Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Weight-Loss Drugs May Complicate Surgery Under Anesthesia
AP: Popular Weight-Loss Drugs Like Wegovy May Raise Risk Of Complications Under Anesthesia
Patients who take blockbuster drugs like Wegovy or Ozempic for weight loss may face life-threatening complications if they need surgery or other procedures that require empty stomachs for anesthesia. This summer’s guidance to halt the medication for up to a week may not go far enough, either. Some anesthesiologists in the U.S. and Canada say they’ve seen growing numbers of patients on the weight-loss drugs who inhaled food and liquid into their lungs while sedated because their stomachs were still full — even after following standard instructions to stop eating for six to eight hours in advance. (Aleccia, 8/13)
AP: Insurers Won't Cover New Alzheimer's Treatment For Some Customers
Some private insurers are balking at paying for the first drug fully approved to slow mental decline in Alzheimer’s patients. Insurers selling coverage in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New York, among other states, told The Associated Press they won’t cover Leqembi with insurance offered on the individual market and through employers because they still see the $26,000-a-year drug as experimental. (Murphy, 8/11)
KFF Health News: Journalists Sum Up The Costs To Patients Of New Weight Loss Drugs And Hospital Mergers
KFF Health News correspondent Rachana Pradhan discussed a lobbying effort to get Medicare to cover a new class of weight loss drugs on NPR’s “Morning Edition” on Aug. 10. ... KFF Health News senior contributing editor Elisabeth Rosenthal discussed how hospital mergers are leading to higher medical bills for patients on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” on July 31. (8/12)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Axios: Costliest Medicare Drugs More Than Tripled In Price Since Entering Market: Report
The 25 drugs that accounted for the highest Medicare Part D spending in 2021 more than tripled in price since they first entered the market, according to a new report from AARP. The report comes just weeks before the Biden administration is to announce the first 10 Medicare Part D drugs that will be considered for price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act, on Sept. 1. (Dreher, 8/11)
Axios: Scrutiny Over Drug Costs Shifts To Pharmacy Benefit Managers
The pharmaceutical industry has taken most of the heat in Congress and the public's mind for high drug prices. But increasingly, scrutiny is shifting to a different part of the supply chain: pharmacy benefit managers. PBMs may not resonate with the average person the way big drugmakers like Pfizer do, but they play an important role in determining how much people wind up paying for medicines. (Sullivan, 8/14)
Stat: White House Drug Shortages Task Force Keeps Mum With Congress
A White House task force created to work on drug shortage reforms has yet to contact the lawmakers who are writing legislation to stem shortages — and it’s not clear when the task force will recommend policies. (Wilkerson, 8/11)
Fox News: ‘Major Step Forward’ For Adult Patients As New Blood Cancer Drug Receives FDA Approval
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval for Talvey, a new antibody-based therapy for adult patients with tough-to-treat blood cancers such as multiple myeloma. The drug is made by Johnson & Johnson. This is a "major step forward" for the myeloma field, according to Dr. Ola Landgren, M.D., PhD, chief of the Myeloma Program at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. (Rudy, 8/11)
Stat: FOP Patients Plead For FDA Approval Of Drug Despite Muddled Data
Emma Albee knows the experimental drug she takes is not a cure. It won’t allow her to stop using the wheelchair she’s relied on since adolescence, and it’s not going to take away the latticework of bone that has locked her hips in place. But for Albee and the roughly 1,000 people with a rare genetic disorder that causes their body to grow rigid bone where it doesn’t belong, the drug symbolizes a future in which years of research, advocacy, and tireless fundraising might bring about a multitude of medicines for what is now an untreatable disease. (Joseph and Garde, 8/14)
Los Angeles Times: City Of Hope Researchers Develop Promising New Therapy For Advanced Ovarian Cancer
Researchers with City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the nation, have published preclinical research in Nature Communications demonstrating that a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cell therapy worked against ovarian cancer in the laboratory and in preclinical models. (8/11)
Modern Healthcare: Elon Musk’s Neuralink Lands $280M From Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund
Neuralink, a neurotechnology company founded by Elon Musk, raised $280 million in a Series D funding round. ... Neuralink, founded in 2016, has developed an implantable chip designed to connect brain activity to a computer. After Neuralink won approval from the Food and Drug Administration in May to run human clinical trials, the company said it could start testing within six months. It has only run trials with animals, which drew scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers after 1,500 animals died under Neualink's care, according to a report from Reuters. (Perna, 8/11)
