Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
The Washington Post: An Infection Liquefied A Man’s Lungs. This Invention Kept Him Alive.
Doctors in Chicago saved the life of a young Missouri man with a rare infection that had liquefied his lungs, hooking him up to what they have called a total artificial lung. The patient, whose name was not released, survived on the lung for 48 hours, and then received a lung transplant. Two and a half years later, the patient, now in his mid-30s, is alive and back working in his family business, according to Ankit Bharat, his lead surgeon and executive director of the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute, where the surgeries were performed. (Johnson, 1/29)
Bloomberg: The Future Of Male Birth Control Could Be Pills, Gels And Implants
“All I have is sperm,” Akash Bakshi says. “I’m just looking at sperm counts.” Every day the co-founder of YourChoice Therapeutics arrives at his startup’s office in San Francisco to do this work. A biochemist by training, Bakshi could become the first biotech company chief executive officer to bring a hormone-free male birth control pill to market. The pill his team developed, YCT-529, works by blocking a vitamin-A-dependent protein essential for sperm growth, temporarily rendering men infertile without affecting their testosterone levels and thereby potentially introducing related side effects. (Castelain, 1/28)
Stat: Inside The Rise And Fall Of Opvee, Indivior's Nasal Overdose Antidote
It was cast as a lifesaving medication, a “best-in-class” overdose antidote built specifically for the fentanyl era. It was far more powerful than Narcan, the nasal spray it was designed to supplant. Data suggested that the newer spray, Opvee, would restore breathing faster, averting death and brain injury for thousands of Americans who experience an opioid overdose. (Facher, 1/29)
Undark: At NIH, A Power Struggle Over Institute Directorships Deepens
When a new presidential administration comes in, it is responsible for filling around 4,000 jobs sprinkled across the federal government’s vast bureaucracy. These political appointees help carry out the president’s agenda, and, at least in theory, make government agencies responsive to elected officials. Some of these roles — the secretary of state, for example — are well-known. Others, such as the deputy assistant secretary for textiles, consumer goods, materials, critical minerals & metals industry & analysis, are more obscure. (Schulson, 1/29)
ProPublica: Smoke And Mirrors: How Intoxicating Hemp Seeped Into The First Recreational Marijuana Market In The Country
The owner of a marijuana testing lab called a top regulator in Colorado on his cellphone in April 2024 with an urgent situation. “We’ve got something that’s kind of a big deal,” he remembers saying. During a routine test of a manufacturer’s products, Bona Fides Laboratory in Denver had found a toxic chemical in a popular brand of marijuana vapes sold at dispensaries in Colorado. The chemical, methylene chloride, is prohibited by Colorado’s marijuana regulators and for most uses by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency because it can cause liver and lung cancer and damage the nervous, immune and reproductive systems. (Osher and Wyloge, 1/29)
