Supreme Court To Consider Review Of Key Pharma Patent Discovery Process

Stat: Supreme Court To Decide Whether To Review Contentious Pharma Patent Case
In the coming weeks, the Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to review a wonky, but exceedingly important, debate over patents that has the pharmaceutical industry on edge. (Silverman, 7/14)

In other pharmaceutical industry developments —

KHN: As Big Pharma Loses Interest In New Antibiotics, Infections Are Only Growing Stronger 
Forget covid-19, monkeypox, and other viruses for the moment and consider another threat troubling infectious disease specialists: common urinary tract infections, or UTIs, that lead to emergency room visits and even hospitalizations because of the failure of oral antibiotics. There’s no Operation Warp Speed charging to rescue us from the germs that cause these infections, which expanded their range during the first year of the pandemic, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. In the past year, the FDA declined to approve two promising oral drugs — sulopenem and tebipenem — to treat drug-resistant UTIs, saying it needed more evidence they work as well as current drugs. (Allen, 7/15)

In health care industry news —

Crain's Cleveland Business: UH Discontinues Inpatient, Surgical And Emergency Services At UH Bedford, UH Richmond
University Hospitals is discontinuing inpatient, surgical and emergency department services at its Bedford and Richmond medical centers to optimize limited resources amid a local and national healthcare staffing shortage. (Coutré, 7/14)

St. Louis Public Radio: SSM Health Nurses Push For Change At SLU Hospital
Rita Reed said she was due to retire after 46 years working for SSM Health. Her decision to leave last month was in part based on issues she and her fellow nurses had with hospital management. (Woodbury, 7/14)

The Boston Globe: In Acquisition, Atrius Rejected The Biggest Names In Massachusetts Health Care. Here’s What It All Means
Experts say that the behind-the-scenes details, spelled out in court documents, are a microcosm of the jockeying for power and market share happening on the local and national scale. The result, signed off on by Attorney General Maura Healey and the state’s Supreme Judicial Court in April, will significantly expand the presence of a national insurer in Massachusetts and, experts warn, could raise health care spending for the state without improving quality. (Bartlett, 7/14)

Stat: Insurers, Courts Grapple With How And When To Pay For Wilderness Therapy
The problems started early on. The young girl from a Denver suburb — identified in a recent lawsuit only as “I.” — had problems interacting with the kids at school. She got bullied. (Bannow, 7/15)

KHN: Nurse Midwives Step Up To Provide Prenatal Care After Two Rural Hospitals Shutter Birthing Centers 
Bailee Tordai, who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy, barely made it to the prenatal checkup. Her clunky old Jeep couldn’t complete the 2-mile trip from her house to the University of Iowa’s outreach clinic in her southeastern Iowa hometown. It was a hot June day, and a wiring problem made the Jeep conk out in the street. A passerby helped Tordai, 22, push her stricken vehicle off the road and into a parking lot. Then she called her stepdad for a ride to the clinic. (Leys, 7/15)

KHN: Listen: Why Medical Debt Touches Every Corner Of America 
KHN’s Noam N. Levey talks with Sasha-Ann Simons of WBEZ about America’s sprawling medical debt crisis. Levey explains that the problem is only partially addressed with recent moves by the three major credit reporting bureaus to remove some medical debt from consumer records. A lot of this debt never reaches the credit bureaus, he says, because it is tucked away on credit cards or paid with personal loans from friends or family. (7/15)