Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Ideas To Finance New Medications; Narcan Isn't The Best Opioid Addiction Tool
Bloomberg: The Biomedical Revolution Needs A Few Good Economists
This is a golden age for biomedicine. Over the past few years, mRNA vaccines have saved millions of lives and enabled business and social life to resume at much safer levels. There are pending vaccines for malaria and for dengue, both showing good signs of working. There is serious talk of using Crispr to fix sickle cell anemia. An mRNA vaccine against some forms of cancer is more speculative, but seems possible. (Tyler Cowen, 4/11)
Los Angeles Times: Overdose Crisis Demands Wider Access Not Just To Narcan, But Also To Methadone
When you receive a scary diagnosis — for cancer, heart disease or other serious illness — one of your first calls is probably to a doctor who can offer the full range of evidence-based care. But if your diagnosis were for opioid addiction and you came to see me, an addiction specialist, federal regulations written half a century ago would bar me from prescribing the most effective treatment: methadone. (Ashish Thakrar, 4/10)
Dallas Morning News: Texas Schools’ Fentanyl Response Has Saved Lives. There Is More Work To Do
After a string of overdoses left three Carrollton-Farmers Branch students dead in recent months, the district ramped up an awareness campaign and made Narcan available on every one of its campuses, according to news reports. (4/9)
The Boston Globe: How To Retain Access To Abortion Pills, Thanks To The Right Wing
Medication abortion, also known as pharmaceutical abortion or abortion with pills, is a pregnancy termination protocol that involves taking two different drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, that can be safely used during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. Since its approval, mifepristone has been used by many millions of women in the United States and elsewhere to safely induce early abortions. (Lisa Kearns and Arthur L. Caplan, 4/11)
Scientific American: A Bad Medication Abortion Decision Threatens The Future Availability Of Drugs In The U.S.
When federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk suspended the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the drug mifepristone on April 7, he significantly jeopardized access to abortion. In addition to dealing an immediate blow to accessing an essential and time-sensitive health care service, this decision also upended a drug approval system that for decades has been based on scientific evidence and expert medical opinions. (Liz Borkowski and Julia Strasser, 4/10)
Bloomberg: Abortion Pill Mifepristone Ruling Threatens Pharmaceutical Innovation
A Texas federal judge’s ruling to remove the 23-year old drug mifepristone from the market not only threatens abortion access in the US — it’s also an appalling sideswipe at the Food and Drug Administration’s authority and expertise. (Lisa Jarvis, 4/11)
Columbus Dispatch: Texas Judge Would Ban Viagra Not Abortion Pill If Safety Was Concern
If “safety” is Kacsmaryck’s concern, will he be coming after penicillin next? You can bet he won’t try to outlaw Viagra; even Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would put the brakes on that one. So let’s cut the crap. Opposition to mifepristone isn’t about safety. (Dale Butland, 4/11)
Bloomberg: Abortion Pill Ban: Texas Judge Rule On Mifepristone Undermines FDA, Big Pharma
A Texas federal judge has chosen to “cherry-pick” the facts around mifepristone — a pill that is demonstrated to be safer than Tylenol — and ban it. Lisa says it sets an extremely dangerous precedent for the FDA. The pharmaceutical industry, to a certain degree, conducts research under the assumption that someday, if proven safe, their drug will be available at a local CVS. (Jessica Karl, 4/11)
