7 days in healthcare (April 18-24, 2022)
Summary
From the point of view of biomedicine, to highlight the new devices that read the brain (brain-reading-devices) and allow movement, touch and speech to be recovered. Also the great future of liquid biopsy in the early diagnosis of cancer.
As far as Global Health is concerned, there is no choice but to quote Bill Gates’ new TED video discussing how to avoid a new pandemic, which follows his previously celebrated video from 2015, five years before COVID-19. . Also the devastating effects of covid on the evolution of tuberculosis. It is highly worrying that in Africa there is a large backlog of vaccines, after multiple donations, which speaks of serious logistical problems. More than 100 confirmed cases in a dozen countries of the new acute childhood hepatitis of unknown origin.
Regarding international health policy, it should be noted that, according to the WHO, the incidence and mortality of COVID is falling globally. The United States will host the second global conference on COVID on May 12, 2022. Serious problems continue to arise in China, particularly in Shanghai, where respect for the most minimal freedoms collides with certain public health measures that are intended to be imposed. The new outbreak of covid in Beijing highlights the difficulty of following the “zero-covid” policy without many deaths, due to the low percentage of vaccination among the elderly in China and the less efficacy of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, compared to that of Pfizer-Biontech.
If we talk about national health policy (Spain), although the incidence of COVID continues to grow, the mandatory use of the mask indoors has been abolished, which for some is premature. From the regulatory point of view, the Health Advertising Law and the Pharmacy Law of the Community of Madrid are announced, both with controversial components. The CNI warns of the large number of cyberattacks in health so far in 2022. The “Vanguard Health” Alliance is created to coordinate the health PERTE. Great media impact of the publication “Private healthcare, adding value” by the IDIS Foundation.
In the field of companies, from the international point of view, it is worth noting the movements of KKR to buy the largest hospital company in Australia (Ramsay). In our country, the position of the AESEG on the need to establish differential prices between generics and brands is important. Also the five-year agreement between the Junta de Andalucía and the Pascual Hospital Group.
Biomedicine
- Nature: devices that read the brain (brain-reading devices), which allow movement, touch and speech to be recovered. They are electrodes that transform brain activity into impulses. Until now the advances had been made by a company Blackrock Neurotech, from Utah (USA). Elon Musk has been interested in this technology (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01047-w)
- Nature: The Human Pangeomic Project, aims to build a more sophisticated model of a reference genome, telomere by telomere. It will improve knowledge of diseases associated with genetic problems and precision medicine (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04601-8)
- Liquid biopsy will play a determining role in the early diagnosis of cancer (https://www.abc.es/salud/enfermedades/abci-biopsia-liquida-tendra-papel-determinante-diagnostico-precoz-cancer-202204211500_noticia.html )
Global health
- New TED video by Bill Gates on the pandemic, the last one from 2015 warned about a possible pandemic, in this he comments on how to avoid a new one. Makes a very interesting simile about fire prevention (https://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/Talking-about-the-last-pandemic-at-TED?WT.mc_id=20220421110000_HTPTNP-TED_BG-EM-A_&WT.tsrc =BGEM)
- COVID had devastating effects on tuberculosis. In 2020, 1.5 million deaths from this disease, representing the largest annual increase since 2005. For the first time in a decade, tuberculosis mortality increased (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/ NEJMp2118145)
- Africa: COVID vaccine backlog, the many donations cannot be distributed due to lack of proper logistics, while only 16% of Africans are vaccinated (https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2022/04 /21/l-afrique-face-a-un-embouteillage-de-vaccins-contre-le-covid-19_6123148_3212.html)
- Mortality from COVID can triple the official figures (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2791213)
- Malaria in 2022, article in The Lancet. The incidence and mortality of malaria has not changed since 2015: there is a figure of 627,000 annual deaths and 242 million people with the disease. The WHO goal of achieving a 40% reduction in incidence by 2020 was not achieved. There is currently a vaccine (RTS,S) approved last year (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)00729-2/fulltext)
- The WHO already confirms 169 cases of new acute childhood hepatitis in 11 countries (https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2022/04/24/62647b48e4d4d8cf4c8b4582.html)
News international health policy
- COVID-19
o According to the WHO, both the number of cases and mortality fell in the last week, following a decline from the end of March (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/21/new-covid- cases-globally-down-by-nearly-a-quarter-last-week)
o The United States will host the second global summit on COVID. It will be online on May 12, 2022 (https://www.consalud.es/politica/eeuu-cumbre-mundial-pandemia-covid-19_113280_102.html)
o Shanghai wants to open factories with employees living in them (https://www.lavanguardia.com/internacional/20220418/8203602/shanghai-covid-china-pandemia-empresas-impacto.html)
o New COVID outbreak in Beijing. The Chinese authorities do not want the situation in Shanghai to be reproduced (https://elpais.com/sociedad/2022-04-24/pekin-toma-medidas-de-contencion-tras-detectar-un-subito-aumento-de -cases-of-covid.html)
- Other themes
o The questioning of the authorization of abortion in the USA (Roe v Wade ruling), can cause serious health problems. It can increase the mortality of women in relation to pregnancy by 21% and 33% in black women (https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1019). Many media worldwide denounce the toxicity of these restrictive laws (https://www.ft.com/content/a2b0d282-9baa-40ed-9a2c-64bbeaa5e375)
o New incentives are needed to fight antibiotic resistance, a pioneering subscription system in the UK can help improve the situation (https://www.ft.com/content/954d5e13-884e-4090-afca- 378993510558)
o Europe will not approve Biogen’s aducanumab for Alzheimer’s for now, approved in the USA by the FDA, amid great controversy (https://www.diariomedico.com/farmacia/industria/empresas/europa-no-aprobara-por-ahora- aducanumab-for-alzheimer.html)
News national health policy (Spain)
- COVID
o The incidence of COVID continues to rise: 555.47 cases on Friday, April 22, in people over 60 years of age per 100,000 in the last 14 days, compared to 505.86 on Tuesday, April 19 (https://www.elconfidencial .com/espana/2022-04-22/espana-suma-49-143-cases-and-187-deaths-and-the-incidence-in-over-60s-up-50-points_3412937/)
o After 700 days, the Council of Ministers approves the no obligation to wear a mask indoors, with some exceptions (https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2022/04/19/625e955c21efa04b4d8b45d0.html)
o The majority of Spaniards believe that it is soon to remove the mask indoors (https://elpais.com/sociedad/2022-04-20/la-mayoria-de-los-espanoles-cree-que-es-pronto -to-remove-the-masks-indoors-and-continue-wearing-it.html)
o The XE variant of covid is already beginning to circulate in Spain (https://www.abc.es/sociedad/abci-variante-coronavirus-empuerta-circular-espana-202204202033_noticia.html)
o Great controversy over the distribution of antivirals (https://www.larazon.es/sociedad/20220421/yda2ugjo3rcszl56bzcp75rvvm.html)
- Regulatory announcements
o The health advertising law, presented by the PP, to be examined in Congress. It is promoted by the Council of Dentists and also by the OMC (Doctors Order) (https://www.consalud.es/politica/parlamentos/ley-publicidad-sanitaria-pp-examen-congreso-semana_113468_102.html)
o Madrid approves the Pharmacy Law, among the novelties, it develops home distribution (closing the door to the delivery of medicines from entities outside pharmacies) and makes schedules more flexible (https://www.diariomedico.com/farmacia/politica/ madrid-approves-the-new-pharmacy-law-in-its-government-council.html). The Spanish Society of Hospital Pharmacy opposes this bill, for not contemplating hospital pharmacy in the regulations (https://www.diariofarma.com/2022/04/22/la-sefh-rechaza-la-loaf- Madrid)
- Other themes
o Public healthcare spending skyrockets in 2020 due to the pandemic (https://www.plantadoce.com/entorno/el-sns-pisa-el-acelerador-tras-la-pandemia-y-dispara-el-gasto-sanitario -up-to-83811-million-euros.html)
o CNI alert: large number of cyberattacks in healthcare in 2022 (https://www.elespanol.com/invertia/observatorios/sanidad/20220422/alerta-cni-sanidad-publica-espanola-ciberataques-peligrosidad/666683412_0.html)
o The Fundación Instituto Roche addresses the involvement of the microbiome in maintaining health (https://www.actasanitaria.com/tecnologia/fundacion-instituto-roche-aborda-implicacion-microbioma_2002274_102.html). To access the full document: https://www.institutoroche.es/recursos/publicaciones/202/Hablando_sobre_microbioma
o The Ministry of Health reports eight cases of severe childhood hepatitis of unknown origin (https://www.eldiario.es/sociedad/sanidad-notifica-ocho-casos-hepatitis-aguda-infantil-origen-desconocido_1_8935838.html)
o The investigations for the purchase of masks already exceed ten (https://www.elperiodico.com/es/politica/20220423/investigaciones-contratos-mascarillas-covid-superan-decena-13553701)
o The “Salud de Vanguardia” Alliance is born to coordinate the health PERTE (https://www.diariofarma.com/2022/04/20/nace-la-alianza-salud-de-vanguardia-para-coordinar-el-perte -sanitary)
o Great impact of the document “Private healthcare, adding value” from the IDIS Foundation: https://www.fundacionidis.com/uploads/informes/informe_sanidad_privada_aportando_valor_2022.pdf.
Companies
- International News
o The private equity firm KKR launches an offer for the largest Australian private hospital group, Ramsay (https://www.ft.com/content/ee5553e3-5d5c-4fbb-af4b-72dd9be0ef0a)
o GBL (Group Bruxelles Lambert) acquires the diagnostic imaging company Affidea, which at the time had acquired some assets in Spain (Q Diagnóstica) (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/gbl-adquiere-la-compania -of-medical-diagnostic-services-affidea.html)
o GSK, Sanofi and J&J accelerate spin offs in the pharmaceutical business (https://www.expansion.com/empresas/2022/04/19/625de599e5fdea36148b4677.html)
- National News
o Generics: AESEG rejects the current plan for generics and biosimilars (made public, but not yet implemented due to the pandemic) if there is no price differential with brands (https://www.redaccionmedica.com/secciones/industria/el -generic-reformulates-the-national-plan-with-the-price-difference-as-axis-1032)
o The Junta de Andalucía signs a five-year agreement with the Pascual hospitals for an amount of 771 million euros (https://sevilla.abc.es/andalucia/sevi-junta-andalucia-firma-contrato-clinicas-pascual-cinco -hospitals-until-2027-771-millions-202203291523_noticia.html)
o DKV skyrockets its profits, largely due to the extraordinary results of the sale of its stake in the Denia hospital, acquired by Ribera (https://cincodias.elpais.com/cincodias/2022/04/20/companias/1650456633_959356 .html)
o Sacyr will build a pediatric center in Canada for more than 60 million euros (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/sacyr-construira-un-centro-pediatrico-en-canada-por-mas-de-60- million-euros.html)
o Atrys Health sprints on the Stock Market and targets revenues of 200 million in 2022 (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/atrys-health-sprints-on-the-continuo-y-apunta-a-incomes- of-220-million-euros-in-2022.html)
