FDA works on 'right to try,' Lyfts for Medicaid patients, & safe syringe sites

FDA helps craft a compromise 'right-to-try' bill

A hot topic around Washington these days is "right-to-try" — a phrase that broadly means policies that let terminally ill patients access medicines not yet approved by the FDA. Here’s what you need to know:

§ There’s already a bill on the table. The Senate passed right-to-try legislation last fall, but it’s been stalled in the House. Part of the problem: The FDA has expressed concerns that the Senate's bill could undermine the agency's authority.

§ The compromise bill in the works would give FDA more power — both in setting guidelines for drug makers and in collecting data about how patients fare if they get an experimental drug outside of clinical trials.

§ Supporters of the right-to-try movement might not like that idea. The libertarian Goldwater Institute, which has been championing right-to-try legislation, is pushing back against that degree of FDA involvement.

More here from STAT’s Ed Silverman.

A new guide to help doctors grapple with diet pills

More than half of adults in the U.S. take a dietary supplement — but doctors often aren’t prepared to advise their patients who do decide to take supplements. “Despite the importance of this issue to our patients, physicians and other healthcare providers receive little, if any, formal training on the pros and cons of dietary supplement use,” Dr. JoAnn Manson of Brigham and Women's Hospital tells me. So Manson and her colleague, Harvard public health researcher Shari Bassuk, created a guide to help doctors address frequently asked questions about supplements and curb inappropriate use of the pills.

The paper, published in JAMA this week, ticks off what's known about specific supplements, like that folic acid can be beneficial for pregnant women, and points patients to resources that help parse whether it's safe to take certain supplements with prescribed drugs.

Billboards push back against idea of 'abortion reversal'

Billboards are cropping up across San Francisco’s Bay Area this week debunking the idea of "abortion reversal." Some anti-abortion clinics claim that medication abortions — which require two medications to be taken between 24 and 48 hours apart — can be stopped if a woman takes progesterone after taking the first drug. But the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says “claims of medication abortion reversal are not supported by the body of scientific evidence.” The new campaign, coordinated by the nonprofit Abortion Care Network, aims to promote medically accurate information about abortions.

Recently, the scientific community lost a hero

Tom Marsilje, a senior oncology researcher, passed away last November at the age of 45 from metastatic colorectal cancer. He left an indelible mark on the world of cancer research and clinical trials. Tom was a friend, a colleague, a father, a husband, a music lover, and in the end, he became the researcher who brought humanity to our fight and reminded us why we work so hard to find answers for those facing cancer. Learn more about his legacy and help increase awareness of clinical trials.

Inside STAT: Testing tumors to predict whether treatments will work

could tmb levels predict treatment efficacy for lung cancers like this? (ed uthman)

There’s a new tool on the horizon that might make it easier for doctors, scientists, and investors to figure out which immunotherapy is the best bet for cancer patients — if its predictive promise can be proved. Tumor mutation burden, or TMB, looks at how many mutations there are in a given stretch of a tumor's DNA. It could also help doctors identify which patients might benefit from immunotherapies known as checkpoint inhibitors, which only work for about 20 percent of patients. Drug companies are hoping to broaden the number of patients who might benefit from checkpoint inhibitors — and that’s where TMB testing might help make things clearer. STAT’s Damian Garde has the story here.

Free rides don't lead to fewer missed appointments

Giving Medicaid enrollees a free Lyft ride to the doctor’s office doesn’t seem to reduce the rate of missed medical appointments, according to new research. Health care systems have started partnering with ride-sharing companies like Lyft to make it easier for low-income patients to get to their appointments. Researchers studied 800 patients who were enrolled in Medicaid at one of two primary care practices in Philadelphia, roughly half of whom were offered a free ride to their appointment. But there wasn’t any difference in how many patients ultimately missed their appointments, suggesting the fix for this particular problem isn't as simple as a free ride.

I keep track of negative trial findings, which often get underreported, in this newsletter. If you see one, send it my way at [log in to unmask].

A new effort to expand access to needle exchanges

There’s an ongoing effort to establish needle exchange programs — and make sure they’re able to stay up and running. The Syringe Access Fund, a nonprofit that’s sponsored in large part by the Elton John AIDS Foundation, announced it’s investing $2.4 million nationwide to bolster syringe service programs and lobby for policy changes to make those services more accessible. The only syringe exchange program in California’s Orange County just shut down after Santa Ana city officials denied its permit, citing an excess of used syringes left in the area. California’s public health department told the Los Angeles Times that closing the needle exchange could hurt efforts to prevent opioid overdoses and curb the spread of HIV and viral hepatitis.