Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Sun's Out, Sunscreen's Out? Another Carcinogen Alert Is Raised
Bloomberg: Sunscreen Worries Grow As Another Potential Carcinogen Found
Researchers asked U.S. regulators to pull some sunscreens from the market, including brands such as Coppertone, Banana Boat and Neutrogena, saying they’ve found evidence of a potential carcinogen. Scientists petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to remove from sale all sunscreens containing the active ingredient octocrylene. Products made with the chemical may contain benzophenone, a suspected carcinogen that also can interfere with key hormones and reproductive organs, according to a group led by Craig Downs, executive director of the nonprofit Haereticus Environmental Laboratory that studies risks to health and the environment. A trade group called the report misleading. (Edney, 8/9)
Fox News: Scientists Look To Blood Tests To Spot Dementia Risk Early On
A recent study out of Mississippi indicated a blood test was useful in determining patients facing an increased risk in cognitive decline, decades ahead of symptom onset. Researchers have been looking to blood tests as an easier alternative to detect Alzheimer’s as opposed to pricey brain scans and spinal taps. The study from the University of Mississippi Medical Center comes after a blood test developed by C2N Diagnostics of St. Louis became the first to land on the market last December, and months prior, a team of researchers from Sweden made headlines when part of a three-cohort study across Colombia, Sweden and Arizona found signs of the cognitive disease 20 years before anticipated symptom onset, when using Eli Lilly's blood test. (Rivas, 8/9)
Stat: Will Controversy Over Alzheimer’s Drug Doom The FDA Faster Approval Path?
For most of its history, the Food and Drug Administration’s shortcut pathway for approving certain medicines was hardly contentious among anyone but the most diehard agency nerds; for years, only a handful of drug makers even used it. Now, however, just as the accelerated approval program is reaching peak popularity, key supporters, including Oncology Center of Excellence Director Rick Pazdur, are warning that it’s “under attack.” (Florko, 8/10)
Stateline: Laws For Prescription Drug Brokers Could Soon Have Teeth
Buoyed by a major, unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling, some states are pressing ahead with efforts to rein in one of the most obscure—but also most potent—players in the prescription drug supply chain. Pharmacy benefit managers, known as PBMs, are the companies that administer the prescription drug programs of health insurance plans. Since appearing in the 1980s, they have grown in influence. (Ollove, 8/9)
Stat: After Months Of Controversy, Pfizer Agrees To Sell A Discontinued Eye Drug
After months of controversy, Pfizer (PFE) has reached a deal to sell a decades-old eye drug that it recently discontinued over long-running manufacturing concerns, a move that prompted patients to complain they were left in the lurch. In a brief statement, the drug maker disclosed that it had transferred the rights to the eye drop — which is called phospholine iodide and is used to treat a rare form of glaucoma — to Fera Pharmaceuticals, a small privately held company run by a former executive at Sandoz, the generic unit at Novartis (NVS). Terms and a closing date for the sale were not disclosed. (Silverman, 8/9)
KHN: Surgeons Cash In On Stakes In Private Medical Device Companies
Several orthopedic surgeons who invested in Renovis Surgical Technologies made big money when a Japanese technology giant snatched up the small California medical device company. Kyocera Corp., which was eager to expand its U.S. spine and joint implant sales, bought Renovis’ assets in 2019. While the parties kept the sale price under wraps, Renovis’ physician stockholders held stakes valued at over $34 million by the end of that year, with nearly half that sum to company founder and chief executive Dr. John Steinmann, according to the federal government’s “Open Payments” database, which tracks payments to doctors from device and drug companies. (Schulte, 8/10)
