July 16, 2024
(Axios) – Childhood immunization rates plateaued last year, leaving 2.7 million more kids worldwide lacking the protection they need compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Why it matters: Widening gaps in immunization coverage are … Read More
July 16, 2024
(Reuters) – Vertex Pharmaceuticals sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Monday, seeking a court declaration that a fertility support program for patients who are prescribed its gene editing therapy Casgevy does not violate federal anti-kickback laws. … Read More
July 16, 2024
(New Scientist) – Ten people in the US have been infected with a strain of bird flu called H5N1, but patchy surveillance means that some cases may be slipping through the cracks US health officials are struggling to monitor people … Read More
July 16, 2024
(USA Today) – Outages have hit at least eight states this year. They’re emblematic of problems plaguing emergency communications due, in part, to wide disparities in the systems’ age and capabilities, and funding of 911 systems across the country. While … Read More
July 15, 2024
(New York Times) – Many families are happy to pay for the assurance of a healthy future. More than two million umbilical cord samples sit in a handful of suburban warehouses across the country. It’s a lucrative business, with companies … Read More
July 15, 2024
(KFF Health News) – Even after multiple incidents of extreme weather — including a 2021 Texas winter storm that caused widespread blackouts and prompted a U.S. Senate investigation — not much has changed for those living in long-term care facilities … Read More
July 15, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – Whether millions of people will be able to afford one of the hot new weight-loss drugs could hinge on whether they cure the sleep apnea of people like Damon Sedgwick. Sedgwick, a technology business analyst in … Read More
July 15, 2024
(Axios) – The Change Healthcare cyberattack shook U.S. health care to its core for months and exposed major cyber vulnerabilities. But the likely ripple effects on individuals are only now becoming apparent. Why it matters: As many as 1 in … Read More
July 15, 2024
(New York Magazine) – His brain tumor was a hopeless case. Then an experimental medicine made it melt away. The day before, Choi and Maus had treated their first patient in a clinical trial for an aggressive brain cancer called … Read More
July 12, 2024
(The Hastings Center) – The Biden Administration is struggling with a dilemma that has a clinical ethics component. Where does the President’s right to privacy about his health end and the public’s right to know begin? This question has recurred … Read More
July 12, 2024
(Washington Post via MSN) – Last summer, artificial intelligence powerhouse OpenAI promised the White House it would rigorously safety test new versions of its groundbreaking technology to make sure the AI wouldn’t inflict damage — like teaching users to build … Read More
July 12, 2024
(New York Times) – Medical providers and public health experts worry that the health care system is poorly equipped to handle the influx. Extreme heat, intensified by climate change, has blanketed much of the United States this summer, killing more … Read More
July 12, 2024
(New York Times) – The Biden administration set stringent new federal staffing rules. But for years, nursing homes have failed to meet the toughest standards set by states. California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island have sought to improve … Read More
July 12, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – The policy supercharged the country’s workforce: By caring for fewer children, young people could be more productive and put aside more money. For years, just as China was opening its economy, the share of working-age Chinese … Read More
July 12, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – Extreme weather and continued population growth overwhelm the city’s primary utility Across this city’s famous suburban sprawl, drivers for the fourth straight day are inching through intersections without working traffic signals. With a brutal heat wave … Read More
July 11, 2024
(NPR) – Researchers have found toxic metals — including arsenic and lead — in over a dozen popular brands of tampons, raising questions about a menstrual hygiene product used by millions of Americans. Their study, published last week in the … Read More
July 11, 2024
(The Atlantic) – For just $65, the skin-care company Selfmade will sell you a kit that will purportedly help you feel more stable and confident in your relationships—and get better skin all the while. According to the kit’s marketing copy, … Read More
July 11, 2024
(Reuters) – Only one in four U.S. patients prescribed Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy or Ozempic for weight loss were still taking the popular medications two years later, according to an analysis of U.S. pharmacy claims provided to Reuters that also showed … Read More
July 11, 2024
(Axios) – The Federal Trade Commission plans to sue the three biggest prescription drug middlemen for allegedly using negotiating tactics to steer patients to use more expensive drugs, including insulins, according to a source familiar with the matter. Why it … Read More
July 11, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – Two nearby explosions didn’t stop doctors at Kyiv’s largest children’s hospital from working. The third ripped through it. Russia’s conduct of its war in Ukraine is generating fresh opprobrium after the strike on the Okhmatdyt hospital, … Read More
July 11, 2024
(Wired) – In a livestreamed update on X, Elon Musk and Neuralink executives gave an update on the company’s next study participant—and its next-generation brain implant. A second person will soon receive Neuralink’s experimental brain implant, according to Elon Musk, … Read More
July 11, 2024
(New York Times) – The health care system in Houston, where more than a million customers lack power, was overwhelmed because some patients couldn’t be discharged amid a punishing heat wave. A searing heat wave that has engulfed much of … Read More
July 10, 2024
(New York Times) – In a report, the regulator sharply criticized pharmacy benefit managers, a turnaround from its longstanding tolerance of their practices. The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday sharply criticized pharmacy benefit managers, saying in a scathing 71-page report … Read More
July 10, 2024
(Nature) – Next-generation anti-obesity drugs such as Wegovy can melt away weight — but they can also cause intolerable nausea. Now scientists have pinpointed a brain pathway that is involved in this common side effect, raising the prospect of effective … Read More
July 10, 2024
(ABC News) – A Massachusetts man can speak again after surgeons removed his cancerous voice box and replaced it with a donated one, a pioneering move Transplants of the so-called voice box are extremely rare, and normally aren’t an option … Read More
