Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Expert: Cancer Patients Skip Radiation Therapy Over Brutal Descriptions
Axios: "Toxic": Radiation Therapy Descriptions Can Scare Cancer Patients Away
Radiation therapy has saved countless lives, but the way its effects are commonly described as "brutal" or "toxic" makes some cancer patients avoid it as an option, according to a commentary published in JAMA Oncology. While radiation therapy can leave damaging side effects, major improvements have made it safer, more precise and more effective, Narek Shaverdian, an author of the viewpoint and a radiation oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, told Axios. (Reed, 10/11)
USA Today: Animal Research Offers New Hope For People In Need Of Organ Transplant
A Massachusetts-based company announced Wednesday that it has kept a monkey alive for two years with a pig kidney, the longest an animal has survived with an organ from a different animal. The work marks another substantial step toward solving the human organ shortage by using animals as donors. ... More than 100,000 Americans are waiting for a new organ, the vast majority for a kidney. ... The findings could open the door to many more patients receiving a viable transplant. (Weintraub, 10/11)
Reuters: Blood Tests Needed For Widespread Alzheimer's Diagnosis On The Way
Blood tests for Alzheimer's are needed to more widely diagnose the brain-wasting disease and understand its prevalence, but it will be another couple of years before they become an everyday tool, medical experts and company executives say. Blood testing is initially likely to be used to rule out Alzheimer's, with positive results signaling the need for more advanced diagnostics. (Beasley, 10/11)
In other pharmaceutical updates —
Reuters: Pfizer To Pay $50 Mln To Settle Drug Wholesalers' EpiPen Antitrust Claims
Pfizer has agreed to pay $50 million to settle claims by drug wholesalers that they overpaid for EpiPen allergy treatment devices as a result of anticompetitive tactics by the drugmaker. (Pierson, 10/11)
Reuters: GSK Settles Another California Lawsuit On Heartburn Drug Zantac
GSK on Wednesday said it agreed to settle another lawsuit in California alleging its discontinued heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, as the British drugmaker sought to end costly litigation that has weighed on shares. The company, which has so far only settled cases in California, did not give the financial details of the settlement but said it was a "non-material" sum. (Mathews and Fick, 10/11)
Reuters: FDA Finds No Misconduct At Trial Sites For Pfizer's Lyme Disease Shot, Care Access Says
The U.S. health regulator did not find any misconduct at clinical sites managed by Care Access for Pfizer and French partner Valneva's trial of a Lyme disease vaccine candidate, the contract research firm said on Wednesday. Pfizer and Valneva said in February they will stop testing the vaccine in roughly half of U.S. patients in a late-stage study, due to a breach of clinical trial guidelines by a third-party contractor. (10/11)
Bloomberg: Ozempic And Wegovy: Novo Nordisk Obesity Drugs Ripple Through Stock Markets
The disruptive impact on stock markets of Novo Nordisk A/S’s diabetes drugs is getting ever wider. The Danish company, now Europe’s largest by market value, said late Tuesday it was halting a study which looked at the impact of its blockbuster Ozempic drug on kidney failure after it showed effectiveness surprisingly early. (Rees, 10/11)
