Top stories in health and medicine, May 19, 2015
From MedPage Today:
Costly Hep C Tx Could Still Save Big Money. Treating genotype 1 (GT1) chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients with ledipasvir/sofosbuvir (Harvoni) would result in an annual societal productivity gain of approximately $2.7 billion in the U.S.
Workout May Ease Pain in Women With Fibromyalgia. A strong association exists between higher physical fitness and lower levels of pain, less psychological overreaction (catastrophizing) to pain, and higher chronic-pain self-efficacy in women with fibromyalgia (FM).
Robotic Prostatectomy: Volume, Complications, Disincentives. As robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RAR...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - May 19, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: MedPage Today Tags: News GI Rheumatology Surgery Source Type: blogs
Allow Evidence, Not Politics, To Drive Prevention: Lessons From Indiana’s HIV Outbreak
Often called the “Crossroads of America,” Indiana has also recently become a place where health and politics intersect with striking consequences: One of the largest outbreaks of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) ever identified in the U.S. continues to unfold in the state.
As of May 7, 2015, public health authorities have diagnosed new HIV infections in 150 individuals among a community of 4,200 (an astounding 3.6 percent of the population). Of the case patients identified so far, more than 80 percent report injection drug use often with widespread needle sharing. Emerging details are unsettling; an official report d...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - May 11, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Preeti Malani Tags: Drugs and Medical Technology Equity and Disparities Featured Population Health Public Health Governor Pence hepatitis C HIV/AIDS HIVMA IDSA Indiana Source Type: blogs
Meet Nels Elde and His Team’s Amazing, Expandable Viruses
Credit: Kristan Jacobsen
Nels Elde, Ph.D.
Fields: Evolutionary genetics, virology, microbiology, cell biology
Works at: University of Utah, Salt Lake City
When not in the lab, he’s: Gardening, supervising pets, procuring firewood
Hobbies: Canoeing, skiing, participating in facial hair competitions
“I really look at my job as an adventure,” says Nels Elde. “The ability to follow your nose through different fields is what motivates me.”
Elde has used that approach to weave evolutionary genetics, bacteriology, virology, genomics and cell biology into his work. While a graduate student at the University of Chica...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - May 7, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Srivalli Subbaramaiah Tags: Cell Biology Genetics Profiles Source Type: blogs
Implementing Health Reform: Antidiscrimination Litigation Under Section 1557 Of The ACA
Dozens of cases have been filed over the past five years challenging various aspects of the Affordable Care Act and its implementation. Two of these have made it to the Supreme Court (three if you count Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius). In its 2012, National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius decision, the Court upheld the ACA’s individual responsibility requirement but seriously undermined the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid to low-income adults by making it a state option. King v. Burwell, which the Court will decide in the next couple of months, threatens to withdraw tax credits from millions of Americans who live ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - May 6, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Timothy Jost Tags: Equity and Disparities Following the ACA ACA litigation Gilead section 1557 SEPTA Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, April 27, 2015
From MedPage Today:
Delaying HCV Tx Reduces Likelihood of Eradication. Delaying treatment of hepatitis C virus infection markedly increased the risk of not being able to clear the virus in these patients.
Paying Residents to Keep Stroke Patients Safe. A team of resident watchdogs and a simple checklist helps one hospital system improve safety for stroke patients.
Point/Counterpoint: What’s Next for Homeopathy. The FDA held a 2-day hearing this week to gather opinion on homeopathy and the degree to which the agency should regulate it. This came after the FDA had warned consumers away from over-the-counter homeopathi...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - April 27, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: MedPage Today Tags: News GI Neurology Specialist Source Type: blogs
FDA Acting Commissioner Ostroff Addresses the "State of the FDA"
The 2015 FDLI Annual Conference kicked off yesterday in Washington, DC. The conference hosted a variety of impressive speakers from the Food and Drug Administration, as well as FDA lawyers and in-house counsel. Dr. Stephen Ostroff, the Acting Commissioner at FDA, spoke as the conference's keynote speaker. After congratulating previous Commissioner Margaret Hamburg on an impressive tenure as FDA Commissioner, Ostroff ran through a long list of recent FDA accomplishments--"hitting the highlights," as he called it. Following Ostroff's address, a panel of industry experts provided a "to do list" for the agency for the co...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 21, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
New Cures Require New Pricing Policies
One critical incentive for ongoing drug discovery and development is the temporary monopoly pricing that manufacturers can command for novel drugs. Yet this incentive, embedded in current patent and regulatory policy, does not guarantee that manufacturers will deliver novel products with clinically meaningful benefits. Indeed there are many diseases---including Alzheimer’s disease and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)---that pose significant patient, family, and societal burden but have not benefited from meaningful treatment advances.
Meanwhile, the American public appears increasingly wary of the unintended conseque...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 16, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Rena Conti Tags: Health Policy Lab costs drugs Pharma pricing Source Type: blogs
U.S. Spent $374 Billion on Prescription Drugs Last Year, Up 13%; Increase Largely Due To Hep C Cures and Limited Generic Competition
The U.S. healthcare system spent $373.9 billion on prescription drugs in 2014, up 13.1 percent from the year before, and the highest rate of spending growth since 2001, according to a report by IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.
View the full report, including IMS video commentary here.
A number of factors point to the fact that this dramatic increase is not so much a trend, but an anomaly.
"2014 was a remarkable year," Murray Aitken, executive director of the IMS Institute. "We're probably not going to see it again."
Last year saw the FDA approve a near-record 42 novel medicines, including 18 for rare disease...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 15, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
An update on cycling and writing and video (gulp)
Hi all,
Things have changed for me. I have taken on a larger role at theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology. This means I have less time for original posts here.
I write and read a lot more, though. Almost every day. Writing has morphed into what cycling was: a source of contentment. It used to be that if I had a good workout, I felt good during that day. Now I get those same sensations from writing.
I still exercise but its place in my self-esteem bucket is smaller. Except last Tuesday night during the local “ride,” I was dropped out of a break because of an asthma attack. That sucked. But I redeemed myself last n...
Source: Dr John M - April 8, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr John Source Type: blogs
NIHCM Health Care Digital Media Award: the Finalists
Thanks to NIHCM for including “Obamacare’s Victims” parts 1 and 2 on the list (see below for a brief description of this two-part post) , and congratulations to all of the finalists.
The award recognizes excellence in digital media that improves understanding of health care topics.A $10,000 prize will be presented to the winner at a dinner in Washington, DC on June 1, 2015.
I urge everyone to read the nominated posts. If you are interested in healthcare and healthcare reform, this is a good short list of “must-read’s.” You may not agree with all of them, but they provide valuable information, and high...
Source: Health Beat - April 5, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Maggie Mahar Tags: Finalists NIHCM Media Awards Obamacare's victims policies cancelled Source Type: blogs
NIHCM Health Care Digital Media Award: the Finalists.
Thanks to NIHCM for including “Obamacare’s Victims” parts 1 and 2 on the list (see below for a brief description of this two-part post) , and congratulations to all of the finalists.
The award recognizes excellence in digital media that improves understanding of health care topics.A $10,000 prize will be presented to the winner at a dinner in Washington, DC on June 1, 2015.
I urge everyone to read the nominated posts. If you are interested in healthcare and healthcare reform, this is a good short list of “must-read’s.” You may not agree with all of them, but they provide valuable information, and ...
Source: Health Beat - April 5, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Maggie Mahar Tags: Finalists NIHCM Media Awards Obamacare's victims policies cancelled Source Type: blogs
TWiV 330: A swinging gate
On episode #330 of the science show This Week in Virology, the TWiVers explain how a protein platform assists the hepatitis C virus RNA polymerase to begin the task of making viral genomes.
You can find TWiV #330 at www.twiv.tv. (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - March 29, 2015 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology cfs/me cytokines de novo initiation hepatitis C virus primer dependent primer independent protein priming platform RNA dependent RNA polymerase viral X-ray structure Source Type: blogs
A protein platform for priming
The enzymes that make copies of the DNA or RNA genomes of viruses – nucleic acid polymerases – can be placed into two broad categories depending on whether or not they require a primer, a short piece of DNA or RNA, to get going. The structure of the primer-independent RNA polymerase of hepatitis C virus reveals how a priming platform is built into the enzyme.
The requirement for a primer in the initiation step of nucleic acid synthesis varies among the different classes of polymerases. All DNA polymerases are primer-dependent enzymes, while DNA-dependent RNA polymerases initiate RNA synthesis de novo – w...
Source: virology blog - March 26, 2015 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information crystal structure hepatitis a virus priming RNA dependent RNA polymerase rna synthesis viral Source Type: blogs
Gilead’s Hepatitis Drugs Tripped By Old Heart Drug
Late last week Gilead Sciences issued a warning about a rare but potentially fatal interaction between its stellar new hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir and amiodarone, a potent but tricky antiarrhythmic agent. Sofosbuvir is marketed as Sovaldi and, in combination with another antiviral agent, as Harvoni. Amiodarone, which is used to treat dangerous heart rhythm problems, has a number of different side effects and an extremely long half-life. Its use is generally reserved for difficult cases. Gilead reported nine cases of symptomatic bradycardia (slow heart rate). One patient died of a cardiac arrest and 3 patients received...
Source: CardioBrief - March 23, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Heart Rhythms People, Places & Events amiodarone Gilead Harvoni hepatitis C Sovaldi Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, March 2, 2015
From MedPage Today:
Statin Therapy Suppresses Coronary Plaques in HIV Patients. Treatment with potent statin medication appears to reduce plaque burden in coronary arteries of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while untreated patients experienced expansion of plaques.
Few Women Qualify for 3-Person IVF. Close to 800 women of childbearing age in the U.S. each year and more than 150 in the U.K. would appear to be candidates for mitochondrial transfer.
Fat, Lean Mass Grows With Raltegravir and Protease Inhibitors. Patients with HIV who undergo treatment with the integrase inhibitor raltegravir (Isent...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 2, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: MedPage Today Tags: News Infectious disease OB/GYN Source Type: blogs
