7 days in healthcare (December, 23rd-29th, 2025) Happy New Year 2025!

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Summary

The most impactful news in health this week were:

  • Biomedicine: National Geographic publishes what it considers the 7 most hopeful medical advances of 2024.
  • Global health: The WHO publishes global data on covid mortality.
  • International health policy: More and more pharmacies are closing in the USA, leaving the problem of “pharmaceutical deserts”.
  • National health policy. ADESLAS’ decision not to enter the MUFACE competition calls into question the continuity of the model, which remains in the hands of ASISA.
  • Companies: Grifols manages to refinance its debt.

Biomedicine

  • The 7 most hopeful medical advances of 2024: 1. A contraceptive pill without a prescription; 2. Replacement of heart valves that continue to grow; 3. Organ transplants from pigs to humans; 4. A blood test to detect Alzheimer’s; 5. A single vaccine for covid and flu; 6. We now better understand why women are more likely to develop autoimmune diseases; 7 A drug to reduce the risk of allergic reactions to peanuts

Global Health

  • The WHO publishes data on Covid mortality five years after the first case: 7 million deaths in 234 countries. Most deaths occurred in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

International health policy

  • More and more pharmacies are closing in the USA, raising questions about their business model. Chains such as Walgreens and CVS are closing by the hundreds, leaving authentic “pharmaceutical deserts”, with a great impact especially among the elderly.

National Health Policy (Spain)

  • The Ministry of Health will resume negotiations for the Framework Statute with the unions in January. There is no sign of participation by professionals in the negotiation, which in itself is regrettable. Unions cannot replace professional representation in a negotiation of this type.
  • More than disappointing report from the CAIRÓS group of experts. This group of experts from Catalonia publishes its first report on December 19, 2024, with a set of recommendations grouped into 10 first lines of action. Although it is announced as a first document, which will surely be followed by others, overall it is quite disappointing, given the high hopes that had been placed on this initiative. The diagnosis is poor, there is not the slightest analysis of quality and productivity. The most interesting thing is that of the integrated health centers. The big issues are not addressed, for example, the professional management model, governance, concentration of hospital services, drug management, etc. Most of the initiatives proposed were already underway. This is probably all that the political situation in Catalonia, so full of gestures but lacking in actions, can offer.
  • ADESLAS will not participate in the new MUFACE tender. This calls into question the continuity of the model, which remains for now in the hands of ASISA, if this entity decides to participate. AIREF notes the growth of MUFACE expenses. Ayuso promises to maintain the model in the Community of Madrid, if the central government does not do so. The statement by the Minister of Health that the incorporation of 1.5 million MUFACE members into the general system would not cause problems since they represent only around 2% of the insured is an insult to intelligence. 1.5 million more on a collapsed system and in which waiting lists number in the hundreds of thousands is a calamity. The disappearance of the MUFACE system would be bad news for the general health system (which would become more uniform and monolithic, without comparative reference points) and also for insurers (which would lose the great opportunity of broad collaboration with the public sector, with all the future possibilities that this entails).

Companies

  • International
    • Roche faces NovoNordisk and Lilly and accelerates the launch of an anti-obesity pill
  • National
    • Grifols manages to refinance its debt

Biomedicine

Global Health

International health policy

National health policy

Companies

This post is also available in: Spanish