Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Answers Needed In Excess Deaths In Young People; What Should Happen To Prisoners With Dementia?
USA Today: More Young Americans Are Dying - And It's Not Covid. Why Aren't We Searching For Answers?
Life insurance actuaries are reporting that many more people are dying – still – than in the years before the pandemic. And while deaths during COVID-19 had largely occurred among the old and infirm, this new wave is hitting prime-of-life people hard. (Dr. Pierre Kory and Mary Beth Pfeiffer, 8/11)
The Washington Post: Millions Are Being Kicked Off Medicaid. Many Should Not Be.
When states finish culling their Medicaid rolls for the first time since the pandemic began, nearly 7 million eligible people will have lost their health insurance, according to federal estimates — and more than half will be children. This slow-moving public health disaster can be avoided, if state officials act now or the federal government forces them to. (8/10)
The New York Times: I Visited The Men Who Live Behind Bars And Can't Remember Where They Are
At Federal Medical Center Devens, a federal prison in Massachusetts, there is a prisoner who thinks he is a warden. “I’m the boss. I’m going to fire you,” Victor Orena, who is 89, will tell the prison staff. (Katie Engelhart, 8/11)
The Washington Post: Drugs Like Wegovy Could Be Revolutionary — If We Can Afford Them
I have some great news: Drugmakers might well have hit upon an important new medicine for cardiovascular disease, and it’s already approved for use. (Megan McArdle, 8/10)
The Washington Post: Why The Uptick In Covid Cases Isn’t Cause For Alarm
Here we go again. In this fourth summer of covid-19, infections are once again on the rise. Emergency room visits and hospitalizations are also increasing. (Leana S. Wen, 8/10)
Stat: An Innovative Path Out Of Biotech’s “Valley Of Death”
So many promising medical innovations never reach their full potential as therapies or cures, languishing instead in a metaphoric place many of us in biotech know as “the Valley of Death.” This valley represents the gap between when a scientist makes a discovery and when that work has reached the point when a pharmaceutical company will license it, or a venture capital firm will invest in it, to get it to the point to help the patients who need it. (Roopa Ramamoorthi, 8/11)
Stat: Anavex Keeps Shifting The Goalposts In Its Clinical Trials
Anavex Life Sciences is in a tough spot. The serial dissembler of clinical trial results might be forced, finally, to tell the truth when it reads out its next study in Rett syndrome. What sets Anavex apart from all the other biotechs on my radar screen is its habit of shifting the goalposts on clinical trials. Twice last year, first in February and then in December, Anavex announced “positive” outcomes from studies of its drug called blarcamesine — except the results were derived from efficacy endpoints that were not part of the original study designs. (Adam Feuerstein, 8/10)
