Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
The Wall Street Journal: The People Getting New Knees And Hips In Their 40s
The average age of hip- and knee-replacement patients is getting younger. As average life expectancy ticks up, many Americans are no longer willing to sacrifice decades doing their favorite activities, such as skiing, hiking or playing pickleball, to sit in pain, doctors say. And staying sporty into your 50s and 60s is good for your physical and mental health. “In the past, people would just say, ‘I don’t run, I have bad knees,’” says Dr. Ran Schwarzkopf, an orthopedic surgeon at NYU Langone. Now, he says, “they’re not willing to accept limitations that arthritis gives.” (Janin, 8/20)
The Wall Street Journal: Matthew Perry’s Tragic Quest To Get Well
He spent $350,000 on private flights to a treatment facility in Switzerland. He lived for a month in a detox center by the beach, and shook for 36 days straight as he recounted his traumas at a therapeutic healing center in Florida. He went to hundreds of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. He had himself hypnotized. Matthew Perry tried countless methods to get well. As the actor became a generational icon on the TV show “Friends,” behind the scenes he struggled to find a treatment for his yearslong addiction to drugs and alcohol. (Schwartzel and O'Brien, 8/20)
The Colorado Sun: Colorado Nonprofit Aims To Help Kitchen Workers Cut Stress
In The Weeds works to reduce substance abuse and improve mental health among restaurant employees in Four Corners region. Truett “Blaine” Bailey concocted the idea for the organization in 2018 after being arrested in Arkansas. At the time, Bailey was carrying 0.002 grams of hallucinogenic substances at the scene of a bicycle accident. He was elevating his cousin’s bloody head and taking first aid instructions from the 911 operator while he waited for the ambulance. (Stevens, 8/21)
The Wall Street Journal: The Man Behind Pfizer’s Bid To Turn The Ship Around
Pfizer expects Seagen drugs, known as antibody drug conjugates or ADCs, to generate $10 billion in annual sales by 2030. The company needs a win. One of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies by sales, Pfizer had enjoyed unusual gains during the pandemic thanks to its Covid-19 vaccine, developed with BioNTech. Revenue in 2022 topped $100 billion. But after the pandemic emergency receded, Pfizer miscalculated demand for its Covid-19 vaccine and drug. Sales from several new drug launches underwhelmed, and the company’s first stab at a closely watched weight-loss pill faltered. (Hopkins, 8/19)
The New York Times: Sugar Industry Faces Pressure Over Coerced Hysterectomies In India
The sugar industry is facing pressure to clean up its supply chains and improve oversight after revelations that women in India, the world’s second-largest sugar producer, work in debt bondage and are coerced into getting hysterectomies. In the wake of the report, a group of labor leaders in India went on a three-day hunger strike recently to demand better working conditions. One of the companies that buys sugar in Maharashtra, Coca-Cola, quietly met with Indian government leaders and sugar suppliers last month to discuss responsible harvesting. And Bonsucro, a sugar industry body that sets standards, said that it would create a human rights task force. (Rajagopalan, 8/22)
The New York Times: Michel Guérard, Who Lowered The Calories In Haute Cuisine, Dies At 91
Appalled by the food options available to those seeking to lose weight, he developed a form of nouvelle cuisine for dieters at a spa in southwestern France. (Grimes, 8/19)
