Friday, September 15, 2017

Here's the latest news in health and medicine. For more, check out statnews.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Did he really just tweet that? Dr. Vinay Prasad takes on Big Pharma, Big Medicine, and his own colleagues — with glee

By Meghana Keshavan

Amanda Lucier for STAT

PORTLAND, Ore. — Dr. Vinay Prasad is a professional scold: He takes to Twitter each day to critique this cancer drug as ineffective, or blast that one as overpriced, or dismiss the clinical trial of another as completely irrelevant.

So it’s a bit of a surprise to catch him at the bedside of an elderly man with lymphoma, laughing gently with his patient as he inquires about his day — and painstakingly explains a potent drug’s unpleasant side effects.

By Leah Samuel

NBC/Newsmakers via Getty Images

Medical storylines have riveted television viewers since the earliest days of the medium — and for just as long, TV writers and directors have had to navigate the age-old tension between truth and storytelling.

One early solution, beginning in the 1950s, was a group of doctors who advised television producers directly. The group, known as the Physician’s Advisory Committee (PAC) on Television, Radio, and Motion Pictures, reviewed scripts, helped find props, and showed actors how to properly hold a scalpel.

By Megan Thielking

Michelle McGaughey for STAT

It’s been a busy week in the world of health and medicine, from two new health care reform plans to new cancer screening guidelines.

We get you ahead of the day’s health news every weekday with our Morning Rounds newsletter. How well did you keep up? Take our quiz and find out.

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Opinion: As an early intervention, pediatricians must talk to their patients about racism

By Stephanie L. White

AP

As an African-American physician who has experienced the effects of racism, I should be comfortable talking about it. I’m not — but I need to be.

That feeling was reinforced by a horrifying news story from the New Hampshire community where I work as a pediatrician. The mother of an 8-year-old biracial boy said he had nearly been lynched by some white teenagers. The image his mother posted on social media before driving him to the hospital where I work showed rope burns on his neck consistent with being hung.

By Adam Feuerstein

Keith Bedford/The Boston Globe

A $7 billion market valuation and the credibility of the entire field of RNA interference drug development is riding on the results of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals’ (ALNY) next big clinical trial.

No pressure, folks.