USA Today: What End Of COVID Health Emergency Means For Tests, Vaccine, Medicaid
While it closes a chapter in history, health experts point out the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over as the virus continues to claim about 1,000 lives each week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To date, more than 1.1 million people in the country have died. “There’s no real mechanism to declare an end to the pandemic, but it is an end to the emergency phase, both in the U.S. and globally,” said Crystal Watson, associate professor at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. (Rodriguez and Alltucker, 5/11)

Reuters: The US COVID Health Emergency Is Ending. What Changes? 
The U.S. government on Thursday will end the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency that allowed millions of Americans to receive vaccines, tests and treatments at no cost. The emergency is also tied to telehealth flexibilities, Medicaid enrollment safeguards, and the ability of government health agencies to collect data on the spread of the coronavirus. Here is what will change after Thursday, and what does not. (5/10)

AP: As Public Health Emergency Ends, Pandemic-Era Support Programs Have Already Been Fading Away 
The formal end of the national Public Health Emergency on Thursday is largely a symbolic and psychological step, representing the country’s formal emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic. But behind the scenes, several core aspects of America’s pandemic-era emergency safety net are also coming to a close, from extra food assistance to automatic re-enrollment in Medicaid. While these measures were always designed to be temporary, their expiration is inevitably producing hardship and confusion. (Khalil, 5/11)

NBC News: How Covid-Related Costs Could Rise As Public Health Emergency Ends
Most people can expect to pay more for Covid tests after the federal public health emergency expires at the end of the day Thursday. The emergency declaration guaranteed widespread access to free Covid-related health services starting in January 2020. (Bendix, 5/10)

Free covid tests will be available through May 31 —

Bloomberg: Free Covid Tests Via USPS Are Available At CovidTests.Gov Until May 31
The popular offering will be available until the end of May, according to a press release this week from the Biden Administration outlining the transition of Covid measures. Since the online portal launched in January 2022, the program has distributed more than 750 million rapid antigen tests to over two-thirds of American households. (Griffin, 5/10)

What other changes are ahead? —

The New York Times: As Covid Emergency Ends, Surveillance Shifts To The Sewers 
When the Covid-19 public health emergency expires in the United States on Thursday, the coronavirus will not disappear. But many of the data streams that have helped Americans monitor the virus will go dark. ... But experts who want to keep tabs on the virus will still have one valuable option: sewage. People who are infected with the coronavirus shed the pathogen in their stool, whether or not they take a Covid test or seek medical care, enabling officials to track levels of the virus in communities over time and to watch for the emergence of new variants. (Anthe, 5/11)

Stat: What's Next For Mental Health Apps When Pandemic Flexibilities End?
In April 2020, the Food and Drug Administration announced a pandemic enforcement policy allowing mental health app developers to release certain treatment products without seeking authorization from the agency. With the end of the official public health emergency, companies that did so will now need to submit the products for FDA clearance and have them pass an early stage of review by early November — or remove the products from the market. (Aguilar, 5/11)

Politico: What Title 42's End Means For The Future Of Immigration Policy
The pandemic-era policy used to block migrants at the southern border is coming to an end this week. Lifting so-called Title 42 will mean a major policy shift, one expected to draw an increase of asylum seekers to the U.S. — and scrutiny over how the Biden administration will handle that influx. ... The government has used Title 42 to turn away asylum seekers more than 2 million times for more than three years. But it’s not actually an immigration policy. Section 265 of Title 42 of U.S. Code addresses public health, social welfare and civil rights. In March 2020, the Trump administration ordered the CDC chief to implement the Title 42 authority and turn people away at the border on public health grounds. (Ward, 5/10)

The New York Times: What Does The End Of The Covid Health Emergency Mean For New York City? 
The city will keep distributing free home tests at libraries and other locations until its supply from the federal government runs out. The city’s public hospitals and clinics will continue indefinitely to provide low-cost or free care to the estimated 200,000 uninsured people in the city, as it does for other illnesses. “Covid-related health care is going to start looking a lot more like all the other health care we receive, which involves health insurance for people who have it, and turning to our safety-net health care system for people who don’t,” said Rima Oken, director of policy for the New York City Health Department’s disease control division, at a panel hosted last week by the Pandemic Response Institute. (Otterman, 5/10)

The New York Times: Public Health Lessons Learned From The Coronavirus Pandemic 
A lot went wrong during the coronavirus pandemic as the virus tore through a polarized nation and public health leaders, policymakers and elected officials struggled to respond. Chronic underinvestment in public health at the federal, state and local levels only made things worse. All told, more than 1.1 million people have died of Covid-19 in the United States, and more than 1,000 are still dying each week. (Stolberg and Weiland, 5/11)

Wired: The End Of The Covid Emergency Is A Warning
In the US, new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are all trending downward, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s also true of cases and deaths in the EU. But when the US ends its emergency on May 11, the CDC will stop tracking community levels of transmission and instead will track overall hospitalization and death rates. The emergency declaration mandated that local data be provided, and that will now lapse. And with less data, it will be harder to track new variants, which in turn will complicate the puzzle of updating vaccines to provide the most protection, although in some areas wastewater surveillance and genomic surveillance will continue. (Hoover, 5/9)

The Boston Globe: Is The COVID Pandemic Really Over? Here’s What The Data Show
Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency medicine physician and public health expert at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said that, while overall deaths this spring are slightly lower than expected, they would be lower still if not for the continued presence of the coronavirus. “By now, I was hoping we would actually have a lot of deficit mortality,” said Faust, who analyzed Massachusetts mortality numbers for The Boston Globe. Deficit mortality occurs when surges of illness, like last winter’s COVID uptick, cause people to die sooner than expected, leading to a compensating period of fewer-than-usual deaths. (Kuchment, 5/10)

Axios: End Of COVID Emergency Leaves A Black Hole Of Health Data
The expiration of the COVID-19 public health emergency today will cut off a pipeline of data that tallied the pandemic's human toll and offered a view of how the stealthy virus spread. More than 1.1 million Americans have died from COVID over the course of the public health emergency, or about 980 people a day. (Moreno, 5/11)

More reaction from health care experts and families affected by covid —

Stat: Covid Emergency Is Ending, But Ashish Jha Says Fight Goes On
On the eve of the expiration date for the federally declared coronavirus public health emergency, White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha warned that the pandemic is far from over. “I don’t see this as an end to the pandemic or fighting Covid,” Jha said at a STAT event in Boston on Wednesday. “I see this as a transition out of this emergency phase into a very different phase.” (Castillo, 5/10)

CNN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta: The Covid-19 Emergency Is Ending. It's Time For The Patient To Leave The Hospital
If you look only at absolute numbers, the decision to end the PHE might make you scratch your head. After all, there were almost 9,900 new hospital admissions related to Covid in the US for the week ending May 1, and there were roughly 1,050 deaths per week at the end of April. Comparatively, when the first PHE declaration was signed at the end of January 2020, there were no deaths reported in the United States (the first US death wouldn’t be tallied until February 29). In fact, it wasn’t until February 10 that deaths worldwide topped 1,000. In medicine, however, numbers and data are important, but trends tell an even richer, more complete story. (Gupta, 5/10)

The New York Times: Families Of Those Lost To Covid Wrestle With Mixed Emotions As Emergency Ends 
More than 1.1 million Americans have died of Covid, and the rate of death has markedly slowed in recent months. In 2020 and 2021, it was the third most common cause of death; by this point in 2023, preliminary data show, it has dropped to seventh. But the move by the Biden administration that takes effect on Thursday has landed with mixed emotions for many Americans who have lost family members and friends to the pandemic. (Bosman, 5/11)

CIDRAP: Social Media Posts Reveal Emergency Medicine Docs' Strain During Pandemic
A study today in JAMA Network Open found that social media posts spotlighted heightened levels of anxiety, anger, and depression among emergency medicine (EM) physicians during COVID-19 compared with posts during the prepandemic period. The authors of the study say their findings offer insight into the professional burnout seen widely across the medical field in the past 3 years. (Soucheray, 5/10)

What the government is saying —

HHS.Gov: Fact Sheet: End Of The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
We know so many people continue to be affected by COVID-19, particularly seniors, people who are immunocompromised, and people with disabilities. That is why our response to the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, remains a public health priority. To ensure an orderly transition, we have been working for months so that we can continue to meet the needs of those affected by COVID-19. (5/9)

HHS.gov: Letter To U.S. Governors From HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra On Planning For The COVID-19 PHE 
Through partnerships with you and others, we are now in a better place in our response than we were three years ago, and we can transition away from the emergency phase. (Xavier Becerra, 5/10)

Stat: Trump Declares Coronavirus Pandemic A National Emergency
President Trump declared the Covid-19 pandemic a national emergency on Friday, the first time such a declaration has been issued over an infectious disease outbreak since the H1N1 influenza pandemic of 2009. In a Rose Garden press conference, Trump said his declaration would free $50 billion in federal resources to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus and the respiratory disease it causes, which has sickened over 1,000 Americans and killed thousands more worldwide. (3/13/20)

Reuters: Trump Declares Coronavirus National Emergency, Says He Will Most Likely Be Tested
President Trump cautioned that Americans will have to make sacrifices and change their daily practices, a stark difference from two weeks ago when he said people should use common sense but otherwise not change their routines. “It could get worse. The next eight weeks will be critical,” he said. Shaking hands freely with the gathered business executives, the 73-year-old Trump later acknowledged he expected to be tested for the virus. He had come into contact with a Brazilian official last Saturday who later tested positive for coronavirus. (3/13/20)

The White House: Proclamation On Declaring A National Emergency Concerning The Novel Coronavirus Disease
The spread of COVID-19 within our Nation’s communities threatens to strain our Nation’s healthcare systems. As of March 12, 2020, 1,645 people from 47 States have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. It is incumbent on hospitals and medical facilities throughout the country to assess their preparedness posture and be prepared to surge capacity and capability. Additional measures, however, are needed to successfully contain and combat the virus in the United States. (3/13/20)

CNBC: Trump Declares National Emergency Over Coronavirus
But Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned, “There will be many more cases” of coronavirus in coming weeks. (3/13/20)

CNN: Trump Declares Sunday A National Day Of Prayer
President Trump tweeted that he is declaring Sunday will be a National Day of Prayer as many churches around the country are closed due to the spread of coronavirus. Large gatherings have been discouraged as social distancing is being used in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus. (3/13/20)

CDC.gov: COVID-19 Timeline 
This timeline provides information about select moments in the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and around the world beginning from its known origins to today. (5/11)

Stat: Insulin Makers, PBMs Echo Old Finger-Pointing In Senate Hearing
A Senate hearing on high insulin costs billed as a blockbuster showdown with drugmakers and middlemen turned out to be a familiar case of political theater that appeared to satisfy no one. The nation’s three biggest insulin makers, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi, and the trio of middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers, Express Scripts, OptumRx and CVS Health, testified Wednesday in a three-hour hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The hearing sets up a debate by the same committee Thursday over a package of bills aimed at PBM reform. (Owermohle, 5/10)

The Hill: Insulin Companies, PBMs Pass The Blame As They Face Bipartisan Ire On Pricing
In their opening statements, drug manufacturing leaders cited numerous causes of insulin’s sky-high price that exist outside their companies. ... Representatives from the PBM industry subtly shot back at the drug company representatives, insisting that their companies have a key role in keeping costs down. (Choi, 5/10)

The Washington Examiner: Pharma CEOs Play Insulin Price Blame Game During Bipartisan Senate Grilling
Only Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks agreed to one of Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders's (I-VT) numerous requests of the chief executives, pledging his company would not raise the prices of any insulin drugs currently on the market. He joined the other CEOs in declining Sanders's other pleas, such as lowering list prices on other drugs that cost less in Europe and Canada. (Jacobs, 5/10)

KFF Health News: PBMs, The Brokers Who Control Drug Prices, Finally Get Washington’s Attention 
For two decades, patients and physicians eagerly awaited a lower-cost version of the world’s bestselling drug, Humira, while its maker, AbbVie, fought off potential competitors by building a wall of more than 250 patents around it. When the first Humira biosimilar — essentially a generic version — finally hit the market in January, it came with an unpleasant surprise. The biosimilar’s maker, Amgen, launched two versions of the drug, which treats a host of conditions including rheumatoid arthritis. They were identical in every way but this: One was priced at about $1,600 for a two-week supply, 55% off Humira’s list price. But the other was priced at around $3,300, only about 5% off. And OptumRx, one of three powerhouse brokers that determine which drugs Americans get, recommended option No. 2: the more expensive version. (Allen, 5/11)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

Stat: Lawmakers Press CMS To Release New Breakthrough Device Coverage Rule
An array of lawmakers called for a simpler reimbursement pathway for breakthrough devices at a Ways and Means health subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. They echoed a prevalent concern of medical device makers: that when device companies struggle to obtain insurance coverage, it discourages device innovation and limits patient options. (Lawrence, 5/10)

On the debt-limit impasse —

USA Today: Debt Limit Fight: Here's How It Could Impact Social Security Checks
While they made their jabs, the health and financial security of millions of Americans across the country remained at risk. Though getting Republicans and Democrats to agree on financial aid is never a simple task, the side effect of the standoff is clear: U.S. residents who rely on government payments for their salaries, retirement money, food assistance, medical care and more would lose those benefits if the nation doesn't have money to cover its obligations. (Woodall, Looker, Elbeshbishi and Tran, 5/10)

The New York Times: Biden Woos Republican Moderates In Debt Ceiling Standoff 
President Biden sought to drive a wedge among Republicans in their escalating dispute over spending and debt on Wednesday, effectively reaching out to moderates in hopes of convincing them to break away from Speaker Kevin McCarthy rather than risk triggering a national default that could throw the economy into a tailspin. Appearing in a competitive suburb with a vulnerable House Republican in his sights, Mr. Biden accused Mr. McCarthy of pursuing a radical strategy at the behest of the “extreme” wing of his party loyal to former President Donald J. Trump, putting the country in economic jeopardy in a way that he said reasonable Republicans of his own era in the Senate would not have done. (Baker and Fandos, 5/10)

The New York Times: How Past Debt Limit Crises Shaped Biden’s No-Negotiation Stance 
Battles in 2011 and 2013 taught President Biden not to lean on a House speaker who has little room to negotiate and to keep debt ceiling talks separate from the budget. (Rogers, 5/10)

The 19th: Over-The-Counter Birth Control Moves One Step Closer To FDA Approval
An influential advisory panel recommended that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approve an oral contraceptive pill for over-the-counter use without an age restriction. While hormonal birth control is available without a prescription in many other countries, this medication, Opill, would be the first such option in the United States. (Luthra, 5/10)

NBC News: FDA Panels Back Making Opill Birth Control Pill Available OTC
The 17-0 vote by two advisory panels came despite serious reservations from agency officials about the quality of the data used to support switching the birth control pill, called Opill, from prescription to over the counter. The agency did not have concerns about the safety and effectiveness of the drug. The FDA is not required to follow the recommendation of the committees, though the vote is expected to weigh heavily on its final decision, expected in late summer. (Lovelace Jr., 5/10)

In other reproductive health news —

NPR: A Plastic Sheet With A Pouch Could Be A 'Game Changer' For Maternal Mortality
It's a startling statistic. Every year, 70,000 women around the world basically bleed to death after childbirth. That averages out to nearly 200 deaths a day and makes postpartum hemorrhage a leading cause of maternal deaths. Now a new study points to a surprisingly simple and inexpensive solution: Basically, if the woman lies on a plastic sheet with a small transparent pouch at the other end to collect the blood, the medical team has an immediate sense of how much danger she's in and can take swift action. The cost of the sheet-with-a-pouch: Between $1-2. (Chatterjee, 5/10)

AP: Vermont Governor Signs 1st-In-Nation Shield Bills That Explicitly Include Medicated Abortion 
Vermont’s Republican governor signed abortion and gender affirming shield bills into law Wednesday that are the first in the country to explicitly include protecting access to a medication widely used in abortions even if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration withdraws its approval of the pill, mifepristone. The bills protect providers from discipline for providing legally protected reproductive and gender affirming health care services. (Rathke, 5/10)

Abortion news from Nevada and North Carolina —

AP: Nevada Advances Proposal To Enshrine Abortion Rights Into State Constitution
Nevada lawmakers on Wednesday passed a joint resolution that would codify reproductive rights — including already-existing abortion access up to 24 weeks — into the state constitution. The state Assembly approved of the measure 28 to 14 along party lines, about three weeks after the state Senate passed it 13 to 8 along party lines. State lawmakers must pass the resolution again in 2025 before it would go before voters as a ballot question in 2026. If passed, the resolution would provide the highest level of state protection for not only abortion rights, but also other reproductive access, including postpartum and prenatal care, as well as birth control. (Stern, 5/10)

AP: North Carolina Governor Makes Last-Minute Plea To Block New Abortion Limits 
North Carolina’s Democratic governor rallied residents and local doctors Wednesday in Wilmington as part of a last-minute bid to persuade at least one Republican lawmaker to sustain his expected veto of a bill banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. The visit marks the second day of Gov. Roy Cooper’s cross-state campaign to urge the constituents of four GOP state legislators to demand they uphold abortion access after expressing hesitance about further restrictions during their election campaigns last year. (Schoenbaum, 5/11)

From Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia —

AP: Rape, Incest Exceptions To Louisiana Abortion Ban Rejected By GOP Lawmakers
Republican lawmakers in Louisiana rejected legislation Wednesday that would add exceptions in cases of rape and incest to one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. This legislative session, there is a package of bills aimed at loosening Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban by adding exceptions, clarifying “vague language” and decreasing the punishment for doctors convicted of performing illegal abortions. However, much of the proposed legislation died in a GOP-controlled committee Wednesday or was voluntarily deferred by the bills’ authors. (Cline, 5/11)

AP: South Carolina Republicans Advance New Abortion Restrictions
South Carolina Republicans are pushing new abortion restrictions in a late attempt to curtail access after a near-total ban failed last month. A Senate bill that would ban abortion except in the earliest weeks of pregnancy is moving quickly through the South Carolina House in the first sign that Republican leaders may be close to restoring limits passed in 2021 but overturned by the state Supreme Court. (Pollard, 5/10)

The Texas Tribune: Abortion Bills Gain Little Traction In Texas Legislature 
The first Texas legislative session since the overturn of Roe v. Wade was “a draw,” said Rep. Donna Howard, a Democrat from Austin, as abortion bills on either side of the aisle languished in parliamentary purgatory. “For the first time that I can remember, for quite a few sessions, back to at least 2011, maybe before that, we haven’t really dealt with abortion,” Howard said. (Klibanoff, 5/11)

AP: Republican Virginia Attorney General Miyares Defends Staying Out Of Abortion Pill Case
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has defended his decision not to join most of his Republican counterparts around the country in supporting a lawsuit challenging the safety and approval of the abortion medication mifepristone. In a wide-ranging interview Tuesday with The Associated Press, Miyares said he opted not to sign onto the amicus brief by 22 other Republican attorneys general earlier this year because he had concerns about whether the plaintiffs in the case had standing to sue. (Rankin and Lavoie, 5/10)

The 19th: Abortion Access Is At Stake In This Summer’s Virginia Democratic Primary
As abortion access continues to dwindle in the South, its future in Virginia is set to loom large in this fall’s legislative elections. But this summer, before the parties duke it out for control of the statehouse, abortion rights advocates are eyeing a key primary that will pit [Lashrecse] Aird against the last anti-abortion-rights Democrat in Virginia. (Barclay, 5/11)

Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump voice their opinions —

The Hill: McConnell Breaks With Tuberville Over Blanket Hold On Military Nominees
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said Wednesday that he does not support Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) blanket hold on more than 180 non-political military promotions, which Democrats say is keeping qualified people out of key roles. “I don’t support putting a hold on military nominations, I don’t support that,” McConnell told reporters. Tuberville has held up the promotions of 184 general and flag officers for weeks to protest the Defense Department’s abortion policy of providing paid leave and travel reimbursements to service members who have to cross state lines to obtain abortions and fertility treatments. (Bolton, 5/10)

The Hill: Trump Calls Overturning Roe ‘A Great Victory,’ Dodges On Federal Abortion Ban 
Former President Trump called the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade “a great victory” but did not say whether he would support a federal ban on abortion if he’s elected again. “It was such a great victory and people are starting to understand it now,” Trump said of the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which struck down the 1973 decision protecting abortion rights, when asked at a CNN town hall on Wednesday how he would appeal to female voters in 2024. (Manchester, 5/10)

Also —

Axios: Report: "Sharp Increase" In Crimes Against Abortion Clinics Post-Roe
The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was followed by a "sharp increase" in violence directed against abortion providers and patients, according to a new report from the National Abortion Federation. (Gonzalez, 5/11)

Reuters: Human Genome Reboot Better Reflects Global Population
Scientists on Wednesday unveiled a new accounting of the human genome that improves on its predecessor by including a rich diversity of people to better reflect the global population - a boost to ongoing efforts to identify genetic underpinnings of diseases and new ways to treat them. This "pangenome" achievement was announced two decades after the first sequencing of the human genome, a feat that transformed biomedical research by giving scientists a reference map to analyze DNA for clues about disease-related mutations. (Dunham, 5/10)

AP: DNA Project Gives Scientists Diverse Genome For Comparison 
For two decades, scientists have been comparing every person’s full set of DNA they study to a template that relies mostly on genetic material from one man affectionately known as “the guy from Buffalo.” But they’ve long known that this template for comparison, or “reference genome,” has serious limits because it doesn’t reflect the spectrum of human diversity. (Ungar, 5/10)

The Washington Post: Scientists Unveil The Human Pangenome, A More Diverse Genetic Blueprint 
The pangenome, unveiled in the journal Nature, is based on the full genetic blueprints of 47 people who were sequenced between 2008 and 2015 for another study, including some of African, Asian, Caribbean, American and European ancestries. Scientists hope to expand the new tool over the next two years to incorporate 350 genetic blueprints from around the world. While the human genome is like a single road, the pangenome resembles a subway map, converging in parts of the sequence that are common to most people and branching out in areas where we differ. (Johnson, 5/10)

Also —

AP: 1st Babies Born In Britain Using DNA From 3 People
Britain’s fertility regulator on Wednesday confirmed the births of the U.K.’s first babies created using an experimental technique combining DNA from three people, an effort to prevent the children from inheriting rare genetic diseases. The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority said fewer than five babies have been born this way in the U.K. but did not provide further details to protect the families’ identities. The news was first reported by the Guardian newspaper. (Cheng, 5/10)

The New York Times: Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise In Small Trial 
The vaccine provoked an immune response in half of the patients treated, and those people showed no relapse of their cancer during the course of the study, a finding that outside experts described as extremely promising. The study, published in Nature, was a landmark in the yearslong movement to make cancer vaccines tailored to the tumors of individual patients. (Mueller, 5/10)

CNN: An MRNA Vaccine That Programs The Body To Fight Pancreatic Cancer Shows Early Promise
When Barbara Brigham was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September 2020, the odds were not in her favor. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies, fatal in 88% of patients. It is also one of the hardest to treat. Tumors can be surgically removed, but they come back within seven to nine months in 90% of patients. Chemotherapy can help prolong life, but it too is rarely a cure. Radiation, immunotherapy and targeted therapies also don’t work. (Goodman, 5/10)

Read the study —

Vaccine boosts T cells that target pancreatic tumours

On peanut allergies —

NBC News: Toddlers Saw Peanut Allergies Ease After Wearing 'Peanut Patch' In Trial
A wearable patch could prevent severe allergic reactions in toddlers with peanut allergies, according to the results of a promising clinical trial. The late-stage trial, which involved more than 200 children ages 1 to 3 with peanut allergies, found that after wearing the experimental patch around 22 hours a day for a year, 67% were able to tolerate 300 to 1,000 milligrams of peanut protein — the equivalent of one to four peanuts. The findings were published Wednesday evening in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Bendix, 5/10)

On Lyme disease —

Reuters: Lingering Nerve Symptoms From Lyme Disease May Be Tied To Immune Response 
Neurologic complications of Lyme disease such as hand and feet numbness and pain that do not resolve with treatment may be due to an exaggerated immune response rather than the infection itself, a study published on Wednesday suggests. Researchers found that Lyme disease patients with persistent central nervous system problems have high blood levels of interferon alpha, an inflammatory protein produced by the immune system in response to infection. (Leo, 5/10)

On mosquito-borne diseases —

Bloomberg: Increased Chikungunya Cases Adds Urgency To Vaccine Race
When you think of mosquito-borne illnesses, chikungunya is probably not the first one that comes to mind. But it’s a virus you may soon be hearing about more often. “Longer stretches of warmer periods in the south of the Americas have enabled the mosquito to do well in places where it didn’t do well before,” said Thais dos Santos, an advisor on surveillance and control of arboviral diseases at the WHO’s Pan American Health Organization. (Peng, 5/10)

WRDW: Invasive, Aggressive Mosquitoes Stir Concern In 2-State Region
Experts are concerned about the “alarming spread” of an invasive and aggressive mosquito species found in Georgia and South Carolina. Asian tiger mosquitoes are black with distinctive white stripes. They first entered the U.S. in the 1980s through shipments of used tires from northern Asia, according to the Center for Invasive Species Research. These mosquitoes can transmit severe and debilitating diseases including dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika virus. (5/9)

The Atlantic: Your Soap Might Be Making You More Attractive To Mosquitoes
But to focus only on a mosquito’s hankering for flesh is to leave a whole chapter of the pests’ scent-seeking saga “largely overlooked,” Clément Vinauger, a chemical ecologist at Virginia Tech, told me. Mosquitoes are omnivores, tuned to sniff out blood and plants. And nowadays, most humans, especially those in the Western world, tend to smell a bit like both, thanks to all the floral, citrusy lotions and potions that so many of us slather atop our musky flesh. (Wu, 5/10)

The New York Times: Addiction Treatment Medicine Is Vastly Underprescribed, Especially By Race, Study Finds 
Despite the continuing rise in opioid overdose deaths, one of the most effective treatments for opioid addiction is still drastically underprescribed in the United States, especially for Black patients, according to a large new study. From 2016 through 2019, scarcely more than 20 percent of patients diagnosed with opioid use disorder filled prescriptions for buprenorphine, the medication considered the gold standard in opioid addiction treatment, despite repeated visits to health care providers, according to the study, which was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Hoffman, 5/10)

Stat: Black Patients With Opioid Addiction Lack Equal Access To Treatment
Black people are far less likely than other Americans to receive buprenorphine, a key medication for treating opioid use disorder, according to a new study. White patients in need of addiction care were prescribed buprenorphine at more than twice the rate of Black patients in the six months preceding an addiction-related health emergency, according to the analysis. The treatment gap continued at a similar rate in the six months after an overdose, hospitalization, or admission to a rehab facility. (Facher, 5/10)

More on the opioid and 'tranq' crisis —

NPR: Trump's 2024 Campaign Promise To Execute Drug Offenders Is A Long Shot
Former President Donald Trump spoke to New Hampshire voters during a CNN town hall held at St. Anselm College in Manchester Wednesday night. Audience members asked how he would tackle issues like abortion, Second Amendment rights, immigration and more. But nobody brought up the opioid crisis plaguing the Granite State. (Jones and Speak, 5/10)

Los Angeles Times: Sheriff's Dept. To Track Presence Of Flesh-Eating Street Drug Appearing In Los Angeles
Amid troubling signs that a dangerous sedative known as “tranq” has spread even further into the local street drug supply, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has launched a pilot program to better document the drug’s presence. Xylazine is an animal tranquilizer that began appearing several years ago in illicit pills and powders on the East Coast. It’s been linked to deaths across the country and can cause human tissue to rot, leaving users with grisly wounds that sometimes lead to amputations. (Blakinger, 5/10)

WUSF Public Media: A New Program Will Provide Florida First Responders With Free Naloxone
An initiative launched by Attorney General Ashley Moody will provide Florida's first responders with free naloxone, a medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. The “Helping Heroes” program will provide naloxone to law enforcement, firefighters and paramedics at select Walmart pharmacies in Florida, according to a press release from the attorney general‘s office. Moody announced the initiative Tuesday – on National Fentanyl Awareness Day – in Clearwater. (Pinos, 5/10)

In news about psychedelic drugs —

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State To Grow Psychedelic Mushrooms Under First-Ever DEA License
Ohio State University is about to grow psychedelic mushrooms. For scientific research, people. Ohio State, alongside the mental health and wellness research and development company Inner State Inc., was awarded the first-ever license by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to grow whole psilocybin mushrooms. The mushrooms will be used in the study of mental health treatment capabilities with naturally grown psychedelic mushrooms. (Hendrix, 5/10)

Modern Healthcare: Envision Healthcare To File For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy: Report
Physician staffing company Envision Healthcare plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The filing could happen as early as this weekend, the newspaper reported Tuesday. Much of Nashville, Tennessee-based Envision's $7 billion in outstanding debt would be swapped for shares if the company restructures. (Hudson, 5/10)

Modern Healthcare: Babylon Health Plans To Be Taken Private
Babylon Health announced plans Wednesday to be taken private as it reported a first-quarter loss more than twice the size of a year ago. The Austin, Texas-based company said it entered into an agreement with AlbaCore Capital Group, a London-based investment manager, and its affiliates to accept $34.5 million in interim funding. In return, AlbaCore plans to take the company private, provide additional financing and create a long-term employee incentive plan, according to a Wednesday regulatory filing. (Turner, 5/10)

In hospital news —

WJCT News: Wolfson Hospital Gets The Southeast's First Portable MRI For Children
Philipp Aldana well remembers a very ill young patient last year who needed an MRI scan because of "medical deterioration." The patient was so medically fragile that even the trip from the room to the imaging lab was a danger, said Aldana, co-medical director of the Stys Neuroscience Institute at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville. (Scanlan, 5/10)

Bangor Daily News: 2 Bangor Hospitals Receive $18M From Late Bangor Resident’s Estate
Bangor’s two major hospitals will receive $9 million each from the late John Webber’s estate. Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center and St. Joseph Healthcare Foundation made the announcement during a news conference at the Cross Insurance Center on Wednesday. The organizations anticipate several million dollars more at a later date, following the estate’s settlement. (Royzman, 5/10)

More health care industry developments —

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Medical College Of Wisconsin Cancels Panel Featuring Ron Johnson
The Medical College of Wisconsin last week called off a panel on the "uses and abuses" of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in medicine and science after students and faculty said the subject lacked scientific evidence and flew in the face of the college's values. That decision has triggered speakers on the panel, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson among them, to argue they're the victims of cancel culture and intolerance of contrary thought in academia. (Shastri, 5/10)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Penn Medicine Tried To Make A Malpractice Attorney Take Down His TikTok Videos, And That’s Just The Start Of A Twisted Tale
Representing a man who died of a ruptured aortic aneurysm, attorney Tom Bosworth turned to an unusual platform in April to argue that the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania was at fault.He went on TikTok, where more than 175,000 followers know him as the blunt-spoken “tommythelawyer.” (Avril, 5/11)

The Washington Post: This Doctor Prescribed Ketamine From His Home. DEA Shut It Down.
A South Carolina doctor who built a nationwide practice prescribing ketamine for patients to use at home notified them Tuesday that federal authorities have ordered him to stop, prompting panic among those who depend on the drug for their mental health. “My privileges to prescribe controlled substances have been suspended until further notice,” Scott Smith of Mount Pleasant, S.C., emailed patients just after 5 p.m., with the subject line “Practice closed immediately per DEA instruction,” according to several messages reviewed by The Washington Post. “I am in quite a bit of a shock about this,” Smith wrote in the email. (Gilbert, 5/10)

KFF Health News: 'An Arm and a Leg': Mental Health ‘Ghost Networks’ — And A Ghostbuster 
Many people searching for a therapist or psychiatrist turn to the list of in-network providers offered by their insurance plan. But often, many of the doctors on the list don’t take that insurance plan, aren’t accepting new patients, or simply don’t answer the phone. Researchers and journalists call this phenomenon a “ghost network.” So, who you gonna call when you encounter a ghost network? A ghostbuster. (5/11)

Also —

Stat: Google's Generative AI To Analyze Medical Images — And Talk To Docs
Google’s generative AI system proved it can answer medical exam questions. But now the company is attempting a bigger leap — infusing its model with medical images such as X-rays and mammograms to help it communicate with doctors about data routinely used in patient care. (Ross, 5/10)

Reuters: Martin Shkreli-Founded Drug Company Files For Bankruptcy
Vyera Pharmaceuticals, which previously settled price-fixing charges that resulted in founder Martin Shkreli being banned from the pharmaceutical industry, filed for bankruptcy late Tuesday to sell its assets. Vyera said its bankruptcy was the result of declining profits, increased competition for generic drugs, and litigation alleging that Vyera suppressed competition for its most valuable drug, Daraprim. (Knauth, 5/10)

In other pharmaceutical news —

Bloomberg: Drug Shortages, Quality Woes Get Secret White House Attention
As US drug shortages hit a five-year high and concerns mount about the safety of medicines, the Biden administration has quietly assembled a team to address chronic problems hurting America’s drug supply. Since the beginning of the year, a group of White House officials has been meeting frequently to increase the availability and quality of medications, according to several people familiar with the matter. The effort has intensified as Americans struggle to find common drugs like antibiotics and amid high-profile safety lapses like deadly eye drops. (Griffin, Edney and Swetlitz, 5/10)

Stat: Telework Helps FDA Compete For Scientists. What If It’s Taken Away?
The Food and Drug Administration needs to hire scores of in-demand scientists, and that difficult task could become even harder if the agency gives in to pressure from either Republicans or the Biden administration to return federal workers to the office. (Wilkerson, 5/11)

Stat: Documents Show FDA Concerns About Sarepta’s Gene Therapy
Reviewers at the Food and Drug Administration concluded that Sarepta Therapeutics did not show that its gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy will likely benefit patients and left key safety concerns, according to briefing documents released Wednesday. (Mast and Feuerstein, 5/10)

Axios: Drug Trials Company Syneos To Be Acquired For $7.1 Billion
Syneos Health, a North Carolina-based biopharma contract research organization, agreed to be taken private for $7.1 billion by an investor group that includes Elliott Investment Management, Patient Square Capital and Veritas Capital. Private equity firms are once again teaming up for big buyouts, a practice that was largely abandoned after the Great Financial Crisis. (Primack, 5/10)

Axios: Study: Patients At Greatest Risk Of Self-Harm Right After Starting Antidepressants
Patients who take antidepressants are at highest risk of harming themselves in the weeks immediately after the drug is prescribed, according to a new analysis of more than 8.4 million electronic health records. The Food and Drug Administration has warned since 2004 that antidepressants can increase suicidal behavior, but little is known about when the potential threat is greatest, researchers wrote. (Moreno, 5/10)

If you are in need of help —

Dial 9-8-8 for 24/7 support from the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It's free and confidential.

In other health and wellness news —

CNN: Sleep Apnea, Lack Of Deep Sleep Linked To Damage In Brain, Study Says 
Uncontrolled sleep apnea — a disorder in which people stop breathing for 10 seconds or more at a time multiple times a night — may harm future brain health, a new study found. It’s estimated 936 million adults worldwide between the ages of 30 and 69 may suffer from sleep apnea, with many more people undiagnosed. If the sleep apnea is severe and untreated, people have three times the risk of dying from any cause. People with severe sleep apnea who spent less time in deep, also known as slow-wave sleep, had more damage to the white matter of the brain than people who had more slow-wave sleep, according to the study. (LaMotte, 5/10)

USA Today: Autism Diagnosis In Adulthood: 'Takes A Mental Crisis'
It wasn't until Ashley Marchuck started experiencing frequent anxiety attacks at work — almost every day — that she started to suspect she might be autistic. Working at Starbucks, she was bombarded with loud noises such as the whirr of the coffee machines, the music playing, and the conversations among customers. The sensory overload was too much. The anxiety attacks, leaving her sweaty and panicked, wouldn't stop. (Altavena, 5/10)

Also —

ABC News: EPA To Regulate Emissions, Pollutions Coming From Power Plants For 1st Time
The rule will prevent up to 617 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions through 2042, the equivalent of reducing the emissions of half the cars in the U.S., the EPA said. It would also generate an estimated $85 billion in net benefits to the climate and health benefits from reducing other types of pollution. The power sector has reduced its emissions 35% since 2005, according to the EPA. (Ebbs and Jacobo, 5/11)

AP: Massachusetts' High Court Upholds $37M Judgment For Woman Who Smoked Marlboro Lights, Got Cancer
The highest court in Massachusetts has upheld a nearly $37 million judgment for a woman who said she developed cancer after switching to Marlboro Light cigarettes because she thought they were less dangerous than the Marlboro Red cigarettes she had previously smoked. The Supreme Judicial Court’s unanimous ruling on Tuesday said that Patricia Walsh Greene might have smoked less or quit sooner had she not been swayed by Philip Morris’ claims that Marlboro Lights were safer. (5/10)

On transgender health care —

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri Legislature Passes Trans Care And Sports Restrictions
Missouri lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to restrictions on transgender minors receiving gender-affirming care and participating on school sports teams that align with their gender identity. Members of the House voted 108-50 Wednesday to pass the legislation restricting gender-affirming health care and 109-49 to pass restricting sports participation. (Kellogg and Rosenbaum, 5/10)

News Service of Florida: Judge Hears Opening Arguments Over Florida's Ban On Medicaid Coverage For Trans Care
Amid a series of legal and political battles in Florida about transgender people, a federal judge Tuesday heard opening arguments in a challenge to a state decision to prevent Medicaid coverage for treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy. (Saunders, 5/10)

In other health news from across the U.S. —

Public Health Watch: California Regulators Drafting Emergency Rule To Combat Deadly Lung Disease
Workplace regulators in California are drafting an emergency rule to address an epidemic of silicosis — a deadly, preventable lung disease — among fabricators of artificial-stone countertops. In December, Public Health Watch, LAist and Univision revealed what’s believed to be the nation’s biggest cluster of the disease, in the Los Angeles area. The news outlets’ stories — and a petition citing them — triggered a burst of activity by California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA. (Morris and Krisberg, 5/10)

NBC News: South Florida's Sugar Burning Season Makes Breathing Difficult For Some Residents
The ash winds up everywhere — it’s in the laundry, on cars and blankets vegetation in backyard gardens. Black snow, as the ash is known, flutters down, covering homes in parts of South Florida from October through May each year, as planned burns are carried out in thousands of acres of sugar cane fields to help the crops. (Gaines, 5/10)

Chicago Tribune: Medical Debt Initiative On Track To Erase $80 Million In Unpaid Doctor Bills For Nearly 73,000 Cook County Residents 
A Cook County initiative to address the effects of medical debt has so far erased more than $25 million in past-due bills and is expected to wipe out about $55 million more in the coming weeks for 73,000 county residents total, officials told the Tribune. The first round of debt-buying has spent down just $800,000 of the county’s allotted $12 million for the federal funded program. Officials hope to erase $1 billion in debt before its expiration. (Quig, 5/10)

North Carolina Health News: Inaugural NC Summit Focuses On Child Trauma
Kara Kai Sanders knows all about how children face trauma, even when a parent is doing the best they can. In 2019, she struggled to find stable housing, living with her son in temporary shelters, hotels and even their car because living with her son’s father “was not healthy.” They later got kicked out of a hotel because she couldn’t pay on time and lived in their car while waiting for a shelter space to open up. Now she’s on a mission to turn her experiences with housing struggles into advocacy for other parents and children seeking stability. (Fernandez, 5/11)

KFF Health News: Drive-Thru Baby Showers Serve Express Needs Of Pregnant Veterans In Atlanta
When 28-year-old Navy veteran Carisma Carter pulled her car up to the front of the Atlanta VA Clinic, her seat was pushed far back from the steering wheel to make room for her big belly. Carter was 8 months pregnant. “I’m having two boys, twins. It’s my first pregnancy,” she said. Carter knows the pregnancy risks she could face as a Black woman, especially in Georgia, where data shows Black women are more than twice as likely as white women to die during or within a year after a pregnancy. (Mador, 5/11)

CIDRAP: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Helps Long-COVID Heart Symptoms 
A small randomized trial in patients with post-COVID syndrome has found that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) promotes restoration of the heart's ability to contract properly, according to data presented today at EACVI 2023, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology. (Soucheray, 5/10)

ScienceDaily: Large Genetic Changes That Contribute To Dementia Risk Identified
Scientists have identified new genetic risk factors for two types of non-Alzheimer's dementia. These findings detail how researchers identified large-scale DNA changes, known as structural variants, by analyzing thousands of DNA samples. The team discovered several structural variants that could be risk factors Lewy body dementia (LBD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). (NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 5/8)

ScienceDaily: Scientists Develop Gene Silencing DNA Enzyme That Can Target A Single Molecule
Researchers have developed a DNA enzyme -- or DNAzyme -- that can distinguish between two RNA strands inside a cell and cut the disease-associated strand while leaving the healthy strand intact. This breakthrough 'gene silencing' technology could revolutionize the development of DNAzymes for treating cancer, infectious diseases and neurological disorders. (University of California - Irvine, 5/8)

The Boston Globe: TREAT Long COVID Bill Would Ensure US Doesn't Leave Long Haulers Behind
COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency, according to the World Health Organization. But for millions of Americans, myself included, who continue to live with the sometimes debilitating effects of long COVID — symptoms that last for weeks, months, or even years after a COVID infection — the end is nowhere in sight. (Kimberly Atkins Stohr, 5/11)

Chicago Tribune: Why Does A Rich Country Like The US Have A High COVID-19 Death Rate? 
Following his recent retirement, Dr. Anthony Fauci reflected on his government role during the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked about the high per capita COVID-19 death rate in the U.S., Fauci replied, “Something clearly went wrong. And I don’t know exactly what it was. But the reason we know it went wrong is that we are the richest country in the world, and on a per capita basis we’ve done worse than virtually all other countries. And there’s no reason that a rich country like ours has to have 1.1 million deaths. Unacceptable.” (Cory Franklin, 5/11)

Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 Emergency Is Over, But Virus Is Still Here 
After three long and difficult years, the federal COVID-19 public health emergency ends Thursday. The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus emergency was over globally the week before, and earlier this year California ended its pandemic state of emergency. But make no mistake: The emergency response may have ended, but COVID-19 is still with us. (5/11)

The New York Times: America Is Forgetting The Lessons Of The Covid Health Emergency 
The coronavirus pandemic is here to stay, but the national and global emergencies it set off are, by all official accounts, over. Last week, the World Health Organization declared an end to its “public health emergency of international concern,” and on Thursday, the public health emergency designation in the United States will also expire. It’s a good time for the country to absorb the crisis’s many lessons. Instead, we seem to be actively forgetting them. (Jeneen Interlandi, 5/11)

The Washington Post: How To Fortify The U.S. Against The Next Pandemic
Nearly 380 times as many people have died in the United States from covid-19 than from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Those killings sparked sweeping reforms to defend Americans from violence. In contrast, little has been done to make the country less vulnerable to deadly pathogens. (Amy Maxmen, 5/10)

The New York Times: We Could Easily Make Risky Virological Research Safer 
Lab accidents happen, and they aren’t especially rare. A 2014 USA Today investigation by Alison Young, whose book “Pandora’s Gamble: Lab Leaks, Pandemics, and a World At Risk” is a shocking accounting of the problem, identified more than a thousand accidents reported to federal regulators from 2008 to 2012. (David Wallace-Wells, 5/10)

The CT Mirror: Keep Wearing A Mask At The Doctor's Office
While the public health emergency expires today, many states have already announced you can leave your mask at home when you go to the doctor. In fact, way back in September the CDC stopped recommending universal masking in health care settings (in areas where community transmission is not high). But as a pediatrician, I’ll be keeping my mask on, and I want you to do it, too. (Ada Fenick MD, 5/11)

Los Angeles Times: Can App-Based AI 'Therapists' Actually Help Your Mental Health? 
In the last few years, 10,000 to 20,000 apps have stampeded into the mental health space, offering to “disrupt” traditional therapy. With the frenzy around AI innovations like ChatGPT, the claim that chatbots can provide mental health care is on the horizon. (Elisabeth Rosenthal, 5/11)

The Guardian: Serbia Acted After Two Mass Shootings – The US Has Done Nothing Despite 200 This Year
Last week, Serbia experienced two separate mass shootings that killed more than a dozen people, including children. Serbia, a nation tied for the third highest rate of gun ownership in the world, was shaken by this violence. Unlike here at home, mass shootings are not a daily occurrence. It did not take long for the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic, to take swift action. (Kris Brown, 5/10)

The Atlantic: An ICU Nurse Reflects On Futile Care 
Americans openly discuss many problems in health care, such as out-of-control costs, greedy insurance companies, and understaffing. But not so much futile care, which is generally defined as an intervention that does not benefit the patient. (Kristin McConnell, 5/10)

Mankato Free Press: A Little More Muscle On Mental Health Parity
The good news on the mental health front is that the state of Minnesota appears to have for the first time in recent memory actually enforced the state's mental health parity law against an insurance company that appeared to be violating it. (5/10)

Stat: Fear-Based Messaging About Xylazine Is Destructive
It “rots” flesh. It “tears” bone. It will turn you into a “zombie.” According to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and his colleagues, these are some of the reasons we should fear and criminalize xylazine, a veterinary sedative and painkiller that is increasingly found in drugs purchased on the U.S. illicit market. (Stacey McKenna, 5/11)