Posts

7 days in healthcare (November 13th-19th, 2023)

Summary

From the point of view of Biomedicine, The Economist speculates in an article about whether certain regenerated neurons of the dentate gyrus could reverse Alzheimer’s, based on studies in mice. AI, useful in improving the detection of breast cancer.

Regarding Global Health, the WHO points out the rebound in measles worldwide. The number of cases and, above all, mortality are increasing a lot.

In terms of International Health Policy, the United Kingdom encourages the EU and the USA to join its “subscription model” for the development of antibiotics. In practice, it introduces a system of incentives for pharmaceutical companies not linked to the sale of the drug, which can be useful if new antibiotics against resistant bacteria are intended to be of low use. The King’s Fund (an important British health think tank) launches a study in which it analyzes in great detail the inequities in waiting lists. Without a doubt interesting reading in our country. In France, the SNCF (equivalent to our RENFE) launches an interesting initiative to alleviate the problem of medical deserts: build telemedicine centers near the stations.

If we talk about National Health Policy (Spain), the confrontation between private doctors and insurers continues. Without a doubt, the problems of personnel policy do not only occur, as some might think, in the public sector. They also occur in the private sector. The Ministry of Health calls the comments about the transfer of the MIR to certain communities hoaxes. The problem is that this issue appears in the investiture agreements. Success of the PRAN (the plan to reduce antibiotic consumption), obtaining good results in our country, despite continuing to be one of the countries with the highest consumption of antibiotics, both in humans and in veterinary medicine.

In the field of Companies, on an international level, the sale of obesity drugs could be a great boom and reach 100 billion dollars in 2030. On a national level, Quirón is advancing in the approach of building its new hospital in Gijón. Sanitas-BUPA buys a Turkish insurer. The bankruptcy administrator blames KKR for the bankruptcy of the dental company Dentix.

Biomedicine

Global Health

International health policy

National health policy

Companies

 

 

7 days in healthcare (November 7th-13th, 2022)

 

Summary

From the point of view of biomedicine, to highlight the blood transfusion with cells generated in the laboratory from donor stem cells, carried out in the United Kingdom, which opens up possibilities for what has been pursued for years: the so-called “artificial blood”. Likewise, two advances that originate in Spain: the discovery of a genetic variant that favors thinness (CNIO) and the fact that malignant cells break off from cancer and cause deaths by metastasis (Institute of Medical Research of Barcelona).

As regards Global Health, Nature insists in an editorial, following the COP27 meeting, that rich countries must advance compensation for polluting. Important challenges for the new Brazilian President in health matters, particularly in primary care.

Regarding International Health Policy, debate on the covid-zero policy in China, on the one hand, there seem to be signs that China is easing quarantines, on the other hand, according to José Luis Puerta in an article, this policy is a death trap , since its abandonment may mean assuming a high number of deaths, given the low percentage of vaccination in China. In the United Kingdom (NHS) a nurses’ strike for salary demands is raised for the first time, which. according to the Government, they are unaffordable.

If we talk about National Health Policy (Spain), it seems that the crisis of Primary Care, long incubated, has exploded. Although the problems of low wages, poor working conditions for doctors and flight or refusal to go to Primary Care is a national problem, the crisis has broken out above all, although not only, in Madrid, which has some peculiarities that aggravate the situation: 1. the closure of out-of-hospital emergencies for two years; 2. the low funding of the health system in Madrid and of Primary Care; and, 3. some confrontation practice. The truth is that the “white tide” has been activated, with a large demonstration in defense of public healthcare in the center of Madrid, which was a great success for the organizers. As always in these cases, the defense of public healthcare is mixed with the rejection of any form of public/private collaboration. Tensions in primary care also in the rest of Spain. Highly recommendable is the video on YouTube entitled “Doctors are lacking in Spain”?

In the field of companies, at the international level Bavarian Nordic increases its growth due to the monkeypox vaccine, while BioNTech’s revenues fall, due to the drop in sales of the covid vaccine. In Spain, changes in the CEO of Quirón, to whom Víctor Madera, the company’s founder, returns to executive positions. Success for Ribera, which is awarded an important contract for a hospital concession in Cascais (Portugal). New delays in the approval by the EMA of the HIPRA vaccine.

Biomedicine

Global Health

International health policy

  • COVID-19
    • China eases quarantine rules, with Guangzhou close to lockdown. There is speculation that Beijing is considering a relaxation of the covid-zero policy (https://www.ft.com/content/709e95e6-cc63-4fe0-9c4a-5683c87f7e7b)
    • Interesting article by José Luis Puerta: “China: the deadly trap of the covid-zero policy”. If the government lifts the restrictions, which are sinking the economy, the country risks suffering a tsunami of infections, due to the low level of vaccination. It is estimated that this could cause 1.6 million deaths and a demand for intensive care that exceeds its current capacity by 15.6 times (https://theobjective.com/internacional/2022-11-12/china-covid-zero/ )

National health policy

Companies