Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KFF Health News:High Price Of Popular Diabetes Drugs Deprives Low-Income People Of Effective Treatment
For the past year and a half, Tandra Cooper Harris and her husband, Marcus, who both have diabetes, have struggled to fill their prescriptions for the medications they need to control their blood sugar. Without Ozempic or a similar drug, Cooper Harris suffers blackouts, becomes too tired to watch her grandchildren, and struggles to earn extra money braiding hair. Marcus Harris, who works as a Waffle House cook, needs Trulicity to keep his legs and feet from swelling and bruising. (Rayasam, 5/21)
KFF Health News:Biden Leans Into Health Care, Asking Voters To Trust Him Over Trump
Angling to tap into strong support for the sweeping health law he helped pass 14 years ago, one of President Joe Biden’s latest reelection strategies is to remind voters that former President Donald Trump tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act. “Folks, he’s coming for your health care, and we’re not going to let it happen,” Biden says of Trump in a television and digital ad out this month, part of a $14 million investment in the handful of states expected to decide the presidency in November. (Galewitz, 5/21)
KFF Health News:Watch: Medical Residents Are Increasingly Avoiding Abortion Ban States
On KFF Health News’ “What the Health?,” chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner interviewed Atul Grover of the Association of American Medical Colleges about its recent analysis showing that graduating medical students are avoiding training in states with abortion bans and major restrictions. (Rovner, 5/21)
The Hill:White House Lauds PACT Act As It Hits 1 Million Toxin Claims Granted To Vets
The White House on Tuesday announced that more than 1 million claims have been granted through the PACT Act, a landmark law passed in 2022 that gave veterans expanded access to apply for compensation and relief related to toxic exposures during service. More than 880,000 veterans are receiving disability benefits through the PACT Act across the entire country and its territories, according to the White House. (Dress, 5/21)
CIDRAP:CDC Urges Travelers To Saudi Arabia To Be Current With Meningococcal Vaccines
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today issued a health alert and a level 1 travel alert about meningococcal disease in travelers to Saudi Arabia, especially those taking part in pilgrimage activities. The alerts follow a recent notification from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Of 12 recent cases in the United States and Europe due to Saudi Arabia travel, 10 were in people who traveled to Saudi Arabia and 2 were close contacts, the CDC said in its Health Advisory Network notice. (Schnirring, 5/20)
CIDRAP:DR Congo Mpox Outbreak Poses Global Threat Of Deadlier Clade
An ongoing outbreak of the clade 1 mpox virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) poses a threat to the United States, authors write in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Clade 1 is more deadly and severe than the clade 2 virus that caused a global outbreak among men who have sex with men (MSM) in 2022.(Soucheray, 5/20)
CIDRAP:Michigan Reports 3 More H5N1 Outbreaks In Dairy Herds
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDRAD) today reported three more H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in dairy herds, noting that it will send results to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) for confirmation. Also, H5N1 has been detected in two domestic cats in South Dakota, neither of them from affected poultry farms or dairy farms, according to a notification from US government officials to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH). (Schnirring, 5/20)
Reuters:US FDA Tested Retail Milk Samples For Bird Flu In 17 States
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Monday that it tested retail samples of milk and other dairy products in 17 states for viable bird flu virus, providing further details about the locations of the previously disclosed tests. The regulator said it collected 297 samples at retail locations in 17 states between April 18-22, but the retail samples represented products made at 132 processing locations in 38 states. (5/20)
Stat:H5N1 Virus Can Be Tracked In Retail Milk, Scientists Say
Scientists from the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center have managed to generate a full genetic sequence of H5N1 virus from milk, a development they suggest means commercially purchased milk products could be used to monitor the progress of the bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle and to check for important changes in the virus over time. (Branswell, 5/21)
The New York Times:Farm Animals Are Hauled All Over The Country. So Are Their Pathogens.
The bird flu virus that is spreading through American dairy cows can probably be traced back to a single spillover event. Late last year, scientists believe, the virus jumped from wild birds into cattle in the Texas panhandle. By this spring, the virus, known as H5N1, had traveled hundreds of miles or more, appearing on farms in Idaho, North Carolina and Michigan. The virus did not traverse those distances on its own. Instead, it hitched a ride with its hosts, the cows, moving into new states as cattle were transported from the outbreak’s epicenter to farms across the country. (Anthes and Qiu, 5/20)
The New York Times:The Disease Detectives Trying To Keep The World Safe From Bird Flu
As Dr. Sreyleak Luch drove to work the morning of Feb. 8, through busy sunbaked streets in Cambodia’s Mekong river delta, she played the overnight voice messages from her team. The condition of a 9-year-old boy she had been caring for had deteriorated sharply, and he had been intubated, one doctor reported. What, she wondered, could make the child so sick, so fast? “And then I just thought: H5N1,” she recalled. “It could be bird flu.” (Nolen, 5/20)
The Atlantic:Pigs Would Be A Dangerous Bird-Flu Host
As unnerving as H5N1’s current spread in cows might be, “I would be a whole lot more concerned if this was an event in pigs,” Richard Webby, the director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds, told me. Like cows, pigs share plenty of spaces with us. They also have a nasty track record with flu: Swine airways are evolutionary playgrounds where bird-loving flu viruses can convert—and have converted—into ones that prefer to infect us. (Wu, 5/20)
CIDRAP:Long-COVID Codes In Health Record May Dramatically Underestimate Its Prevalence
Long COVID is likely much more prevalent than indicated in electronic health record (EHR) diagnostic or referral codes, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine researchersreport in eClinicalMedicine. (Van Beusekom, 5/20)
WUSF:New CDC Guidance For Schools Encourages Vaccination And Masks
New guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aims to help schools reduce the spread of infections, but recommendations include some that Florida officials have spoken out against. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo have previously discouraged vaccination and mask wearing — particularly when it comes to COVID-19. (Miller, 5/21)
Houston Chronicle:Doctors Criticize Texas Medical Board Emergency Abortion Rules
The Texas Medical Board’s attempt to clarify when doctors can legally perform emergency abortions falls short and could make working under the state’s near-total ban even worse, dozens of doctors, lawyers and patients warned during a public hearing Monday. The proposed rules, which the board unveiled in March, do not lay out a list of conditions or situations that warrant an emergency abortion. (Goldenstein, 5/20)
NPR:'Abortion Abolitionists' Want To Charge Patients With Murder And Ban IVF
As some Republicans try to moderate their messaging on abortion over concerns about voter backlash this November, some activists are trying to go much further. Outside a fertility clinic in Charlotte, N.C., last month, dozens of protestors lined both sides of the street, as some shouted toward the closed front door. ... The protest was organized by a group of activists who describe themselves as abortion abolitionists, who recently spent a long weekend in Charlotte meeting and strategizing. (McCammon, 5/21)
ABC News:Nevada Abortion Rights Group Says It Has Enough Signatures On Petition For Ballot Measure
Nevada abortion rights supporters said Monday they have enough signatures on a petition to qualify for a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution. Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, the organization behind the petition, said it has collected more than 200,000 signatures from voters in all 17 counties, double the 102,362 threshold required to qualify for the November 2024 election. (Kekatos, 5/21)
The Washington Post:Polls Show Abortion Rights Lead Big In Arizona And Florida
The abortion rights position has won in seven of seven states post-Roe v. Wade. But Arizona and Florida are especially big — as are the margins by which their ballot measures lead. (Blake, 5/20)
Bloomberg:US Invests $50 Million To Help Prevent Cyberattacks On Private Hospitals
The US government is seeking to play a more active role in protecting the private health-care sector from a deluge of cyberattacks that have disrupted patient care and left providers unpaid. US health officials will unveil Monday a new program to create tools that defend internet-connected hospital equipment from cyberattacks that could take them offline or leave them incapacitated. (Griffin, 5/20)
Modern Healthcare:Cybersecurity Execs On Weaknesses Post-Ascension, Change Outages
A recent string of massive healthcare cybersecurity breaches has put data security leaders on edge.Health system cybersecurity executives are looking at their biggest points of weakness in the aftermath of large-scale breaches atSt. Louis-based health system Ascension, UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare and Chicago-based Lurie Children's Hospital.(Turner, 5/20)
Houston Chronicle:Court Order Granted Against Memorial Hermann Transplant Surgeon
The families of five patients who died awaiting liver transplants at Memorial Hermann were granted a temporary injunction Monday against a surgeon accused of potentially preventing some patients from receiving organs. The order granted by 295th District Court Judge Donna Roth prevents Dr. J. Steve Bynonfrom deleting or destroying critical evidence, such as emails and text messages, that may be relevant to a potential wrongful death claim in the future. Roth previously granted a temporary restraining order in the case, which expired after 14 days. (MacDonald, 5/20)
Modern Healthcare:Medicare Physician Pay Reform Proposals Floated By Senate Finance
Declining doctors' pay in Medicare is getting its most serious look in nearly a decade in the Senate, with a bipartisan push launched Friday by the Senate Finance Committee. Doctors have grown especially vocal in recent years about fallingMedicare reimbursem*nt.Groups including the American Medical Association have estimated doctors were effectively getting paid 26% less in 2023 than in 2001 because the physician fee schedule set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is not adjusted for inflation. (McAuliff, 5/20)
Axios:Medicaid Tests Diaper Delivery For Newborns
Delaware will test a Medicaid program allowing delivery of meals and diapers to postpartum enrollees for three months after giving birth. The pilot program approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Friday is the latest effort to expand coverage of social supports aimed at improving the health of Medicaid beneficiaries. (Millman, 5/20)
Modern Healthcare:Steward Health Care's Bankruptcy Sale Moves Forward With Timeline
Steward Health Care is seeing interest from potential buyers of its 31 hospitals, particularly in Massachusetts and Arizona, and it hopes to complete sales this summer. The health system, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protectionearlier this month, also is in advanced discussions with UnitedHealth Group's Optum to buy physician network Stewardship Health.Optum, which had been negotiating with Steward before the bankruptcy filing, submitteda "stalking horse" bid. (Hudson, 5/20)
The Wall Street Journal:Exclusive: Elon Musk's Neuralink Gets FDA Green Light For Second Patient, As First Describes His Emotional Journey
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave a green light to Elon Musk’s Neuralink to implant its brain chip in a second person, signing off on the company’s proposed fixes for a problem that occurred in the first test participant. The fixes include embedding some of the device’s ultrathin wires deeper into the brain, according to a person familiar with the company and a document viewed by The Wall Street Journal.(Winkler, 5/20)
Reuters:UnitedHealth's Unit To Launch New Drug Pricing Model Next Year
UnitedHealth said on Monday its unit OptumRx would offer a new pricing model, starting next year, to help manage insurers' costs for drugs. The new model, Optum Rx Clear Trend Guarantee, will provide value-based pricing of drugs per member combining the cost of these medicines from various sources such as retail pharmacy, home delivery, specialty drug and rebates. (5/20)
Stat:BIO To Announce Reorganization, Senior Leaders Expected To Depart
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization on Monday announced 30 layoffs that are part of a restructuring of the organization, according to an email announcement obtained by STAT. In the email, BIO CEO John Crowley said the changes are intended to “better align our operations with our mission and the strategic priorities.” (Wilkerson and Zhang, 5/20)
The Baltimore Sun:Second Henrietta Lacks Family Lawsuit Can Proceed Against Pharmaceutical Company, Judge Rules
The family of Henrietta Lacks can proceed with a lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company that uses the Baltimore County woman’s “immortal” cell line to develop medical treatments, a federal judge ruled Monday. (O'Neill, 5/20)
Bloomberg:GSK Experimental Drug Reduces Severe Asthma Attacks In Trial
An experimental drug from GSK Plc reduced asthma attacks in late-stage trials, paving the way for a treatment that the British drugmaker thinks could exceed £3 billion ($3.8 billion) in sales. The drug, depemokimab, showed clinically meaningful reductions in severe asthma exacerbations over 52 weeks in patients with eosinophilic asthma, according to a statement Tuesday. That form of asthma is caused by high levels of white blood cells called eosinophils in the lungs’ airways. (Furlong, 5/21)
Reuters:US FDA Approves Two Biosimilars For Blockbuster Eye Drug Eylea
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday approved two close copies of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' Eylea, its first-ever clearance to biosimilar versions of the blockbuster eye treatment. The agency approved Biocon Biologics' Yesafili as well as Samsung Bioepis and Biogen's (BIIB.O), opens new tab Opuviz, while also allowing interchangeability, or the drug's substitution with biosimilars without the need for a doctor's advice. (5/20)
Reuters:GSK Whistleblower Claims Drugmaker Cheated US Government Over Zantac Cancer Risk
GSK has been sued by an independent Connecticut laboratory that accused the drugmaker of defrauding the U.S. government and taxpayers by concealing cancer risks in Zantac, once a blockbuster heartburn drug. In a whistleblower complaint filed on Monday, Valisure said GSK violated the federal False Claims Act by hiding the risks for nearly four decades while Medicare, Medicaid and other health programs covered billions of dollars of prescriptions. (Stempel, 5/20)
The Boston Globe:After Two Years, 988 Suicide And Crisis Hotline Has Helped 10 Million In US, And 33,000 In R.I.
Since it launched in 2022, nearly 10 million calls, texts and chats have been received as part of the 988 system, and in Rhode Island, the 988 and BH Link hotline have answered more than 33,000 calls, officials said Monday. And they said Rhode Island now has the country’s highest in-state answer rate, meaning that 98 percent of the calls are answered by people in the state rather than being patched through to call centers in other states. (Fitzpatrick, 5/20)
The New York Times:Legalized Weed Is Landing More Seniors In The E.R.
As more places legalize marijuana, policymakers and health officials have worried about the health risks that the drug may pose to adolescents. But a new study suggests that an additional demographic is at risk: seniors. The study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that after Canada legalized marijuana, the number of emergency room visits for cannabis poisoning rose sharply among people ages 65 and older. Poisonings doubled after Canada legalized sale of the cannabis flower, and then tripled just 15 months later, when Canada legalized the sale of edibles. (Richtel, 5/20)
The New York Times:Does Legalizing Cannabis Increase Adolescent Use? This Expert Found Mixed Results.
Contrary to expectation, a major study found that weed use among minors was lower in states where the drug was legal. (Richtel, 5/20)
CNN:Why BORG Drinks Are Dangerous For You
If you’ve been to a party lately and haven’t seen someone drinking a BORG, you’re likely not partying with college students. And if you have no idea what that sentence even means, you’re probably not a member ofGeneration Z. The acronymBORG stands for“blackout rage gallon,” according to theNational Capital Poison Center in Washington, DC.The termrefers to a concoctionoften prepared in a gallon-size plastic jug that typically containsvodkaor other distilled alcohol, water, a flavor enhancer and an electrolyte powder or drink.(Ward, 5/20)
Stat:Sickle Cell Patients Pressured To Undergo Unwanted Sterilizations
The surgery was supposed to alleviate worry, but now, years later, Whitney Carter’s mind kept flicking back to it, wondering if it could be undone. She sometimes descended into these moods, taciturn, withdrawn, as if all hope had gone extinct. She sat on the couch in the half-light, blinds shut against the heat. The whole thing made her feel less than, like some essential part of her had been removed. (Boodman, 5/21)
Stat:Novel Spinal Cord Stimulator Treats Paralysis Without Surgery
After his spinal cord injury in 2014, Sherown Campbell worked hard to regain as much bodily function as he could. Once a dedicated athlete, Campbell had to learn the new limits of his body. One of them, jarringly, was his body’s inability to sweat. (Lawrence and Broderick, 5/20)
Stat:Study Finds Gene Variants Tied To Breast Cancer Risk In Black Women
Hundreds of genetic variants can nudge someone’s risk of breast cancer up or down or towards a particular subtype. The studies identifying those gene variants, though, have largely involved people with European ancestry and thus give a less accurate picture of breast cancer risk for people who are not white. (Chen, 5/21)
Los Angeles Times:Britain Slammed In Inquiry Into Tainted Blood Infections
British authorities and the country’s public health service knowingly exposed tens of thousands of patients to deadly infections through contaminated blood and blood products, and hid the truth about the disaster for decades, an inquiry into the U.K.’s infected blood scandal found Monday. An estimated 3,000 people in the United Kingdom are believed to have died and many others were left with lifelong illnesses after receiving blood or blood products tainted with HIV or hepatitis in the 1970s to the early 1990s. (Hui, 5/20)
