. The Oct. 22 vote could allow the nurses’ union bargaining committee to schedule a strike in the future, provided the union gives the hospital the required 10-day notice, according to a news release from the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the union representing the nurses. (Tannenbaum, 10/16)

The Boston Globe: Steward Health Care Lawyers Seeking $36 Million
Lawyers for Steward Health Care were awarded more than $36 million — or more than $420,000 per day in fees — for their work on the first three months of the company’s bankruptcy case. New York-based law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges filed a request Tuesday for reimbursement of $36,255,939.14 for fees and expenses, which included rates for attorneys billing as much as $2,350 per hour. Other rates included $750 per hour for a law clerk, and up to $595 per hour for paralegals. (Pressman, 10/16)

Modern Healthcare: American Cancer Society Names Dr. Wayne Frederick As Interim CEO
The American Cancer Society named Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick as interim CEO, effective Nov. 2. Frederick will replace Karen Knudsen, who is stepping down Nov. 1 after more than three years in the role. In his new position, Frederick will oversee the cancer society and the affiliated American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, according to a Tuesday news release. (Hudson, 10/16)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Children's Pediatrics Awarded For Fighting Physician Burnout
Texas Children’s Pediatrics earned national recognition for its efforts to improve its physicians’ well-being by reducing the prevalence of burnout — a persistent problem in the health care industry. Texas Children’s Hospital’s pediatric primary care network is among 62 health systems, hospitals and medical groups across the U.S. recognized as Joy in Medicine health organizations by the American Medical Association. The program recognizes organizations that are working to alleviate physician burnout, which skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic and remains higher among health care workers than other professions. (MacDonald, 10/16)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Hospitals’ Citizenship Count Renews Focus On Uninsured
When Gov. Greg Abbott ordered hospitals this summer to start asking patients for their citizenship status, the intent was clear: to take the cost of caring for undocumented immigrants to the Biden administration and demand Texas taxpayers be reimbursed. Beginning Nov. 1, hospital patients will be asked their citizenship status. Abbott’s order does not say patients are legally bound to answer the question. However, the care of patients who answer this question, or don’t, will not be interrupted, according to the Texas Hospital Association (THA). (Langford, 10/17)

Reuters: Sanofi Workers In France To Strike Over Sale Of Consumer Health Unit, Union Official Says 
French unions have called on workers at Sanofi to strike from Thursday to protest a planned sale of the pharmaceutical group's consumer health arm, adding to complications around a deal estimated at about $16 billion. ... Sanofi said last week it had entered into talks to sell a controlling 50% stake in its consumer health business Opella to U.S. private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice, a year after flagging that it was looking at options for the business. (10/16)

Reuters: Novartis Loses Latest Bid To Block Generic Version Of Blockbuster Heart Drug
Novartis has lost a bid to keep a generic version of its top-selling heart failure drug Entresto off the U.S. market by blocking regulators from approving it, though the generic's launch faces other legal roadblocks. U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington, D.C., in an order made public on Tuesday, said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not overstep its authority in approving MSN Pharmaceutical's generic of Entresto, despite a slightly different label and alleged differences between the drugs. (Pierson, 10/16)

CNN: Immunotherapy Improves Survival In People With Advanced Hodgkin Lymphoma, Study Shows
An immunotherapy approach to treating advanced Hodgkin lymphoma may drastically increase patients’ chances of survival, including those as young as 12, according to a new clinical trial. (Howard, 10/16)

CNN: New Cervical Cancer Treatment Cuts Risk Of Death From Disease, According To Trial Results
Adding a six-week course of chemotherapy to the standard course of treatment for locally advanced cervical cancer resulted in a significant increase in survival rates, a new study shows. (Tupper, 10/16)

USA Today: Why A Pediatric Cancer Drug Shortage Has Persisted For Decades
Doctors told Laura Bray that she was “lucky" because her 9-year-old daughter's leukemia was curable. Abby had a 90% chance of beating the blood cancer if she followed a three-year treatment. There was just one problem. Doctors told Bray the key drug that kicked off Abby’s chemotherapy in 2018 was hard to find. She had to figure out a way to tell her daughter. (Rodriguez, 10/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Lab-Grown Blood Vessels By Biotech Humacyte Could Change Trauma Treatment 
Scientists are gaining ground in tissue engineering that could help a host of people who deal with circulatory-system problems. One of the companies furthest along is Humacyte, a Durham, N.C.-based biotech that makes lab-grown blood vessels, which could help patients with traumatic injuries along with those who use catheters for dialysis or suffer pain from narrowed circulation to the limbs. (Whyte, 10/16)

The Washington Post: Md. Health Secretary Says Changes Coming To Mental Hospital After Post Report 
Maryland’s top health official told employees in a letter Wednesday that she is implementing reforms to address “critical deficiencies” at the state’s maximum security psychiatric hospital, a move that comes in the wake of a Washington Post investigation into chronic understaffing and violence at the facility. The letter from Health Secretary Laura Herrera Scott said that the allegations raised by the Post investigation were “of serious concern” to her and the administration of Gov. Wes Moore (D), and that officials were conducting a “top-to-bottom review and investigation into all aspects of policy and procedure” at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center. (Mettler, 10/16)

The Washington Post: Archdiocese Of Los Angeles To Pay $880M In Sexual Abuse Settlement
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to settle more than 1,300 claims of childhood sexual abuse. The sprawling agreement is believed to be the largest single child sexual abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese and comes after a state law provided a three-year window to revive past civil claims of sexual abuse involving minors. Some of the claims date to the 1940s, and the acts are alleged to have been perpetrated by archdiocesan clergy, lay people and religious order priests and clergy from other dioceses who were serving in Los Angeles, a letter from Archbishop José H. Gomez said. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is the largest Catholic diocese in the United States. (Ables, 10/17)

Axios: Native Healing Practices To Get Medicaid Coverage
Several state Medicaid programs will soon cover Indigenous healing practices used by American Indians and Alaska Natives under waivers granted Wednesday by the Biden administration. Native patients are likelier to trust traditional healing that's been used for generations, and may experience better outcomes if they're incorporated into their care. (Reed, 10/17)

North Carolina Health News: Advocates Push To Raise Tobacco Sales Age To 21
Solomon Wynn came down with bronchitis in the spring of his freshman year in high school. The family doctor tried antibiotics and steroids, but nothing worked. The football player became so weak that he couldn’t even walk to the bus stop, his stepmother said. A trip to a specialist at Novant Health found the source of his worsening condition — vaping. It had destroyed his lungs and weakened his heart, eventually leading him to collapse on Friday, June 16, 2023. By the time he got to the hospital, he was already brain dead. (Fernandez, 10/17)

AP: Texas Man Set To Be First In US Executed Over Shaken Baby Syndrome Makes Last Appeals 
A Texas man who could be the first person in the U.S. executed for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome is facing a lethal injection Thursday evening amid assertions by his attorneys and a diverse coalition of supporters who say he’s innocent and was convicted on faulty scientific evidence. Robert Roberson waited to hear whether his execution might be stopped by either Gov. Greg Abbott or the U.S. Supreme Court — his last two avenues for a stay. He is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. (Lozano, 10/17)

Reuters: Constellation Orders $100 Million Transformer For Three Mile Island Restart
Constellation Energy has ordered a main power transformer for the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor it is attempting to restart in Pennsylvania, pushing ahead with work critical to the plant's revival, Reuters learned on a tour of the site on Wednesday. ... No modern U.S. nuclear power plant has been restarted after fully shutting down, according to regulators. Three Mile Island is largely known as the site of the worst nuclear power accident in U.S. history. (Kearney, 10/16)

Houston Chronicle: Case Of Meningococcal Disease At HISD School
The Houston Health Department and Houston ISD confirmed Wednesday that it is investigating a case of a Bonham Elementary School student having meningococcal disease. KHOU reported a Bonham third-grader died Oct. 10 and parents were informed in a letter. It is unclear whether this is related to the meningococcal case under investigation. (Mizan, 10/16)

AP: Kidney Transplants Are Safe Between People With HIV, New US Study Shows 
People with HIV can safely receive donated kidneys from deceased donors with the virus, according to a large study that comes as the U.S. government moves to expand the practice. That could shorten the wait for organs for all, regardless of HIV status. The new study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at 198 kidney transplants performed across the U.S. Researchers found similar results whether the donated organ came from a person with or without the AIDS virus. (Johnson, 10/16)

Stat: FDA Signals Flexibility In Evaluating Smoking Cessation Therapies
Food and Drug Administration leaders are signaling new flexibility in the agency’s approach to evaluating new therapies to help people stop smoking. In a perspective paper published with the National Institutes of Health this week, the agency labeled the effort to help Americans quit smoking a top priority and said it was willing to consider broader endpoints in clinical trials of smoking cessation products. (Lawrence, 10/16)

Roll Call: Dietary Guidelines Become Mired In Row Over Alcohol Safety
Lawmakers and industry players are asking the Department of Health and Human Services to put a stop to a controversial study on alcohol and health that could inform the next round of U.S. nutrition recommendations. Specifically, they’re taking issue with a committee housed within HHS’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration focused on underage drinking. (DeGroot, 10/16)

CBS News: Saint Vincent College Study Drills Down On Relationship Between Fracking Chemicals And Adverse Birth Outcomes
A new national study from Saint Vincent College digs into whether certain chemicals used in fracking could affect a baby's weight and whether they're born early. "There is something that is increasing the preterm birth rate nationally," said Mary Regina Boland, an associate professor at Saint Vincent College. Boland managed to drill down into data at a county level across the United States, and she found counties with more fracking wells that use chemicals that target certain hormones had higher amounts of preterm births and low birth weights. (Guay, 10/16)

USA Today: 14-Year-Old Sirish Subash Named America’s Top Young Scientist For 2024
Sirish Subash, an ninth grader from Snellville, Georgia, was the first-place winner for the 3M and Discovery Education competition, the nation’s premier middle school science competition, in St. Paul, Minnesota. In his presentation, Subash used data from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that said 70.6% of produce items contain pesticide residues. ... “My project is called PestiSCAND. What it is, is the device that allows everybody to check for pesticide residues on their produce at home,” Subash told USA TODAY. (Forbes, 10/16)

The New York Times: Italy Passes Law Banning People From Seeking Surrogacy Abroad 
Italy passed a law on Wednesday that criminalizes seeking surrogacy abroad, a move the country’s conservative government said would protect women’s dignity, while critics see it as yet another crackdown by the government on L.G.B.T. families, as the law will make it virtually impossible for gay fathers to have children. Surrogacy is already illegal in Italy. But the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vowed to broaden the ban to punish Italians who seek it in countries where it is legal, like in parts of the United States. (Bubola, 10/16)