Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Black Patients' Access To 'Revolutionary' Treatments Stymied By Stark Under-Representation In Clinical Trials
ProPublica/Stat: Black Patients Are Being Left Out Of Clinical Trials For New Cancer Therapies
It’s a promising new drug for multiple myeloma, one of the most savage blood cancers. Called Ninlaro, it can be taken as a pill, sparing patients painful injections or cumbersome IV treatments. In a video sponsored by the manufacturer, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., one patient even hailed Ninlaro as “my savior.” The Food and Drug Administration approved it in 2015 after patients in a clinical trial gained an average of six months without their cancer spreading. That trial, though, had a major shortcoming: its racial composition. One out of five people diagnosed with multiple myeloma in the U.S. is black, and African-Americans are more than twice as likely as white Americans to be diagnosed with the cancer. (Chen and Wong, 9/19)
ProPublica: A Cancer Patient’s Guide To Clinical Trials
Most trials are run at academic medical centers and conducted by researchers there. Patients outside those centers often aren’t aware that clinical trials are an option, or they may wonder what joining a study entails. For patients who might consider a clinical trial, here are answers to some common questions. (Chen, 9/19)
The Wall Street Journal: To Help Alzheimer’s Patients, A Care Center Re-Creates The 1950s
The two men, high school buddies, sit in a turquoise and white booth at Rosie’s Diner, ribbing each other like they are teenagers at Sweetwater High School where they played baseball together so many years ago. A 1950s-era jukebox spits out tunes like “Peggy Sue” by Buddy Holly. Vinyl records and black-and-white pictures of celebrities like Elvis Presley and Audrey Hepburn line the walls. Now in their 70s, James Mann and Richard Eshbach are actually in Glenner Town Square, a new adult day-care center for dementia patients that is like entering a time warp. The 11 storefronts that surround an indoor park represent the time period from 1953 to 1961, when most of the patients were in the prime of their life. (Reddy, 9/18)
The Hill: FDA Launches New Campaign Against Teen Vaping
The Food and Drug Administration is launching a new advertising campaign aimed at educating teenagers about the dangers of vaping. The “Real Cost” campaign will target nearly 10.7 million middle and high schoolers aged 12-17 by placing ads in school bathrooms and on social media and educational platforms frequented by teens. (Weixel, 9/18)
The Associated Press: DEA Approves Importation Of Marijuana Drug For Tremor Study
In a rare move, the U.S. government has approved the importation of marijuana extracts from Canada for a clinical trial, highlighting a new avenue for American researchers who have long had trouble obtaining the drug for medical studies. The University of California, San Diego’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research announced Tuesday the Drug Enforcement Administration has OK’d its plans to import capsules containing two key cannabis compounds — CBD and THC — from British Columbia-based Tilray Inc. to study their effectiveness in treating tremors that afflict millions of people, especially those over 65. (Johnson and Watson, 9/18)
Bloomberg: Diabetes Alert: 30% Of Americans With Disease Don't Know It
It’s estimated more than 30 percent of American adults with diabetes don’t realize they’re suffering from the potentially deadly disease. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey show about one in seven suffered from diabetes between 2013 and 2016, with the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes at 9.7 percent and the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes at 4.3 percent. (Tanzi, 9/19)
The New York Times: Why Your DNA Is Still Uncharted Territory
You have a gene called PNMA6F. All people do, but no one knows the purpose of that gene or the protein it makes. And as it turns out, PNMA6F has a lot of company in that regard. In a study published Tuesday in PLOS Biology, researchers at Northwestern University reported that of our 20,000 protein-coding genes, about 5,400 have never been the subject of a single dedicated paper. (Zimmer, 9/18)
WBUR: Doctors Should Send Obese Patients To Diet Counseling, Panel Says. But Many Don't
A visit to your primary care physician may focus on your headaches or that achy back. But if your body mass index is over 30, a panel of national experts says, it should also include a referral to an intensive weight-loss program. That's the latest recommendation of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of national experts in disease and public health that advises primary care physicians on best practices. (Blakemore, 9/18)
CNN: Four People Get Cancer From Donated Organ In 'Extraordinarily Rare' Case
Four European patients developed breast cancer after receiving organs from the same donor, a case report explains. The patients developed breast cancer years after their transplants, with three of them dying of the disease. (Avramova, 9/18)
The New York Times: High-Dose Folic Acid Does Not Prevent High Blood Pressure Of Pregnancy
Some experts believe that a high daily dose of folic acid can reduce the risk for pre-eclampsia, the dangerous high blood pressure that can occur during pregnancy. A randomized trial has found that it does not work. Folic acid in small doses is proven to reduce the risk for the serious birth defects of the brain or spinal cord called neural tube defects, so prenatal vitamins contain the nutrient. But some epidemiological evidence has suggested that the more folic acid taken, the lower the risk for pre-eclampsia. (Bakalar, 9/18)
The New York Times: Excess Weight Gain Or Loss During Pregnancy Tied To Child’s Heart Health
Gaining either too much or too little weight during pregnancy may be bad for your child’s heart health. Researchers studied 905 mother-child pairs, dividing the mothers into groups that either matched or exceeded the recommended weight gain — 25 to 35 pounds for women with a body mass index between 18.5 and 24.9; 28 to 40 pounds for those with a B.M.I. under 18.5; and 15 to 25 pounds for a woman with a B.M.I. above 25. They then assessed their children’s heart health at age 7. The study is in Diabetologia. (Bakalar, 9/18)
The New York Times: Faster. Slower. How We Walk Depends On Who We Walk With, And Where We Live
People move differently when they walk in groups than when they walk alone. And their walking style is especially distinct when they walk with children, according to a fascinating new cross-cultural study of pedestrians in several nations. The study, which also shows that men tend to walk differently with other men than with women and that some cultures may promote walking speed over sociability, underscores that how we move is not dependent solely on physiology or biomechanics. (Reynolds, 9/19)
