Growth Rate of Spending on Medicine Slows
The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science recently released a report focused on net spending on medicines in the United States in 2017, with an outlook to 2022. The report notes that spending on medicines grew less than one percent in 2017 – just a mere 0.6 percent.
The report further found that the level and growth of spending, the price of new and old drugs, and the allocation of costs among patients, employers, health plans, intermediaries, and state and federal agencies, all “command great attention,” and therefore, the report aims to provide an “objective measure of medicine use” and the cost prescriptions...
Source: Policy and Medicine - May 10, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Getting it Right on Rare Diseases: The National Network of Libraries of Medicine ’s First #citeNLM2018 Edit-a-thon on April 17
It seems like a natural collaboration: The world’s largest medical library and the world’s largest encyclopedia. On April 17, medical librarians and others will participate in a Wikipedia edit-a-thon to make it easier to get credible, evidence-based information on rare diseases. “Wikipedia is one of the most popular websites in the world. People visit to… (Source: NLM In Focus)
Source: NLM In Focus - April 10, 2018 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Posted by NLM in Focus Tags: Events Source Type: blogs
A silent moment with a dying patient
I used to work as a nurse in a medical-surgical floor a few years ago during the night shift. I met a patient that changed the way I look at and treat patients. This patient was in her 50s, and she was just diagnosed with metastasized lung cancer that was likely terminal. She had just found out that same day, and she was flooded with a million emotions. I worked the night shift and came into the room to hand out that evening’s medications. Now that her family members left for the night and she was alone, she finally broke down in front of me and began to say everything that was on her mind.
To be honest, it was difficult...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - April 2, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/ramses-perez" rel="tag" > Ramses Perez < /a > Tags: Education Hospital-Based Medicine Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, April 2nd 2018
Fight Aging! provides a weekly digest of news and commentary for thousands of subscribers interested in the latest longevity science: progress towards the medical control of aging in order to prevent age-related frailty, suffering, and disease, as well as improvements in the present understanding of what works and what doesn't work when it comes to extending healthy life. Expect to see summaries of recent advances in medical research, news from the scientific community, advocacy and fundraising initiatives to help speed work on the repair and reversal of aging, links to online resources, and much more.
This content is...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 1, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Opioids: The pendulum has swung too far in the wrong direction
I’m a 43-year-old physician who retired due to illness at the age of 39. I have a rare genetic disease called acute intermittent porphyria (AIP). It’s an extremely painful and disabling illness. Due to an enzyme deficiency in the heme biosynthesis pathway in the liver, porphyrin precursors accumulate and are neurotoxic causing visceral neuropathy. The symptoms of the disease are neurological with the most notable being abdominal pain. It is a neuropathic pain which has a burning sensation that is unbearable. The pain is similar to what I’d imagine it would feel like to have a blowtorch against my stomach and my back....
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 31, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/lisa-kehrberg" rel="tag" > Lisa Kehrberg, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Pain Management Primary Care Source Type: blogs
A Short Report from the Undoing Aging Conference
The LongLongLife team here reports briefly on their time at the recent Undoing Aging conference. This was the first in a series of conferences, hosted jointly by the SENS Research Foundation and Forever Healthy Foundation, that will mix the scientific and academic focus of the SENS rejuvenation research conferences with the biotechnology industry focus of the Rejuvenation Biotechnology conferences. By all accounts the initial Undoing Aging event was well received.
The very first Undoing Aging Congress was held in March 2018 in Berlin, and was attended by 350 people from a total of 36 countries. Initiated by Aubrey...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 26, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
How Could Digital Technology Make An Impact On Primary Care?
General practitioners are the first contact point for patients and the building blocks of healthcare. Where do they stand on the issue of digital tech? The Medical Futurist Institute conducted extensive, survey-based research about the willingness of GPs to use the latest innovations in their practice and their attitude towards the future. Let’s see how could digital technology make an impact on primary care.
A turning point in healthcare
Healthcare is on the verge of a paradigm shift due to digital technologies, as our Digital Health Manifesto points out. Trends and research suggest that in the next years, medicine will...
Source: The Medical Futurist - March 22, 2018 Category: Information Technology Authors: nora Tags: Digital Health Research general practitioner GP Healthcare Innovation primary care technology wearables Source Type: blogs
Why Lawmakers Must Vote Down Right to Try
By ANDREW MCFADYEN & ALEXANDRA HALL
As rare disease patient advocates, we work with terminally ill patients on a daily basis. A new version of the ‘Right to Try’ bill, which purports to help terminally ill patients access experimental medication, is set to be voted on in the House on Tuesday. While we understand the appeal of Right to Try, we also know it will do more harm than good. It is our duty to patients in need to urge Congress to reject Right to Try.
Thirty-eight states, representing 83% of the population in the USA, have signed Right to Try bills into law. These bills align with the model legislation craft...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 12, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The UK strategy for rare diseases: second progress report from the UK Rare Diseases Policy Board
Department of Health and Social Care -This progress report is published by the UK Rare Disease Policy Board under its responsibilities following publication of the UK strategy for rare diseases in 2013. The strategy is an effort by all four health departments in the UK to recognise and respond to the needs of those affected by rare diseases. It highlights achievements from across the four nations since the first progress report in 2016 and discusses UK-wide opportunities and challenges up to 2020.ReportRare disease strategyDepartment of Health and Social Care - publications (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - March 1, 2018 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Information & Knowledge Service Tags: NHS measurement and performance Source Type: blogs
Taking New Steps to Meet the Challenges of Rare Diseases — FDA Marks the 11th Rare Disease Day
By: Scott Gottlieb, M.D. Today 30 million people in the United States – or one out of every 10 Americans – lives with at least one of more than 7,000 rare diseases. These conditions include rare cancers to inherited metabolic … Continue reading → (Source: FDA Voice)
Source: FDA Voice - February 27, 2018 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Make Sure Your Doctor Is Treating You and Not Your Blood Tests
Shutterstock He came to the ER with chest pain, shortness of breath, and atrial fibrillation with a heart rate of almost 120 beats per minute. It wasn’t a heart attack, and it wasn’t some rare disease. He was emergently ill … Continue reading →
The post Make Sure Your Doctor Is Treating You and Not Your Blood Tests appeared first on PeterUbel.com. (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - February 20, 2018 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: PeterUbel.com Tags: Health Care cancer cancer screening Peter Ubel syndicated Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Genetic testing and the confused IVF specialist
Genetics plays an important part in reproductive medicine , and it's well known that the commonest reason for failed implantation is a genetic defect in the embryo . This is why it's very tempting to tell patients who have failed an IVF cycle to undergo genetic tests , and this issomething which IVF doctors do all the time . Sadly, most of them are pretty clueless about reproductive genetics , and they order all kinds of unnecessary tests , which they don't know how to interpret . Not only are these tests very expensive , they are completely unhelpful, because they don't really change the patient's treatment options. And b...
Source: Dr.Malpani's Blog - February 16, 2018 Category: Reproduction Medicine Source Type: blogs
The Fusobacterium story as of 2018 – a very long post
Conclusion:Fusobacterium necrophorum–positive pharyngitis occurs more frequently than group A ?-hemolytic streptococcal–positive pharyngitis in a student population, and F. necrophorum–positive pharyngitis clinically resembles streptococcal pharyngitis.
Since Fusobacterium necrophorum recovery increased as the Centor score increased we argued that we had sufficient circumstantial evidence that this organism explained many of the 3s and 4s and that the score really reflected bacterial pharyngitis. Our subsequent recently published paper on the pharyngitis microbiome strongly supports our contentions.
So where ...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - February 11, 2018 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
Gene Therapy and Optogenetic Goggles for Retinitis Pigmentosa. Interview with Dr. Bernard Gilly, CEO of GenSight Biologics
GenSight Biologics, a biopharmaceutical company based in France, is developing gene therapies for rare diseases that cause blindness. The company has recently received approval in the UK for its Phase I/II PIONEER trial, which will test a treatment combining gene therapy with a visual stimulation device for people with retinitis pigmentosa, an incurable genetic disease that causes blindness. The treatment is called GS030 and the company expects to treat the first patient in the UK in the first quarter of 2018.
The trial will involve patients receiving three increasing doses of a gene therapy, through injection into the eye...
Source: Medgadget - February 9, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Exclusive Genetics Ophthalmology Source Type: blogs
Treat the Pathway, not the Gene (from Precision Medicine and the Reinvention of Human Disease)
Treat the key pathway, not the genetic mutation (fromPrecision Medicine and the Reinvention of Human Disease)Some of the earliest and most successful Precision Medication drugs have targeted specific mutations occurring in specific subsets of diseases. One such example is ivacaftor, which targets the G551D mutation present in about 4% of individuals with cystic fibrosis [135]. It is seldom wise to argue with success, but it must be mentioned that the cost of developing a new drug is about $5 billion [136]. To provide some perspective, $5 billion exceeds the total gross national product of many countries, including Sierra L...
Source: Specified Life - February 5, 2018 Category: Information Technology Tags: clinical trials convergent pathways cost of precision medicine precision treatment Source Type: blogs
