Opioid Settlement Will Do Nothing to Change The Trajectory of The Overdose Rate
Jeffrey A. SingerYesterday a settlement wasannounced between several states and the pharmaceutical distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource Bergen, along with drug maker Johnson and Johnson, who were accused of contributing to the opioid overdose crisis. The three distributors agreed to pay the states $21 billion over 18 years and Johnson and Johnson agreed to pay $5 billion over 5 years, ostensibly to go towards drug treatment and education programs. Johnson and Johnson and the three distributors continue to dispute the allegations while agreeing to the settlement.Some, like the editors of th...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 22, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
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The CDC data show that overdose deaths climbed above 93,000, with 28 states seeing overdose deaths increase by more than 30 percent.
(Source: The Commonwealth Fund: Blog)
Source: The Commonwealth Fund: Blog - July 16, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Jesse C. Baumgartner, David C. Radley Source Type: blogs
Alcohol, Smoking, Drugs: How Technology Can Help
The global statistics on substance use are disquieting. Globally, about 3 million people die every year from alcohol abuse. Tobacco kills up to half of its users – over 8 million people annually. And the UN’s 2021 World Drug Report estimated that around 275 million people used drugs worldwide in 2020, while over 36 million people suffered from drug use disorders.
Disruptive technologies could act only as additional tools for managing preventive or reactive treatment for both victims and physicians next to therapy. Alcohol content-measuring wristbands, smart lighters, nicotine tracking wearables, stop smoking apps, virt...
Source: The Medical Futurist - July 15, 2021 Category: Information Technology Authors: berci.mesko Tags: E-Patients Future of Medicine Future of Pharma Health Sensors & Trackers Portable Medical Diagnostics Security & Privacy Telemedicine & Smartphones Virtual Reality alcohol digital health Innovation smoking technology VR health Source Type: blogs
A Hamiltonian View of Post-Pandemic America
By MIKE MAGEE
“In countries where there is great private wealth much may be effected by the voluntary contributions of patriotic individuals, but in a community situated like that of the United States, the public purse must supply the deficiency of private resource. In what can it be so useful as in prompting and improving the efforts of industry?”
Those were the words of Alexander Hamilton published on December 5, 1791 in his “Report on the Subject of Manufactures.” He was making the case for an activist federal government with the capacity to support a fledgling nation and its leaders long enough to allow e...
Source: The Health Care Blog - July 12, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy hamilton Mike Magee Pandemic post-pandemic America Source Type: blogs
Rhode Island Makes Harm Reduction History By Legalizing Safe Consumption Sites
Jeffrey A. SingerRhode Island made history yesterday, as it became the first state to legalize safe consumption sites. Governor Daniel McKeesigned a bill that will set up two pilot programs within the state dubbed “harm reduction centers,” both of which will receive no taxpayer funding but will be financed by private donations and foundations.In 2019 and 2020 I testified before the Maryland legislature which was consideringlegalizing safe consumption sites. Alas, that didn ’t happen.Safe consumption sites, also called safe injection sites, have been in existence since the mid ‐1980s, and now operate in...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 8, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Make Mine Bioresorbable
By KIM BELLARD
I learned a new word this week: bioresorbable. It means pretty much what you might infer — materials that can be broken down and absorbed into the body, i.e., biodegradable. It is not, as it turns out, a new concept for health care – physicians have been using bioresorbable stitches and even stents for several years. But there are some new developments that further illustrate the potential of bioresorbable materials.
It’s enough to make Green New Deal supporters smile.
Bioresorbable stents and stitches are all well and good – who wants to be stuck with them or, wo...
Source: The Health Care Blog - July 6, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Health Tech Health Technology bioresorbable Biotech Kim Bellard Source Type: blogs
Arizona Lawmakers Underperform on Pharmaceutical Freedom for Women
Jeffrey A. SingerMy home and surgical practice are in Phoenix, Arizona. One hundred eighty miles to the west of Phoenix, a women can walk into aCalifornia pharmacy and ask the pharmacist to prescribe her hormonal contraceptives, bypassing the doctor ’s office and the $100+ fee for an office visit (and possibly an afternoon off from work). Drive 248 miles due east and a woman can get a prescription for hormonal contraceptives from a pharmacist inNew Mexico. Three hundred miles to the north, and 373 miles to the northeast, pharmacists can prescribe hormonal contraceptives to women inUtah andColorado respectively. And if a ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 6, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Battery-Free Wireless Pacemaker Dissolves Post Treatment
Researchers at Northwestern University and collaborators have developed a temporary cardiac pacemaker that dissolves away in the body into harmless byproducts. The technology avoids the need for leads penetrating the skin as well as follow-up procedures to remove a pacemaker. The device could make temporary pacemaker placement a safer and more convenient experience for patients.
Patients frequently need temporary pacemakers, including after cardiac surgery. Typically, such devices are not wireless, but require electrical cables to penetrate through an incision, causing an infection risk. “Sometimes pa...
Source: Medgadget - June 30, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Cardiac Surgery Cardiology Materials Source Type: blogs
The explosion of mental health apps raises substantial opportunities –and tough questions
In the eyes of the tech industry, mental health treatment is an area ripe for disruption.
In any given year, 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. experience a form of mental illness, according to federal estimates. And research indicates only about half of them receive treatment in a system that is understaffed and ill distributed to meet demand.
For tech startups looking to cash in on unmet need, that translates into more than 50 million potential customers.
Venture capital firms invested more than $2.4 billion in digital behavioral health apps in 2020 — more than twice the amount invested in 2019 — touting support or treatment ...
Source: SharpBrains - June 28, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Kaiser Health News Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation anxiety BetterHelp brain-illness Brightside cerebral depression digital behavioral health FDA Food and Drug Administration Ginger health apps mental illness mental-health-treatment Source Type: blogs
American Exceptionalism, yet again
The 4 1/2 readers of this humble blog are well aware that life expectancy in the U.S. is lower than that of other wealthy countries, even though we spend twice as much on health care. It ' s right on top, every time you come here. The bad news is that the utterly inept response of the U.S. to the Covid-19 pandemic made the gap even worse.Here ' s an analysis by Steven Woolf in BMJ. Since people tend to complain when I link to stories about the U.S. in journals published in furrin lands, I point out that Woolf is a good old Merkin who works at Virginia Commonwealth University in the capital of the Confederate States o...
Source: Stayin' Alive - June 25, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
US Senator Joe Manchin calls for a new FDA Commissioner to replace current (acting) one who “has repeatedly ignored public health concerns and shown a dereliction of duty” over opioids and aducanumab
Key Democrat Manchin Bashes FDA Leader on Alzheimer’s Approval (Bloomberg):
Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat considered a crucial vote within the party’s slim Senate majority, said Janet Woodcock, the temporary head of the Food and Drug Administration, should be quickly replaced with a permanent leader.
Manchin blasted an FDA decision to approve the controversial Alzheimer’s therapy Aduhelm despite conflicting evidence that the Biogen Inc. drug works and an overwhelmingly negative vote against the therapy by agency advisers. The FDA ruling led three members of that panel to quit in protest…
Manchin urged U....
Source: SharpBrains - June 18, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health aducanumab Aduhelm Alzheimer's treatments Alzheimer’s therapy Alzheimers-disease Biogen FDA Food and Drug Administration Joe Manchin opioids OxyContin public-health Source Type: blogs
On The Eve of The 50th Anniversary of President Nixon Declaring War on Drugs, Two Members of Congress Propose an Armistice
Jeffrey A. SingerYesterday Representatives Cori Bush (D-MO) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) introduced theDrug Policy Reform Act, which would federally decriminalize drug possession and redirect federal funds to harm reduction, substance abuse disorder treatment, and education programs. Furthermore, the bill would expunge and seal the records of people with federal drug violation records within one year of enactment.Among some of the bill ’s other praiseworthy provisions are a ban on civil asset forfeitures related to personal drug possession cases, and preventing individuals in the U.S. from being denied legal imm...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 17, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
The Real Reason Fentanyl is So Dangerous
Fentanyl plays a role in more and more opioid overdose deaths. Most fentanyl used ‘on the streets’ starts in China, with precursors shipped to California or Mexico before distribution throughout the US. Fentanyl acts very potently at the same receptors as heroin, morphine, and oxycodone. Reports of overdose deaths caused by fentanyl usually blame potency, but the real reason for fentanyl’s outsized role in overdose is rarely mentioned – at least outside operating rooms.
Fentanyl is as ubiquitous in the medical industry as it is on the street, in 50 microgram per cc, sterile vials rather than the ...
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - June 16, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: admin Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The Iraq war
I found some old files in my basement from the days when I wrote the Today in Iraq blog. They reminded me of how much I used to follow, research and write about the U.S. invasion of Iraq. It was a big part of my political and intellectual life for many years. It makes one despair to see how it ' s gone down the memory hole.Here are facts which are now generally understood and acknowledged even by many people who were enthusiastic supporters of the war, including some who were in substantial part responsible for it, such as Colin Powell. I ' d have to spend the afternoon going through that 3 foot stack of papers to document...
Source: Stayin' Alive - June 8, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
If Lawmakers Really Want to “Follow the Science” They Will Repeal Codified Opioid Guidelines
This study documents a relationship between opioid prescribing and opioid overdose in a large, national, prospective cohort of individuals receiving opioid therapy for a variety of medical conditions. The risk of opioid overdose should continue to be evaluated relative to the need to reduce pain and suffering and be considered along with other risk factors.University of Alabama Professor of Medicine Stefan Kerteszpointed out thatfollow up research led by Bohnert found the median overdose dosage was 60 MMEs and 86 percent occurred under 90 MMEs. Yet he cautioned policymakers:Reliance on a simple binary dose metric is an ext...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 24, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
