Read today’s Kaiser Health News
In other news:
About hospitals and healthcare systems
22 health systems with boosted outlooks FYI
About pharma
US exempts Japan generics from baseline 15% tariff: As part of a new trade agreement with the U.S. and Japan, the Trump administration is exempting generic pharmaceuticals, their ingredients and chemical precursors from the 15% baseline tariff applied to imports from Japan.
Advent strikes €4.1bn deal to sell generic drugmaker Zentiva to GTCR: Chicago-based private equity group GTCR has struck a €4.1bn deal to buy generic drugmaker Zentiva from Advent International, in Europe’s second big private equity-backed generics deal this year. The takeover, which follows a competitive bidding process, comes a week after CapVest acquired a majority stake in rival generic drugmaker Stada, valuing the business at €10bn.
About the public’s health
CDC Infectious Disease Data Project Shelved: HHS has put on ice a CDC project that would make information about dozens of diseases available in near real time.
Medication Adherence in Hypertension:A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial:
Question Can a primary care–based multicomponent intervention that includes automated identification of patients with uncontrolled hypertension and medication nonadherence combined with team-based care improve medication fill adherence?
Findings In this pragmatic cluster randomized clinical trial of 1726 patients seen in 10 primary care clinics, the intervention was not associated with improvement in proportion of days covered for antihypertensive medications or blood pressure compared with usual care.
Meaning While the intervention was able to automatically identify patients with medication nonadherence in clinical practice, it did not lead to improved medication adherence for patients with uncontrolled hypertension.
Comment: It is important to document what does not work. Articles typically report positive results- leaving researchers to make the same mistakes again.
About health technology
Patient-Reported Outcomes as Prognostic Indicators for Overall Survival in Cancer: Findings In this systematic review and meta-analysis of 69 randomized clinical trials that included 44 030 patients with cancer, higher baseline global health status, physical functioning, and role functioning scores were significantly associated with improved overall survival, while greater symptom burden, including nausea and vomiting, pain, fatigue, appetite loss, and dyspnea, was associated with worse overall survival.
Meaning The study results suggest that patient-reported outcomes capture clinically relevant prognostic information beyond traditional clinical end points and may enhance risk stratification and personalized treatment approaches in oncology.