Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
In Search Of New Antibiotics; Hep A Continues To March Across The Country
NPR: To Find The Next Antibiotic, Scientists Give Old Drugs A New Purpose
With antibiotic-resistant bacteria on the rise, scientists are urgently trying to find drugs that will work against persistent infections. But coming up with new ones does not have to be the only strategy. A recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that they can repurpose bithionol — a drug formerly used to treat parasitic infections in horses — to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including MRSA, a common hospital-acquired infection. (Torres, 8/12)
Kaiser Health News: Hepatitis A Races Across The Country
Just before the Fourth of July, Trenton Burrell began feeling run-down and achy. Soon he could barely muster the energy to walk from one room to another. A friend shared an alarming observation: “You’re turning yellow.” Within days, the 40-year-old landed in the hospital, diagnosed with the highly contagious liver virus hepatitis A, which in Ohio has infected more than 3,220 people and killed at least 15. Since 2016, the virus has spawned outbreaks in at least 29 states, starting with Michigan and California. It has sickened more than 23,600 people, sent the majority to the hospital and killed more than 230. All but California’s and Utah’s outbreaks are ongoing, and experts expect to eventually see the virus seep into every state. (Ungar, 8/13)
Stat: Few Americans Took Obesity Drugs Due To Doctor Doubts And Cost
Few adult Americans used prescription diet drugs to lose weight in recent years, mostly thanks to varying insurance coverage and physician concerns about side effects, according to a new federal government report. Of an estimated 71.6 million U.S. adults who were considered obese, approximately 660,000 per year, on average, used an obesity drug between 2012 through 2016. But among those who reported trying to lose weight, only 3% reported that they took a prescription medication to lose weight between 2013 through 2016, according to estimates cited by the Government Accountability Office. (Silverman, 8/12)
WBUR: Despite Progress On Diabetes Treatments, Study Finds American Patient Health No Better
The study in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine looked at whether diabetes patients controlled their blood sugar and blood pressure, took drugs to lower their cholesterol, and stayed away from smoking. It found that among more than 1,700 representative patients, only 23% hit all four of those goals — no better than 15 years ago. (Goldberg, 8/12)
Boston Globe: Growing Old And Back In The ‘Bouncy House,’ More Grandparents Are Raising Grandkids
A retired school guidance counselor, [Gail] Williams was perched in the bleachers surrounded by parents a generation younger, chattering about their kids, the heat, and summer plans. She’s one of about 35,000 grandparents in Massachusetts who are raising grandchildren — a contingent that’s swelled across the nation over the past two decades amid a spike in drug addiction and a hornet’s nest of other ills that have sidelined their own children. (Weisman, 8/12)
The New York Times: Ads For CBD As Cure-All Are Everywhere, But Regulation Is Scant
The efforts of cannabis companies to go mainstream could be hampered by CBD advertising that depends on misleading or unproven claims, entrepreneurs and researchers said. [Forensic toxicologist Michelle R.] Peace compared the marketing efforts of some companies to snake-oil scams in the 1800s, “when guys in wagons were selling sham tinctures in glass bottles.”“People are taking these products in good faith, because they believe somebody is overseeing the quality of these products,” Ms. Peace said. “But there’s basically nobody.” (Hsu, 8/13)
Stat: Answers To Your Questions About Sarepta's Gene Therapy And A Bad Week
Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT) wasn’t directly implicated in the biotech sector’s credibility crisis last week, but that didn’t stop the company from running into trouble. The “erroneous” disclosure last Thursday of a serious side effect affecting a single patient with Duchenne muscular dystrophy enrolled in Sarepta’s gene therapy clinical trial sowed confusion, concern, and anger. The stock price took a hit, recovered, then fell some more. All in, Sarepta shares lost 14%. (Feuerstein, 8/12)
Consumer Reports: Going To Have Surgery? What You Can Do To Make It Go More Smoothly.
Minor procedures such as cataract removal may not require much advance preparation. But a few smart steps in the month before a major elective surgery — such as a hip replacement or an open abdominal procedure — can reduce the risk of complications and may even speed recovery. “Patients can impact their own surgical outcomes by trying to reduce the risk that they bring into the operating room,” says Michael Englesbe, a transplant surgeon at the University of Michigan. That’s the idea behind “prehabilitation”: exercise, nutrition and counseling programs that aim to make you as healthy as possible before surgery. Some early research suggests it may help cut the length of a hospital stay — in one study, by 31 percent. Whether or not your hospital offers prehab, these strategies can help prepare you physically and mentally. (8/12)
