Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
NIH To Finally Review Tactic For Lowering Cancer Drug Price
Stat: NIH Reviewing Request To Lower Cancer Drug Cost By Sidestepping Patents
One year after being asked to widen access to a pricey cancer treatment by using a controversial provision of federal law, the National Institutes of Health is only now preparing to review and assess the request. And the delay is raising fresh doubts that the Biden administration will use this tactic to address the high cost of some medicines, despite being urged to do so by dozens of lawmakers. (Silverman, 12/5)
Stat: Mirati's KRAS-Blocking Lung Cancer Drug Clears Safety Hurdle
Mirati Therapeutics said Monday that its KRAS-targeting cancer drug called adagrasib combined with another immunotherapy was well-tolerated by patients with lung cancer — avoiding the serious liver side effects and treatment discontinuations that have stalled similar efforts by Amgen. (Feuerstein, 12/5)
The Washington Post: Cancer Surgeons Should Avoid These Three Words, Researchers Warn
It’s a common scene: A patient recovering from cancer surgery speaks with their surgeon, who reassures them the procedure went well and that doctors “got it all.” But those three words can sow serious misunderstandings and even medical mistrust, suggest the authors of a recent viewpoint article in JAMA Oncology. (Blakemore, 12/5)
In news about the lung disease silicosis —
Public Health Watch: Ancient Lung Disease Strikes Countertop Cutters In LA
The men are haggard, starved of breath and tethered to oxygen tanks. Neither will live to an old age; without lung transplants, both may die within a year. Juan Gonzalez Morin, 36, and Gustavo Reyes Gonzalez, 32, made a living cutting and grinding engineered-stone countertops, the synthetic slabs that have become popular with consumers. Cheaper and more durable than natural stone, they are composed of crushed quartz bound by a plastic resin. But the cutting of the slabs releases tiny crystalline silica particles that can kill workers who inhale them. (Morris and Rojas, 12/3)
