Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Beef Industry Criticized Over Use Of Antibiotics
CIDRAP: Report Slams Beef Industry For Overuse Of Antibiotics
A new report is taking the US beef industry to task for overuse of medically important antibiotics.The report, released yesterday by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), reveals that US cattle producers use more than 40% of all medically important antibiotics—those that are also used in human medicine—sold for use in US livestock, and use them three to six times more intensively than many of their European counterparts. (Dall, 6/26)
Stat: Two Patients Die In Audentes Gene Therapy Study
Two patients in a study of a high-dose gene therapy for a rare muscle disorder have died, heightening worries about the safety of potent treatments under development for other diseases. Audentes Therapeutics, a San Francisco-based unit of the Japanese drug firm Astellas, told patient groups in a June 23 letter, a copy of which was obtained by STAT, that the two patients died after having serious liver problems that appeared related to the company’s experimental treatment for X-linked myotubular myopathy, a condition that causes severe muscle weakness. (Herper, 6/28)
The Washington Post: Anemia Diagnosis And Searing Foot Pain Led To Medical Mystery
Jeff Sipos wasn’t used to feeling wiped out. At 31, the California elementary school principal was an endurance athlete in exceptional condition. Even though he had asthma, Sipos had climbed Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States, completed a rim-to-rim hike in the Grand Canyon in a mere 10 hours — at least two hours less than average — and thought nothing of clocking 100-mile bike rides on weekends. But in May 2001, his energy was flagging. Sipos, who lived in Riverside, consulted his longtime general practitioner, who ordered blood tests that revealed an abnormally low iron level. (Boodman, 6/27)
The Washington Post: Small Fiber Neuropathy: It Began With Terribly Cold Feet, But Soon Morphed Into Shooting Pain, Fatigue, Dizziness And Worse
More than three years ago, I came down with a mysterious illness I thought might be a flu, but turned out to be something entirely different.My blizzard of symptoms began innocuously in November 2016 with terribly cold feet. So cold that even when I got under the covers with a hot water bottle between them, and they were warm to the touch, they still felt like painful ice-blocks. At other times, I had the equally unpleasant sensation that my feet and shins were burning or already burnt. (Schwalbe, 6/28)
Stat: CRISPR Base Editing Slashes Cholesterol Levels In Monkeys
A form of CRISPR widely expected to be safer and possibly more effective that the original has aced its first substantive test. When CRISPR “base editing” was used to knock out two cholesterol-associated genes in monkeys, the animals’ blood levels of heart-disease-causing LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and triglycerides plunged as much as 60% and 65%, respectively, Sekar Kathiresan, co-founder and CEO of Verve Therapeutics, announced on Saturday at the (virtual) meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. (Begley, 6/27)
Stat: New Journal Will Vet Covid-19 Preprints
The wild, wild west of Covid-19 preprints is about to get a new sheriff. On Monday, the MIT Press is announcing the launch of an open access journal that will publish reviews of preprints related to Covid-19, in an effort to quickly and authoritatively call out misinformation as well as highlight important, credible research. (Begley, 6/29)
