7 days in healthcare (6th-12th June, 2022)

 

Summary

From the point of view of biomedicine, the article in the journal Cell stands out, in which MIT researchers design a complete functional map of genes in human cells. Also the possibilities of liquid biopsy, which will make it possible to diagnose cancers at an early stage through a simple blood test. It is also necessary to highlight the controversy over the transmission of monkeypox, some say that the transmission could be aerial, while the CDC denies it. This is important in terms of vaccination strategy.

As far as Global Health is concerned, the humanitarian problems of the Ukraine war should be highlighted, which will not only be local but global.

Regarding international health policy, it is worth highlighting the Health Affairs article that shows that mortality from covid is higher in counties with a Republican vote than in those with a Democratic vote. Incredible conclusion, although this can be explained by a greater rejection of masks, social distance and vaccination in Republican environments. Health and its preventive orientation declared a priority by Macron. We will see what this translates into in practice.

If we talk about national health policy (Spain), it should be mentioned that 15 new CAR-T centers are approved in several hospitals. Impressive and accurate title of a talk by Rafael Bengoa: “SNS: 500,000 competent professionals in an incompetent model.” It rightly puts the emphasis on management and organization. This contrasts with the poverty and lack of news and prioritization of the programs of both the PP and the PSOE in the Andalusian elections. The PP program introduces the nonsense of making the 9,000 hired by the public health companies statutory, one of the successes of the PSOE in health. As for the PSOE program, it is a very long program, without any prioritization, and full of reflections against collaboration with the private sector, as if the so-called “privatization” were the problem of the system.

At the corporate level, the promising advances of BioNTech in pancreatic cancer and AstraZeneca-Daiichi in breast cancer should be noted.

Biomedicine

Global Health

International health policy

National health policy

Companies