Arthur Allen

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aallen@kff.org
@ArthurAllen202

Helene and CVS Land Double Whammy for 25,000 Patients Who Survive on IV Nutrition

KFF Health News Original

A Massachusetts woman ended up stranded in the hospital because CVS stopped providing the IV nutrition she needs to survive at home. Without it, she’d starve.

Employers Haven’t a Clue How Their Drug Benefits Are Managed

KFF Health News Original

The Big Three pharmacy benefit managers say they return nearly all the rebates they get from drugmakers to the employers and insurers who hire them. But most employers seem to doubt that.

FDA’s Promised Guidance on Pulse Oximeters Unlikely To End Decades of Racial Bias

KFF Health News Original

For decades, the pulse oximeters used in hospitals, ambulances, and homes have underestimated the oxygen needs of darker-skinned patients. The FDA is preparing guidelines to fix that. But will the new rules go far enough?

Florida’s New Covid Booster Guidance Is Straight-Up Misinformation

KFF Health News Original

State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo spread more anti-vaccine misinformation by telling Floridians to avoid mRNA vaccines. Vaccine experts and historians can’t remember another state health leader urging residents to avoid an FDA-approved vaccine.

La nueva guía de Florida sobre los refuerzos de covid es pura desinformación

KFF Health News Original

Clínicos y científicos denuncian este mensaje como una táctica de miedo con motivación política que también debilita los esfuerzos para proteger contra enfermedades como el sarampión y la tos ferina.

The New Covid Vaccine Is Out. Why You Might Not Want To Rush To Get It.

KFF Health News Original

Although public health officials recommend the newly approved covid vaccine for everyone 6 months and older, it may make more sense to wait until closer to the holiday season.

Ya está disponible la nueva vacuna contra covid, pero piensa bien cuándo conviene vacunarte

KFF Health News Original

La Administración de Drogas y Alimentos ha aprobado una vacuna actualizada contra covid para todas las personas de 6 meses en adelante, lo que renueva un dilema que ahora es anual: ¿Recibir la vacuna ya, con el brote de covid aún por todo el país, o reservarla para la ola invernal?

How Little Denmark Got Homegrown Giant Novo Nordisk To Lower Ozempic Prices

KFF Health News Original

As Congress pushes for Medicare to cover payment for anti-obesity drugs, Denmark — Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk’s home — has limited coverage of the drug after cost overruns “emptied all the money boxes in the entire public health system.”

Copycat Weight-Loss Drugs Are Major Players With Consumers

KFF Health News Original

As many as 1 in 8 American adults has tried one of the GLP-1 anti-obesity drugs, but a surprising number aren’t getting their supplies from pharma giants Novo Nordisk or Eli Lilly. Up to 30 percent of the market, by some estimates, is made up of copycat versions from compounding pharmacies. Compounding is legal, though […]

The CDC’s Test for Bird Flu Works, but It Has Issues

KFF Health News Original

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention promises better tests are being developed, but the episode points to vulnerabilities in the country’s defense against emerging outbreaks.

Why Millions Are Trying FDA-Authorized Alternatives to Big Pharma’s Weight Loss Drugs

KFF Health News Original

Although Novo Nordisk and Lilly lump together the pharmacies that compound semaglutide and tirzepatide with internet cowboys selling fake drugs, there is a distinction. The FDA has offered Americans little clarity about the vast gray and black markets for the drugs.

Finland Is Offering Farmworkers Bird Flu Shots. Some Experts Say the US Should, Too.

KFF Health News Original

Even with a stockpile of bird flu vaccinations, the federal government is not offering them to those at high risk. Along with testing and measures to prevent spread, vaccinations may protect people and stop the outbreak from becoming a pandemic.

Las pruebas para la gripe aviar son difíciles de conseguir. ¿Cómo saber si estamos en una pandemia?

KFF Health News Original

Muchos laboratorios de diagnóstico están capacitados para detectar el virus. Sin embargo, la burocracia, los problemas de facturación y la falta de inversión no permiten aumentar rápidamente la disponibilidad generalizada de pruebas.

The Chicken and Egg Problem of Fighting Another Flu Pandemic

KFF Health News Original

The spread of an avian flu virus in cattle has again brought public health attention to the potential for a global pandemic. Fighting it would depend, for now, on 1940s technology that makes vaccines from hens’ eggs.

El problema del huevo y la gallina en la lucha contra otra pandemia de gripe

KFF Health News Original

La propagación de un nuevo virus entre múltiples especies en un área geográfica amplia eleva la amenaza de que más mutaciones puedan producir un virus que se propague de humano a humano a través de la transmisión aérea.

Amgen Plows Ahead With Costly, Highly Toxic Cancer Dosing Despite FDA Challenge

KFF Health News Original

The FDA told Amgen to test whether a quarter-dose of its lung cancer drug worked as well as the amount recommended on the product label. It did and with fewer side effects. But Amgen is sticking to the higher dose — which earns it an additional $180,000 a year per patient.