Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Breakthrough Opens Possibility Of Cryogenically Preserving Organs
Stat: Cryogenic Researchers See 'Road Ahead' To Unfreeze Organs
If scientists are to ever perfect the science of cryopreserving organs, they will have to succeed not only at protecting them at frigid temperatures, but also at bringing them back from their deep freeze. With current warming methods, even small tissues tend to crack or crystallize as they are warmed, leaving them useless. On Wednesday, however, researchers announced they had devised a technology that could rewarm larger pieces of tissue without major damage, paving the way for future studies that could demonstrate whether the method could be used to one day store organs for transplants. (Joseph, 3/1)
Stat: One Boy's Cure Raises Hopes And Questions About Gene Therapy For Sickle Cell Disease
A closely watched study using gene therapy to treat sickle cell disease cured one patient, a boy in France, researchers reported on Wednesday, a glimmer of hope for a long-neglected disease but one that comes with several caveats. Results from the clinical trial, which is sponsored by Cambridge, Mass.-based Bluebird Bio, have been dribbling out at scientific meetings and in company announcements since soon after the boy received the gene therapy, in October 2014, when he was 13. The new paper, in the New England Journal of Medicine, provides a “deeper view” of the patient’s disease and recovery, said Bluebird CEO Nick Leschly. “It’s a bit of a megaphone, allowing us to say that gene therapy might lead to a dramatic outcome.” (Begley, 3/1)
The New York Times: China’s Bird Flu Surge Is A Low Epidemic Threat, W.H.O. Says
Although there has been a surge in human infections with H7N9 avian flu in China this winter, the risk of an epidemic remains low, a World Health Organization official said on Wednesday. But the virus — which has killed about a third of the people known to have caught it — has now split into two distinct strains. (McNeil, 3/1)
Stat: US Says Bird Flu Vaccine Doesn't Provide Adequate Protection
With human infections from a bird flu virus surging in China, US officials charged with preparing the country for influenza pandemics have been assessing the state of an emergency stockpile of vaccines against that strain. The conclusion: The stored H7N9 vaccine doesn’t adequately protect against a new branch of this virus family, and a new vaccine is needed. Rick Bright, who heads the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, said the H7N9 vaccine in the stockpile would not fend off a new family of these viruses that has emerged in China, known as the eastern or Yangtze River Delta lineage of the viruses. (Branswell, 3/1)
NPR: Human 'Embryoids' And Other Embryo Research Raises Concern
[Ali Brivanlou's] lab and one other discovered how to keep human embryos alive in lab dishes longer than ever before — at least 14 days. That's triggered an international debate about a long-standing convention (one that's legally binding in some countries, though not in the U.S.) that prohibits studying human embryos that have developed beyond the two-week stage. (Stein, 3/2)
Kaiser Health News: Spike In Syphilis Among Newborns Driven By Broader Epidemic
Neonatologist Gurvir Khurana had only read about it in textbooks. Seeing it in real life has been a shock: baby after baby born severely anemic, lungs filled with fluid, bodies covered with rashes. Some only lived minutes; others died within days or weeks. The cause: congenital syphilis. (Gorman, 3/2)
NPR: Relief From Itchy Eczema May Come In The Form Of A Shot
People with moderate to severe eczema may benefit from new treatments that significantly reduce the intense itching that comes with the scaly skin disease. A study published Wednesday finds that the antibody nemolizumab, given as a monthly injection, not only reduces itching significantly but also clears up many of the patches of dry, inflamed skin that are part of the disease. It appears in the New England Journal of Medicine. (3/1)
The Baltimore Sun: Patient's Own Bone Marrow Used To Treat Heart Failure
Johns Hopkins Medicine doctors have treated the first person in a key phase of a clinical trial where a high dose of the patient's own bone marrow cells was used to treat heart failure after a heart attack. The dose was directed precisely at the point of dysfunction in the heart in the hope that it will stimulate the body's natural healing process. The Hopkins patient was the first to receive what is called the CardiAMP therapy as part of the third phase of a trial taking place at 40 medical centers across the country. Once phase three trials show a treatment works well, doctors can apply for approval with the Food and Drug Administration. (McDaniels, 2/28)
