Arthur Allen

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aallen@kff.org
@ArthurAllen202

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.

Una prueba genética podría salvar la vida de cientos de pacientes en quimioterapia

KFF Health News Original

Estos tipos de quimioterapia comunes son difíciles de tolerar en general, pero para los pacientes que tienen deficiencia de una enzima que metaboliza la droga, puede ser una tortura o causar la muerte.

What the Health Care Sector Was Selling at the J.P. Morgan Confab

KFF Health News Original

When bankers and investors flocked to San Francisco for the largest gathering of health care industry investors, the buzz was all about artificial intelligence, the next hit weight-loss drug, and new opportunities to make money through nonprofit hospitals.

The Market for Biosimilars Is Funky. The Industry Thinks PBMs Are To Blame

KFF Health News Original

Over the past year there’s been movement to rein in the three big PBMs, which face little regulation though they help set drug prices and drug choices for 80 percent of Americans and their doctors. The House voted Dec. 11, 320-71, for legislation that would require the PBMs to change some of the ways they […]

Biden Administration’s Limit on Drug Industry Middlemen Backfires, Pharmacists Say

KFF Health News Original

A rule taking effect Jan. 1 was intended to stop one set of abuses by pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, but some pharmacists say it’s enabling these price brokers to simply do new things unfairly.

Save Billions or Stick With Humira? Drug Brokers Steer Americans to the Costly Choice

KFF Health News Original

Thousands of patients with autoimmune diseases who rely on Humira, with a list price of $6,600 a month, could get financial relief from new low-cost rivals. So far, the pharmacy benefit managers that control drug prices in America have not delivered on those savings.