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Friday, March 2, 2018
[Morning Rounds by Megan Thielking]
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Happy Friday, folks! I'm here to get you ahead of the day's news in health and medicine.
Alex Azar heads to Ohio to talk opioids
Health Secretary Alex Azar is headed to Ohio today to visit a facility that provides care for infants born with neonatal abstinence syndrome, which occurs in infants who were exposed to drugs in utero. The center, Brigid’s Path, also provides support and education for new moms to improve health outcomes across the family. HHS says Azar will hold a press conference after the visit to talk about “the Trump Administration’s commitment to defeat the opioid crisis."
But many of the 53 recommendations<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=fd382f997a&e=4aad33fd68> made by Trump’s opioid commission last fall — such as establishing drug courts in every federal district — still haven’t been put into action. This week, though, the Justice Department announced it’ll ramp up its investigations into opioid manufacturers and distributors and create a task force to look into their role in the crisis.
A new bill aims to cut down on the number of drug ads
Sen. Claire McCaskill has unveiled a new bill<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=67e4d8ed72&e=4aad33fd68> that would end the tax break given to drug makers who advertise their medicines directly to consumers. “Too many drug companies are spending more on sales and marketing than on research and development,” the Missouri senator said in a statement. Her idea to cut down on drug advertising dollars: Amend the tax code to take away the deduction for direct-to-consumer drug advertising. Former Sen. Al Franken proposed<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=32765285bc&e=4aad33fd68> a similar measure in 2016, but that bill flopped.
Inside STAT<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=e9521c0dbf&e=4aad33fd68>: Seniors pitched on benefits of young blood
[87396691-e5ca-4560-8a09-e04a5b7a5bdb.png]<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=01f8e55d6b&e=4aad33fd68>
(mike reddy for stat)
The audience of mostly Baby Boomers had just finished their lunch when former mortician Bill Faloon took the stage in a glitzy West Palm Beach hall to issue a dire warning: You’re running out of time. Faloon urged the crowd to participate in a soon-to-launch clinical trial testing transfusions of young blood. People considering enrolling in the trial said they had been told they would have to pay $285,000, though the doctor running it said that's not a final price tag. STAT's Rebecca Robbins got an inside look at the project — and a window into how scientifically dubious products are aggressively marketed to aging people. Read her story here<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=7aa6463539&e=4aad33fd68>.
Sponsor content by STAT Madness
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A new fight over abortion access for undocumented teens
The Trump administration is in court again over an undocumented immigrant teen's access to abortion, Buzzfeed reports<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=9730250e55&e=4aad33fd68>. The 14-year-old teen first told lawyers she wanted to obtain an abortion. Then, officials from the Office of Refugee Resettlement — an HHS office that oversees undocumented minors — provided a handwritten message from the teen saying she didn't want an abortion anymore. But when the teen's lawyers tried to meet with her, the government wouldn't allow them to do so. Yesterday, a federal appeals court ruled that it wasn't clear whether the teen actually wants the procedure and that she'll have to come before the court to explicitly express what she wants.
Yellow fever continues to spread through Brazil
Health officials in Brazil say they’ve confirmed 723 cases of yellow fever, including 237 deaths. Many of the initial cases cropped up in rural areas, but officials say the disease is now spreading in more populated areas. There’s a massive vaccination campaign underway to immunize millions of people against the virus, which is spread by mosquitoes and can cause fever, nausea and, in rare cases, severe heart, liver, and kidney problems.
Immune signals help explain how asthma drugs work
[87396691-e5ca-4560-8a09-e04a5b7a5bdb.png]
tiny purple blobs of mucus are produced with the help of a special cell receptor. (Saya moriyama)
Immune cells swarm in to respond when foreign invaders attack the body — but new research <https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=4a42c9ce4b&e=4aad33fd68> shows there's a process to hit the brakes to prevent too much inflammation. When it senses infection, the immune system sends out inflammatory molecules called cytokines. Those cytokines have a tiny receptor on their surface, though, that serves as a brake. In mice without the receptor, the immune system responded much more aggressively, which suggests it plays a part in keeping inflammation in check.
It's actually the same receptor that's stimulated by some of the most commonly prescribed drugs for asthma, which is an inflammatory disease. Scientists have long been stumped by how exactly those drugs work, but the study could offer new insights into that question.
What to read around the web today
§ First responders in Florida aren't covered for PTSD. That may change after Parkland. ProPublica / WMFE<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=af84a3e7be&e=4aad33fd68>
§ My mom just died from cancer. Here's why we didn't seek 'right to try.' Forbes<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=02fb450429&e=4aad33fd68>
§ Thirteen million degrees of Kevin Bacon: World’s largest family tree shines light on life span, who marries whom. Science<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=9df3e01369&e=4aad33fd68>
More reads from STAT
§ Kentucky could become the first state to tax opioid prescriptions<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=3275248eec&e=4aad33fd68>.
§ The steady growth in health care jobs<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=7337e199a7&e=4aad33fd68> isn't all positive.
The latest from STAT Plus
§ The U.S. military might help answer a critical question<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=32c312da6b&e=4aad33fd68> about the flu vaccine.
§ Grassley joins the debate over drug discounts<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=cbf9c8bf07&e=4aad33fd68> with bill pushing hospitals to disclose payments.
Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful weekend! Back first thing Monday morning,
[Megan]
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