7 days in healthcare (January 13th-19th, 2025)

 

Summary

The most impactful news in health this week were:

  • Biomedicine: The new definition of obesity challenges the use of the BMI (Body Mass Index).
  • Global health: The triumph and tragedy of malaria prevention.
  • International health policy: The FDA proposes new labels to inform about the sugar, fat and salt content in food.
  • National health policy: New crazy proposals from the government in relation to the Framework Statute.
  • Companies: The third largest hospital in Aragon, Quirón, opens on January 27.

Biomedicine

  • The new definition of obesity challenges the use of the BMI (Body Mass Index). According to the new criterion, it is excess fat and not weight that must be taken into account for the definition of obesity and, therefore, for its treatment.
  • Identification and treatment of alcohol abuse. The American Journal of Medicine reviews this topic, a medical and psychological disorder that influences health, mental health and social behavior. In the USA, it is estimated that 29 million people have this condition, which caused 181,000 deaths in 2021, twice as many as those caused by opioids.

Global Health

  • The triumph and tragedy of malaria prevention. In the 1960s, 400 out of 1,000 children died in Gambia, half of the victims were from malaria. This disease began to decline long before the arrival of the vaccine, which was only in 2023.

International health policy

  • The FDA proposes new labels to inform about the sugar, fat and salt content in foods. The idea is to establish an easy system to alert consumers

National Health Policy (Spain)

  • Framework Statute: crazy proposals from the Ministry of Health.Instead of facing a serious and mature review of the Personnel  Framework Statute, starting with a good dialogue with professionals, the government is only proposing nonsense of its own ideological invention (prohibition of Heads of Service from working in the private sector, 17-hour shifts and the obligation of residents to work for 5 years for the public sector, once they have finished their MIR); and it is proposing to negotiate it only with the unions, another major nonsense. If these are to be the “advances” it is better to leave the Statute as it is.
  • Discrepancies within the government itself regarding MUFACE and reasonable intervention by UNESPA. While the Ministry of Health only thinks about setting a date to integrate MUFACE officials into the public system (that is, sending them to the waiting lists), the Ministry of Public Administration seems to be trying to continue the negotiation. The latter seems the most logical, since the closure of MUFACE could mean losing 1.5 million votes for the government party. More than reasonable note from UNESPA, which warns insurers of what the exit of MUFACE could mean in terms of growth. As for insurers, a call to responsibility must be made. Although they cannot be condemned to losses, they must be aware that the dismantling of a substitute insurance system such as MUFACE may mean that they will not recover for decades.

Companies

  • International
    • Johnson & Johnson offers up to 14.6 billion dollars for the neuroscience biotechnology company Intra-Cellular.
  • National
    • BioNTech chooses Spain to test its new vaccine against lung cancer.
    • The third largest hospital in Aragon, from Quirón, opens on January 27.

Biomedicine

  • The new definition of obesity challenges the use of BMI (Body Mass Index). According to the new criterion, it is excess fat and not weight that should be taken into account for the definition of obesity and, therefore, for its treatment (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/14/health/bmi-obesity-definition.html). Access to the original article in The Lancet: https://www.thelancet.com/commissions/clinical-obesity
  • Identification and treatment of alcohol abuse. The American Journal of Medicine reviews this topic, a medical and psychological disorder that influences health, mental health and social behavior. In the USA, it is estimated that 29 million people have this condition, which caused 181,000 deaths in 2021, twice as many as those caused by opioids (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra2306511)
  • The Lancet Editorial: Health in the age of misinformation. The Covid-19 pandemic was a high point in the spread of misinformation in medicine. Today, the media provides misinformation about cancer prevention and treatment, minimizes the seriousness of mental illness, or promotes supplements for everything from weight loss to anti-aging. Misinformation is a social threat (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)00094-7/fulltext)
  • Human immortality. Commentary from the American Journal of Medicine. Although human immortality is far from reality at the moment, it is still interesting to contemplate some examples of immortality in nature, such as the case of jellyfish) (https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(24)00490-X/fulltext)
  • The new face of cancer in women and young people. Although it had been considered a disease of aging, cancer increasingly attacks young people and women (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/health/cancer-younger-women.html)=
  • Neurotechnology offers a new level of touch to the bionic hand, via signals sent from its brain (https://www.ft.com/content/47b9a447-ea01-4559-a826-51f54816f577). Access to the original article: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adu7929
  • An earthquake in DNA has been discovered that causes an aggressive cancer in children and adolescents (https://elpais.com/ciencia/2025-01-14/descubrimiento-un-terremoto-en-el-adn-que-provoca-un-cancer-agresivo-en-ninos-y-adolescentes.html)
  • An article in Nature in defense of multiple editing of human embryos alarms scientists (https://www.eldiario.es/sociedad/articulo-nature-defensa-edicion-multiple-embriones-humanos-alarma-cientificos-locura_1_11962692.html)

Global Health

  • The triumph and tragedy of malaria prevention. In the 1960s, 400 out of 1,000 children died in Gambia, half of them from malaria. The disease began to decline long before the arrival of the vaccine, which was only in 2023 (https://www.ft.com/content/2951de64-bd78-4a0b-b3ca-2b9f0f31c246)
  • Death estimates in Gaza may be underestimated by 25,000 deaths (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/14/health/gaza-death-toll.html)
  • Editorial in Science: Let’s not pretend that Covid hasn’t happened. In defense of the Pandemic Treaty (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv8836)

International health policy

  • USA
    • Changing the way Medicare is paid to strengthen primary care. Despite its importance, primary care attendance is declining in the USA, as is the number of doctors opting for this practice. For this reason, better compensation is proposed in order to make this practice more attractive (http://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMp2413193)
    • The FDA proposes new labels to inform about the sugar, fat and salt content of foods. The idea is to set up an easy system to alert consumers (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/14/health/fda-food-labels-sugar-fat-salt.html)
    • Kennedy’s plan for the drug crisis: a network of “healing farms” (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/18/health/rfk-addiction-farms.html). His position is set out in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liZq31HLnyA
    • Research shows that dementia cases will grow in the USA (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/health/dementia-cases-us.html). Access to the original Nature Medicine study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03340-9
    • Medicare to negotiate price of weight loss drugs. Government expects to pay lower prices for Ozempic and Wegovy from 2027 (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/health/medicare-prices-ozempic-wegovy.html)
  • United Kingdom and the National Health Service
    • Half of Boris Johnson’s promised hospitals will not be built for years. Labour announces delay of 40 of Johnson’s promised hospitals (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jan/17/half-new-hospitals-promised-boris-johnson-not-be-built-for-decades)
    • UK bans meat imports from Germany after foot-and-mouth outbreak. (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/14/uk-bans-german-pork-products-foot-and-mouth-outbreak-near-berlin)
  • WHO
    • The WHO warns of the highest number of human cases of H5 bird flu since 2015. Last year, 66 cases of H5 were reported in the United States, ten in Cambodia, two in Vietnam and one each in Australia, Canada and China. This is the highest number of human cases reported since 2015(https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2025/01/16/67893html)

National health policy

  • Central administration initiatives
    • The drug law is delayed, the ministry plans to submit it to the Council of Ministers in February (https://www.elespanol.com/invertia/observatorios/sanidad/20250115/ley-medicamentos-productos-sanitarios-retrasa-sanidad-preve-elevarla-consejo-ministros-febrero/916408704_0.html)
    • Pedro Sánchez will meet with the global CEOs of pharmaceutical companies in February (https://theobjective.com/economia/2025-01-13/pedro-sanchez-reunion-febrero-ceo-farmaceuticas/)
  • Initiatives and news from the autonomous communities
    • Castilla y León presents an ambitious mental health strategy with more than 200 actions (https://www.consalud.es/autonomias/castilla-y-leon/castilla-leon-dotacion-psicologos-clinicos-once-areas-salud_153371_102.html). Access to the original document: https://www.saludcastillayleon.es/institucion/es/publicaciones-consejeria/buscador/estrategia-regional-salud-mental-asistencia-psiquiatrica–1.ficheros/327852-ESTRAT%20MENTAL%20Entero.pdf
    • Galicia and Aragon join forces to develop centralized purchasing in healthcare. Both communities explore formulas to achieve more effective and efficient contracting (https://www.redaccionmedica.com/autonomias/galicia/galicia-y-aragon-se-unen-para-desarrollar-la-compra-sanitaria-centralizada-7442)
    • Galicia creates the Technical Advisory Committee for health results (https://www.consalud.es/autonomias/galicia/galicia-comite-tecnico-asesor-salud-transformar-atencion-sanitaria_153374_102.html)
    • Madrid reaches 109 national reference centers to treat complex diseases (https://www.larazon.es/madrid/madrid-suma-109-centros-referencia-nacional-tratar-enfermedades-complejas_20250117678a438a6b777a000176d97b.html)
    • La Rioja is provided with a Law of Pharmaceutical regulation (https://diariofarma.com/2025/01/14/la-rioja-se-dota-de-una-nueva-ley-de-atencion-y-ordenacion-farmaceutica-27-anos-despues)
    • Galicia redesigns healthcare through 3 billion data from clinical records (https://www.larazon.es/galicia/galicia-redisena-asistencia-sanitaria-partir-3000-millones-datos-historias-clinicas-p7m_2025011467866b13bc785b00017bb457.html)
  • Framework Statute
    • The Ministry of Health proposes that heads of services cannot work in the private sector (https://elpais.com/espana/madrid/2025-01-16/el-ministerio-de-sanidad-choca-con-el-mayor-sindicato-medico-madrileno-por-la-idea-de-prohibir-a-los-jefes-de-la-publica-trabajar-en-la-privada.html)
    • The ministry intends to force doctors to work for the public sector for five years after completing their MIR (https://www.abc.es/sociedad/sanidad-obligara-medicos-trabajar-cinco-anos-solo-20250116041945-nt.html?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.es%2Fsociedad%2Fsanidad-obligara-medicos-trabajar-cinco-anos-solo-20250116041945-nt.html)
    • The Ministry of Health proposes to unions that medical on-call hours be a maximum of 17 hours (https://www.elespanol.com/invertia/observatorios/sanidad/20250115/sanidad-propone-sindicatos-guardias-medicas-maximo-horas/916658512_0.html)
  • MUFACE
    • The government says it will compensate insurers if the cost of healthcare is diverted (https://www.abc.es/economia/gobierno-asume-debera-compensar-aseguradoras-muface-desvia-20250117183549-nt.html)
    • The Ministry of Health torpedoes Óscar López’s attempt to maintain MUFACE by asking for a date for the transfer of civil servants to the public sector (https://www.elmundo.es/economia/empresas/2025/01/13/678576b4fc6c83417c8b45b9.html)
    • Private healthcare asks to negotiate with the government so that insurers do not monopolize all the benefits of the MUFACE contract (https://www.eldiario.es/economia/sanidad-privada-pide-negociar-gobierno-aseguradoras-no-acaparen-mejoras-economicas-muface_1_11972493.html)
    • The growth of insurers will stagnate if MUFACE is not renewed (https://www.eleconomista.es/banca-finanzas/noticias/13174847/01/25/el-crecimiento-de-las-aseguradoras-de-salud-se-estancara-si-no-se-renueva-muface.html)
    • The government Spanish:negotiates with Adeslas and Asisa to push forward MUFACE (https://www.expansion.com/empresas/seguros/2025/01/17/67897177468aeb23128b4583.html)
  • Transplants
    • Spain exceeds 6,400 transplants in 2024, above the objectives (https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2025/01/16/678903b221efa0ed178b458b.html)
  • Sick leave
    • The AIREF will submit a report to the government to cut the multimillion-dollar bill for sick leave, since the expense has skyrocketed by 170% since 2014 and already represents 1% of GDP (https://www.elmundo.es/economia/2025/01/18/678a4febfdddffa04c8b459d.html)
  • Medical Schools
    • The trickle of new medical schools continues. Up to 7 more in 2025 (https://www.consalud.es/formacion/goteo-nuevas-facultades-medicina-continua-en-2025-siete-mas_153241_102.html)
  • Hepatitis A
    • Hepatitis A cases triple in Spain (https://www.consalud.es/pacientes/se-triplican-casos-hepatitis-en-espana-hay-reorientar-politicas-vacunacion_153292_102.html)

Companies

  • International news
    • Johnson & Johnson offers up to $14.6 billion for neuroscience biotechnology company Intra-Cellular (https://www.ft.com/content/32a4bb19-5f28-4ea7-a9c8-a776ef2fecd9)
    • NovoNordisk faces US Senate committee over price of its obesity drugs (https://www.ft.com/content/0bb0a4f8-ca72-4bc2-9d87-2dfff3567995)
    • The 10 biggest mergers and acquisitions in the world pharmaceutical sector in 2024 (https://elglobalfarma.com/industria/diez-fusiones-adquisiciones-sector-farmaceutico-2024/)
  • National
    • Almirall receives its double-digit growth forecast until 2030 with increases on the stock market (https://cincodias.elpais.com/companias/2025-01-14/almirall-recibe-con-subidas-en-bolsa-su-prevision-de-crecimiento-de-dobles-digitos-hasta-2030.html)
    • BioNTech chooses Spain to test its new vaccine against lung cancer (https://www.eleconomista.es/salud/noticias/13173524/01/25/biontech-elige-a-espana-para-probar-su-nueva-vacuna-contra-el-cancer-de-pulmon.html)
    • Grifols wins the mega plasma contract of the Ministry of Health of 281 million euros (https://www.eleconomista.es/salud/noticias/13168325/01/25/grifols-gana-el-megacontrato-de-plasma-de-sanidad-de-281-millones-de-euros.html)

This post is also available in: Spanish