7 days in healthcare (January 15th-21st, 2024)

covidoriginandChina,

 

Summary

From the point of view of Biomedicine, it is worth highlighting the fact that in China they created the first cloned monkey, which introduces us to the ethical debate of the possible cloning of human beings. Also the fact of the discovery of biomarkers that allow persistent covid to be diagnosed.

As far as Global Health is concerned, it is confirmed that cyber attacks, whose frequency is only growing, are one of the greatest dangers to health systems, which is forcing governments to reinforce security standards.

In terms of International Health Policy, as demonstrated by the American Cancer Society, mortality from cancer is falling in the United States, due to the combined effect of less smoking, earlier diagnoses and more effective treatments. An article in the New York Times summarizes the six reasons why medicines are so expensive in the United States (twice as much as in other high-income countries, such as Germany and the United Kingdom), perhaps the most important being the absence of a centralized price negotiation body, something about to be overcome, given the upcoming Medicare negotiation on these prices. A group of Nobel Prize winners and scientists are addressing the EU to ask for less rigidity in the regulations on genetic modification, in order to protect crops. The ECDC launches RespiCast, a new center for the prevention of respiratory diseases.

If we talk about National Health Policy (Spain), the tripledemic is on the decline, at least as far as the pressure on hospitals is concerned. Although it may seem like an anecdote, the situation of the pediatric ICU in La Paz is a metaphor for human resources policy in the health sector. This ICU remains closed, due to the loss of all medical staff, as a result of the judicial decision that reinstates a former head of the Unit in his position. The Statute leads to the situation where the actions of a single person can put a service, a hospital, a manager, a regional minister and the Ministry in check, indefinitely and without anything happening. It is an extreme case, but it is something that happens every day. In this way, centers that claim to be companies cannot be managed. In the field of transplants, Spain has been a world leader for 32 years in a row.

As for Companies, internationally, Lilly’s leadership among pharmaceutical companies seems destined to last. At the national level, problems at Grifols, which call into question the future of this company, as well as the control by its founding family. Losses by Ribera in its Galician hospitals.

Biomedicine

• The future of Parkinson’s analyzed by The Lancet. Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, after Alzheimer’s. Its prevalence is expected to grow by 12-17 million in 2040. Most health systems are poorly prepared for this disease. Levodopa and carbidopa, the treatments of choice, are present only in healthcare centers in 37 of 110 countries analyzed (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00094-1/fulltext )
• Researchers in China create the first cloned monkey. Until now, primates resisted cloning. But a Chinese group has presented a healthy two-year-old cloned monkey. Cloning means taking a cell from the body of an animal, removing its nucleus, and inserting it into an unfertilized egg of the same species, removing its own nucleus. This produces a zygote, which becomes a blastocyst, at which point it is implanted in the uterus of a female of the same species. Logically, the advance introduces us to the ethical debate of human cloning (https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/01/16/researchers-in-china-create-the-first-healthy-cloned-rhesus-monkey)
• The new ethical paradigm against medical errors. The CRP model (Communication and Resolution Programs), as the most appropriate method to deal with medical errors (https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMp2309554)
• Changes in blood proteins allow persistent covid to be diagnosed. Persistent covid was found in 5% of people who had the disease. It raises the possibilities of a marker that allows diagnosing this persistent covid (https://www.ft.com/content/e6d476cb-4b60-4265-8c38-a9a2192ef181). Original article in Science: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg7942#:~:text=CONCLUSION,turn%2C%20activate%20the%20complement%20system

Global Health

• Cyber attacks, one of the greatest risks to healthcare systems. Cyber attacks are growing in all healthcare systems, leading authorities to publish new security standards (https://www.ft.com/content/77d54679-0915-4ce2-a42f-0c2b844da7ef)
• GAVI Challenges. Pakistan’s Sania Nishtar, new CEO of GAVI, which has billions of Covid dollars available to reinvest (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00092-8/fulltext#:~:text=“A%20big%20challenge%20she%20will,proactive%20here%2C%20with%20more%20innovative)
• Health damage from anti-LGBT laws in Russia (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00091-6/fulltext)
• Serious problems with extreme anti-LGBT laws in Uganda (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/19/health/uganda-lgbtq-hiv.html#:~:text=people%2C%20advocates% 20and%20health%20care,dropped%20by%20at%20least%20half.)

International health policy

• USA
  • Cancer deaths are falling, with 4 million deaths averted since 1991, according to the American Cancer Society, in its latest annual report. This fact is attributed to three facts: decline in smoking; early detection and better treatments (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/17/health/cancer-deaths-decline.html#:~:text=Cancer%20deaths%20in%20the%20United,from%201.9%20million%20in%202022.)
  • Six reasons why medicines are so expensive in the USA. The reasons are: 1: There is no central negotiator; 2. There is no price control; 3. The system creates perverse incentives; 4. The system is fragmented and complicated; 5. Actions to extend the duration of patents; and, 6. the price of drugs is what the market supports (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/17/health/us-drug-prices.html)
  • It is doubtful that the importation of medicines will be able to lower their price soon in the USA. It is doubtful that the recent authorization of medications by the FDA for Florida will be a reality, due to the opposition of the American pharmaceutical industry and the Canadian authorities themselves (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00093-X/fulltext#:~:text=The%20US%20Food%20and%20Drug,Susan%20Jaffe%20reports.)

• China
  • Chinese scientists shared data on the coronavirus with American scientists before the pandemic. In December 2019, six pages with the genetic code of the virus were sent to the National Health Institutes of the USA (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/18/science/covid-china-us-pandemic.html#:~:text=Before%20the%20Coronavirus%20Pandemic%2C%20Overlooked,was%20made%20public%20by%20others.)

• United Kingdom and the National Health Service
  • Why the UK is hit by drug shortages. Although it is a problem across Europe, there appear to be specific British reasons, such as the fall in the pound following the Brexit referendum (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/14/why-is-uk-being-hit-by-medicine-supply-shortages#:~:text=The%20plummeting%20value%20of%20the,than%202%25%20in%20a%20year.)
  • Gonorrhea on the rise in almost all areas of England and Wales (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/20/gonorrhoea-found-to-be-on-rise-in-nearly-every-council-area-in-england-and-wales#:~:text=With%20gonorrhoea%2C%20the%20rate%20of,Local%20Government%20Association%20(LGA).)

• European Union
  • 34 Nobel Prize winners and many other scientists address the European Union asking for less rigidity in the rules on genetic modification. The objective is to improve crops, and make them more resistant to certain diseases and climate change (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/19/nobel-laureates-call-on-eu-to-relax-rules-on-genetic-modification)
  • The ECDC launches RespiCast, the new center for the prevention of respiratory diseases (https://diariofarma.com/2024/01/15/el-ecdc-pone-en-marcha-respicast-el-nuevo-centro-de-prediction-of-respiratory-diseases)

National health policy

• Tripledemic (influenza A, covid-19 and RSV)
  • The wave of flu continues to decline and the decline is already noticeable in hospitals with fewer admissions (https://www.epe.es/es/sanidad/20240118/ola-gripe-datos-caida-hospitales-97064017)
  • Labor and the unions turn their backs on the “autobajas” (https://www.elindependiente.com/economia/2024/01/15/trabajo-y-los-sindicatos-dan-la-espalda-a-la-occurrence-of-labour-sick-offs/)
  • Flu vaccination coverage registers the lowest rate in the last four years (https://diariofarma.com/2024/01/19/la-cobertura-de-vacunacion-antigripal-registra-la-tasa-mas-loss-of-the-last-four-years)

• Ministry of Health
  • Mónica García will present the fundamental lines of her policy in Congress on January 26 (https://diariofarma.com/2024/01/17/monica-garcia-presentara-en-el-congreso-las-lineas-generales-su-politica-el-26-de-enero#:~:text=The%20minister%20of%20Health%2C%20Mónica%20García%2C%20willappear%20before%20the%20Commission, lines%20general%20of%20su%20dep )

• Human resources policy in the public health sector
  • Reinstated the head of the pediatric ICU of La Paz, who was fired twice for harassing his subordinates (https://www.elespanol.com/madrid/sociedad/20240117/readmitido-jefe-uci-pediatrica-paz-cesado-times-harass-subordinates/825667624_0.html#:~:text=The%20Consejería%20de%20Sanidad%20has,on%20part%20of%20its%20subordinates.)

• Transplants
  • Spain: 32 years in a row as a world leader in transplants. The rate of deceased donors is 48.9 per million inhabitants, more than double the European Union average (https://elpais.com/sociedad/2024-01-17/espana-bate-el-record-of-transplants-with-5861-in-2023-and-chain-32-years-in-a-row-as-world-leader.html#)

• Vaccination schedule
  • The Ministry decides to include immunization against rotavirus in the vaccination schedule (https://diariofarma.com/2024/01/18/sanidad-incorpora-la-inmunizacion-frente-al-rotavirus-en-el-calendario-vaccine)

• Tobacco
  • The Comprehensive Plan on smoking is two years late (https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2024/01/17/65a6c049e4d4d803458b456d.html)

• MIR test
  • The MIR wins candidates in 2024 (https://www.elespanol.com/invertia/observatorios/sanidad/20240119/mir-gana-aspirantes-presentaran-medicos/826167430_0.html#:~:text=En%20esta%20convocatoria %20there willbe%2013,990,%20 will be allocated to%20Medicine%20from%20Family).)

• Asturias
  • The new reconfiguration plan for health areas in Asturias goes from 8 areas to 3 (https://www.lne.es/asturias/2024/01/18/quedara-mapa-sanitario-asturiano-fusion-97035422.html )

Companies

• International News
  • Lilly’s leadership seems destined to last (https://www.ft.com/content/31da5820-083e-4a73-969b-df593bccdaaf)
  • BioNTech signs an agreement with Wuxi to develop new antibodies (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/biontech-firma-un-atrabajo-con-wuxi-por-20-millones-para-desarrollar-nuevos-anticuerpos)
  • Americans moonlight to lose weight and be able to pay the $1,000 a week that anti-obesity medications cost (https://www.expansion.com/directivos/2024/01/19/65aa8f80468aeb4b318b45e6.html#)

• National
  • The Galician hospitals of Ribera accumulate red numbers of more than six million (https://www.economiadigital.es/galicia/empresas/ribera-salud-numeros-rojos.html)
  • International funds see it likely that the Grifols family will lose control of the group (https://www.elespanol.com/invertia/mis-finanzas/fondos-de-inversion/20240119/fondos-internacionales-ven-probable-familia-grifols-lose-control-group/825917811_0.html)
  • The MIR business in Spain, three academies, 11,000 students and 30 million euros (https://www.plantadoce.com/entorno/el-negocio-del-mir-en-espana-tres-academias-11000-alumnos-and-30-million-euro)
  • Cuideo purchases Dpen-D, provider of healthcare services (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/cuideo-compra-dpen-d-proveedor-de-servicios-asistenciales#:~:text=Cuideo%20se%20cura %20in%20health,statement%20issued%20by%20the%20company.)
  • The BridgePoint fund renounces its participation in the Spanish dental group Corus Dental (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/bridgepoint-renuncia-a-su-participacion-en-corus-dental)
  • SHA Wellness, the luxury oasis that attracts celebrities to Alicante (https://www.epe.es/es/trabajos/20240120/sha-wellness-oasis-lujo-atrae-97062038)