About health insurance/insurers
Medicare creates coverage path for anti-obesity meds “The US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) confirmed to FirstWord Thursday that Medicare Part D plans can cover the cost of obesity drugs if – like Novo Nordisk's Wegovy (semaglutide) – they have received FDA approval for an additional ‘medically accepted indication’ such as preventing heart attacks and strokes.”
About pharma
Orchard settles on $4.25M US price tag for leukodystrophy gene therapy “Orchard Therapeutics disclosed Wednesday that its metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) gene therapy Lenmeldy (atidarsagene autotemcel) will carry a wholesale acquisition cost of $4.25 million in the US. The company said that the price of the one-time treatment – which makes it the most expensive drug ever – reflects its ‘clinical, economic and societal value.’”
Novel Oral Antihypertensive Gets FDA's Blessing “The FDA has approved aprocitentan (Tryvio), making it the first endothelin receptor antagonist for the treatment of high blood pressure (BP), Idorsia Pharmaceuticals announced on Wednesday.
The once-daily oral medication is indicated in combination with other antihypertensive drugs to lower BP in adult patients who do not have their BP controlled with other therapies.”
About the public’s health
A distinct Fusobacterium nucleatum clade dominates the colorectal cancer niche “Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn), a bacterium present in the human oral cavity and rarely found in the lower gastrointestinal tract of healthy individuals, is enriched in human colorectal cancer (CRC) tumours. High intratumoural Fn loads are associated with recurrence, metastases and poorer patient prognosis.”
Global fertility rates to plunge in decades ahead, new report says “A new study projects that global fertility rates, which have been declining in all countries since 1950, will continue to plummet through the end of the century, resulting in a profound demographic shift.
The fertility rate is the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime. Globally, that number has gone from 4.84 in 1950 to 2.23 in 2021 and will continue to drop to 1.59 by 2100, according to the new analysis, which was based on the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2021, a research effort led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. The study was published Wednesday in the journal the Lancet.”
Mortality in the United States, 2022 “Data from the National Vital Statistics System
Life expectancy for the U.S. population in 2022 was 77.5 years, an increase of 1.1 years from 2021.
The age-adjusted death rate decreased by 9.2% from 879.7 deaths per 100,000 standard population in 2021 to 798.8 in 2022.
Age-specific death rates increased from 2021 to 2022 for age groups 1–4 and 5–14 years and decreased for all age groups 15 years and older.
The 10 leading causes of death in 2022 remained the same as in 2021, although some causes changed ranks. Heart disease and cancer remained the top 2 leading causes in 2022.
The infant mortality rate was 560.4 infant deaths per 100,000 live births in 2022, an increase of 3.1% from the rate in 2021 (543.6).”
About healthcare IT
Providers file class action lawsuits over fallout from Change Healthcare cyberattack “On the heels of proposed class action lawsuits from patients, providers are also filing legal challenges against UnitedHealth Group in the wake of the cyberattack on Change Healthcare.”
The article has several example of groups filing suits.
Key Issues as Wearable Digital Health Technologies Enter Clinical Care This NEJM article requires subscription but it is well-worth reading if you can access it. The authors summarize their findings: “…we identify six interlocking and vexing issues at the foundation of delivering DHT-informed care: data ownership; patient trust, literacy, and access; standards and interoperability; integration of DHTs into clinical care; patient empowerment and agency; and reimbursement and a return on investment for health care systems.”