Summary

The most impactful news in health this week were:

• Biomedicine: FDA approves studies of pig organs for kidney transplants.
• Global health: Science editorial: A less safe world, after Trump’s decision to leave the WHO.
• International health policy: Trump blows up the system from within. Health care is especially threatened, both in the United States and global health.
• National health policy. The government launches a new MUFACE competition and gives a deadline until March 4.
• Companies: Spain is the eighth European country that produces the most medicines, with Catalonia and Madrid at the top.

Biomedicine

• The FDA approves studies of pig organs for kidney transplants. The trial offers hope to the tens of thousands of patients in the USA who are on the waiting list for a kidney transplant.
• American scientists must resist Trump’s efforts to destroy research. The president’s executive orders have plunged the American science system into chaos.

Global Health

• Science Editorial: A less secure world, after Trump’s decision to leave the WHO. The USA was key in the creation of the WHO in 1948 and its most influential member for 75 years. The withdrawal from the WHO will damage American Public Health Agencies and the pharmaceutical industry, which intervened in multiple humanitarian catastrophes.
• Nature Editorial: How the WHO can survive without the USA. Speech by the WHO Director General: the 193 countries that remain in the organization must find a formula to preserve the effectiveness of the WHO.
• Trump’s foreign aid freeze leaves millions without HIV treatment. This could harm the health of 20 million people, including 500,000 children.

International health policy

• Trump blows up the system from within. Health care is especially threatened: the NIH (National Health Institutes), USAaid; the Department of Health; and the Veterans Administration. A real chaos in the American health system. A system that needs deep reforms, but that are more along the lines of what Berwick proposed in the last issue of Health Affairs, not because of the improvisations of Trump and Musk.
• Article by Donald Berwick: From Laggard to Leader: Why the American Health System is Failing and How to Fix It. Although the American health system is among the most technologically advanced in the world, it is failing to respond to the needs of the nation. Obama’s law was an important step. However, Americans are faced with high and rising health costs; inadequate access; health inequities; and a lower life expectancy than in most developed countries. National objectives are proposed: accessible and equitable care for all; elimination of ethnic and racial disparities; substantial reduction in health costs; and, most importantly, better health outcomes. To achieve these objectives we propose: investing in Primary Care and social determinants of health; financing to incentivize the maintenance of health; and improving transparency and accountability.
• Brussels launches a public consultation to process the Law on Critical Medicines. The objective is to ensure the supply of key drugs.

National Health Policy (Spain)

• The first plan for suicide prevention will be presented at the Interterritorial Council on February 14. The document with six lines of action plans to improve the detection and monitoring of risk cases.
• Pedro Sánchez will meet with 16 CEOs of the pharmaceutical industry on February 12. It is not bad that the president understands the pharmaceutical industry and is a success for his employers’ association in Spain. But it would not be bad either for the president to meet with health professionals from time to time.
• The government launches a new MUFACE competition and gives a deadline until March 4. It represents a 41% increase in the premium. In addition, compensation is planned for insurers to reestablish the economic-budgetary balance. Without a doubt, a success for insurers, especially Adeslas and ASISA. The government, with many contradictions and delays, has realized what was coming.
• Pharmaceutical companies defend their strategic weight and warn that they contribute more than 27,000 million in turnover to the Spanish GDP.

Companies

• International
  • Merck shares fall 11% after halting shipments to China

• National
  • Spain is the eighth European country that produces the most medicines, with Catalonia and Madrid at the top

Biomedicine

• AI in health and healthcare. The National Academy of Medicine has outlined priorities for 2025 for the safe and effective use of AI in healthcare (https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01003)
• American scientists must resist Trump’s efforts to gut research. The president’s executive orders have thrown the American science system into chaos (https://www.ft.com/content/60673cbf-99d2-4428-8218-a75d2263cf5f)
• FDA approves studies of pig organs for kidney transplants. The trial offers hope to the tens of thousands of patients in the US who are on the waiting list for a kidney transplant (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/health/pig-kidney-transplants-clinical-trials.html)
• Do we have microbes in our brains? A theory that divides scientists. The possibility of a brain microbiome and its relationship with Alzheimer’s divides scientists (https://elpais.com/salud-y-bienestar/2025-02-06/tenemos-microbios-en-el-cerebro-una-teoria-que-divide-a-los-cientificos.html)
• Promising results of a vaccine against kidney cancer (https://www.larazon.es/salud/resultados-prometedores-vacuna-cancer-rinon_2025020567a3907fe95c06000187fde4.html
• Global trends in incidence, death, and risk factors for early-onset cancer between 1990 and 2019. During this period, the incidence of cancer in young people increased by 79.1% and the number of deaths by 27.7% (https://bmjoncology.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000049)
• New genes identified that reduce the risk of depression (https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2025/02/08/67a60be521efa01e2d8b459d.html)

Global Health

• Science Editorial: A less safe world, after Trump’s decision to leave the WHO. The USA was key in the creation of the WHO in 1948 and its most influential member for 75 years. The withdrawal from the WHO will harm American Public Health Agencies and the pharmaceutical industry, which intervened in multiple humanitarian catastrophes (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adw1554)
• Nature Editorial: How the WHO can survive without the USA. WHO Director-General’s speech: 193 remaining countries must find a way to preserve WHO’s effectiveness (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00283-0)
• Trump’s foreign aid freeze leaves millions without HIV treatment. This could harm the health of 20 million people, including 500,000 children (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/health/trump-usaid-pepfar.html)
• In South Africa, chaos at HIV clinics after Trump’s withdrawal announcements. The country has 14% HIV-positive people, one of the highest rates in the world (https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2025/02/04/en-afrique-du-sud-le-chaos-dans-les-dispensaires-vih-apres-les-annonces-de-donald-trump_6530912_3212.html)
• Javier Millei follows Trump’s lead and makes Argentina leave the WHO. The libertarian leader follows Trump (https://www.ft.com/content/05605adc-b972-444d-8848-f1b0bb7bfae4)

International Health Policy

• USA
  • Trump is blowing up the system from within. Health care is especially threatened: the NIH (National Health Institutes), USAaid; the Department of Health and the Veterans Administration (https://elpais.com/internacional/2025-02-09/donald-trump-y-los-cachorros-de-elon-musk-dinamitan-el-sistema-desde-dentro.html)
  • Article by Donald Berwick: From Laggard to Leader: Why the American Health System is Failing and How to Fix It. Although the American health system is among the most technologically advanced in the world, it is failing to respond to the needs of the nation. Obama’s law was an important step. However, Americans are faced with high and rising health care costs; inadequate access; health inequities; and a lower life expectancy than in most developed countries. We propose national objectives: accessible and equitable care for all; elimination of racial and ethnic disparities; substantial reduction in health costs; and, most importantly, improved health outcomes. To achieve these goals, we propose: investing in primary care and social determinants of health; financing to incentivize health maintenance; and improve transparency and accountability (https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01007)
  • Scientists warn $4 billion cuts to NHIs jeopardize US scientific research (https://www.ft.com/content/028b2df3-2120-490c-a6a4-8af571305507)
  • USAid cuts (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/health/trump-usaid-health-aid.html)
  • The American transplant system is inequitable (https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/organ-transplantation-system-inequitable-modernized-data-can-help-fix)
  • Changes in salary expenditures and changes in hospital utilization after hospitals are acquired by public entities private equity 2005-2019 (https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.00687)
  • New York temporarily closes live bird markets after detecting cases of bird flu (https://elpais.com/us/actualidad/2025-02-07/nueva-york-cierra-temporamente-todos-los-mercados-de-aves-vivas-tras-detectarse-varios-casos-de-gripe-aviar.html)

• United Kingdom and the National Health Service
  • NHS England reduces targets to prioritise waiting lists. The number of overall targets is reduced from 32 to 18 in an attempt to reduce waiting lists (https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r235)
  • More than 500,000 people in England are waiting more than two months (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/feb/03/england-essential-cancer-treatment-wait-nhs)

• Canada
  • A plan to connect 2 million people to primary care. The plan aims to assign a primary care physician to 2.5 million Ontario citizens (https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/monitors/health-systems-monitor/updates/hspm/canada-2020/an-action-plan-to-connect-two-million-people-to-primary-care

• Italy
  • Health budget priorities in Italy. Priorities are waiting lists; staff; and mental health (https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/monitors/health-systems-monitor/analyses/hspm/italy-2023/budget-law-2025-investments-in-health)

• EU
  • Brussels launches a public consultation to process the Critical Medicines Act. The objective is to ensure the supply of key drugs (https://diariofarma.com/2025/02/05/bruselas-lanza-una-consulta-publica-para-tramitar-la-ley-de-medicamentos-criticos)

National health policy

• Central administration
  • The first plan for suicide prevention will be presented at the Interterritorial Council on February 14. The document with six lines of action plans to improve the detection and monitoring of risk cases (https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2025/02/05/67a260f221efa0a5758b45ab.html)
  • The Ministry is working to approve the Royal Decree on the evaluation of health technologies (https://www.consalud.es/politica/sanidad-trabaja-aprobar-real-decreto-evaluacion-tecnologias-sanitarias-antes-verano_154346_102.html)
  • Pedro Sánchez will meet with 16 CEOs of the pharmaceutical industry on February 12 (https://diariomedico.com/medicina/empresas/pedro-sanchez-reunira-16-ceo-industria-farmaceutica-proximo-12-febrero.html)

• Initiatives and news from the autonomous communities
  • Galician Health will define its goals and strategy until 2030. The Ministry establishes 10 indicators to measure the fulfillment of the objectives (https://www.consalud.es/autonomias/galicia/galicia-evalua-cumplimiento-su-estrategia-salud-2030_154281_102.html)
  • The “Clinic Barcelona Comprehensive Cancer Center” is born (https://diariomedico.com/medicina/oncologia/nace-clinic-barcelona-comprehensive-cancer-center.html)
  • The University of Burgos will begin to teach the degree of medicine in 2026, with 72 students (https://www.consalud.es/autonomias/castilla-y-leon/universidad-burgos-comenzara-impartir-grado-medicina-en-2026-con-72-alumnos_154406_102.html)

• MUFACE
  • The government MUFACE launches a new competition and gives a deadline until March 4. This represents a 41% increase in the premium. In addition, compensation is expected for insurers to restore economic-budgetary balance (https://theobjective.com/economia/2025-02-07/gobierno-tercera-licitacion-muface-plazo-marzo/)
  • Self-employed doctors remember that insurers pay them a pittance (https://www.epe.es/es/sociedad/20250206/ultima-hora-muface-directo-112329871)
  • CSIF will sue ASISA, ADESLAS and DKV for not serving mutualists (https://elpais.com/economia/2025-02-07/csif-demandara-a-dkv-asisa-y-adeslas-ante-la-fiscalia-por-desatender-a-los-mutualistas-de-muface.html)

• Pharmaceutical sector
  • • Pharmaceutical companies defend their weight strategic and warn that they contribute to the Spanish GDP with more than 27,000 million in turnover (https://cincodias.elpais.com/companias/2025-02-05/las-farmaceuticas-defienden-su-peso-estrategico-y-advierten-de-que-contribuyen-al-pib-espanol-con-mas-de-27000-millones.html). Access to the original AFI document: https://www.afi.es/publicaciones-e-informes/contribucion-socioeconomica-medicamentos-industria-farmaeutica-espana

Companies

• International news
  • Merck shares plunge 11% after halting shipments to China (https://www.ft.com/content/cf12024c-5dae-4561-8b2f-9e13f741c2a0)

• National
  • Spain is the eighth European country that produces the most medicines, with Catalonia and Madrid at the top (https://www.elperiodico.com/es/sociedad/20250205/espana-octavo-pais-europeo-productor-medicamentos-114028032)
  • Rovi plummets 16% on the stock market after anticipating lower-than-expected results at the end of 2024 (https://cincodias.elpais.com/companias/2025-02-07/profit-warning-de-rovi-anticipa-un-ebitda-entre-un-10-y-un-15-inferior-al-consenso-del-mercado-en-2024.html)
  • Sanitas commissions ThorEU for its first residence in Malaga (https://www.expansion.com/empresas/seguros/2025/02/05/67a33092e5fdeab72f8b4598.html)

This post is also available in: Spanish