Summary

The most impactful news in health this week were:

• Biomedicine: A new form of inheritance unrelated to DNA has been discovered.
• Global health: USAID memos show the tremendous human costs of Trump’s cuts.
• International health policy: Merz will have to face an unfinished health agenda in Germany.
• National health policy. The Congressional Health Commission will debate the Law of the State Public Health Agency.
• Companies: Clearlake wants to buy ModernizingMedicine, a health software company.

Biomedicine

• A new form of inheritance unrelated to DNA has been discovered, a mechanism of inheritance is discovered that does not depend on any nucleic acid, but on amyloid proteins.
• New anti-obesity drugs arrive, which already surpass Ozempic. There are already nearly 100 new candidates in testing, which aim to grab a slice of the market that is expected to reach $100 billion by 2030.

Global Health

• USAID memos demonstrate the human costs of foreign aid cuts. According to this NYT article, there will be millions of malaria infections and 200,000 cases of polio. According to experts, the difference between Trump’s first term and this one is that in the first he had no team, while in this one he has a young team that wants to change the system from top to bottom, and do it in the cruelest way possible. The withdrawal of international health aid to poor countries overnight is unspeakable.
• Predictions of the obesity pandemic on the horizon of 2050: The obesity pandemic began before World War II and has not stopped growing since then. So far, efforts to lower the prevalence have been ineffective. Although the pandemic is blamed on sedentary lifestyle and diet, there are doubts about its causes.
• 25 million people will be living with Parkinson’s by 2050. Projections of Parkinson’s prevalence and its driving factors in 195 countries by 2050: ageing the main cause of this growth.

International health policy

• Merz’s health agenda in Germany. The likely new chancellor inherits a series of reforms that were started but not completed, including hospital reform, which sought to reduce the number of hospitals. The new coalition will also have to deal with the financial situation of the system.
• Measles in the USA. As measles continues to spread in Texas, it jumps to New Mexico. There are reports of 200 cases in one district of Texas and 21 in New Mexico.
• Problems with maternal health in the UK. Maternity services in the UK have been the source of repeated national scandals, with reports of serious negligence and preventable deaths, despite which the situation has not improved. It is argued that this problem should be addressed in the 10-year plan that is being prepared.

National Health Policy (Spain)

• State Public Health Agency. The Health Commission will debate the law for the creation of this Agency next Thursday. This is the previous step before it is voted on in the Plenary Session of Congress. The chances that with the current parliamentary majority a law with the criteria of the SESPAS will be approved are close to zero. If it is approved, it will be a bit watered down.
• Discussion of the Framework Statute. Some 16 medical organisations are grouping together to demand that the Health Department have its own Statute.

Companies

• International
  • Clearlake wants to buy a majority of ModernizingMedicine, a software company, for 5.3 billion dollars. o
  • Hikma is preparing to launch generic versions of its obesity drugs. Both Wegovy and Ozempic will be off patent in a year. Time is running out for drugs, even the most innovative ones.

• National
  • CIMA in Navarra, an R&D ally for big pharma, through the association with Pfizer, Roche or AstraZeneca, has generated six “spinoffs” to advance new treatments.

Biomedicine

• The future of digital health. Financial Times supplement: virtual hospitals, the digital future for healthcare professionals; AI for health insurers and other topics (https://www.ft.com/reports/future-digital-healthcare)
• Fourteen people regain their sight after an experimental cell therapy. A new stem cell therapy shows its safety (https://www.abc.es/salud/enfermedades/catorce-personas-recuperan-vista-tras-terapia-celular-20250304112516-nt.html)
• A new form of inheritance unrelated to DNA has been discovered, a mechanism of inheritance is discovered that does not depend on any nucleic acid, but on amyloid proteins (https://elpais.com/salud-y-bienestar/2025-03-05/descubierta-una-nueva-forma-de-herencia-alejada-del-adn.html). Access to the original article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41556-024-01494-9/metrics
• New anti-obesity drugs are coming, which already surpass Ozempic. There are already almost 100 new candidates in testing, which aim to take a slice of the market that is expected to reach 100,000 million dollars in 2030 (https://elpais.com/salud-y-bienestar/2025-03-07/llegan-los-nuevos-farmacos-antiobesidad-que-ya-superan-al-ozempic.html)

Global Health

• Predictions of the obesity pandemic on the horizon 2050: The obesity pandemic began before World War II and has not stopped growing since then. So far, efforts to reduce prevalence have been ineffective. Although the pandemic is blamed on sedentary lifestyle and diet, there are doubts about its causes (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)00260-0/abstract). Access to the article in The Lancet on adults: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)00355-1/fulltext Access to the article on children and young people: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)00397-6/fulltext
• Projections of Parkinson’s prevalence and its drivers in 195 countries by 2050: 25 million people will be living with Parkinson’s by 2050, with ageing the main cause of this growth https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj-2024-080952
• USAID memos demonstrate human costs of foreign aid cuts. According to this NYT article, there will be millions of malaria infections and 200,000 cases of polio (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/health/usaid-cuts-deaths-infections.html)
• Trump’s measures are already being felt in Africa, with clinics being closed and there being a lack of HIV treatment. In countries like Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Kenya and Uganda, more than 60% of the AIDS response was financed through US funds. The way these funds were cut has been deliberately brutal (https://www.elespanol.com/mundo/africa/20250309/medidas-trump-notan-africa-cierran-clinicas-falta-tratamiento-vih/929907001_0.html)
• To what extent do US foreign aid cuts affect disease outbreaks? This loss of control of outbreaks in many parts of the world may also affect the USA (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/health/usaid-funding-disease-outbreaks.html)

International health policy

• USA
  • As measles continues to spread in Texas, it jumps to New Mexico. There is talk of 200 cases in one district of Texas and 21 in New Mexico(https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/health/measles-texas-new-mexico.html)
  • $50,000 in tax deductions for donating a kidney, Trumpism reaches transplants. There has been a bill in Congress in this regard since August, which could be pushed by the Trumpist majority (https://www.alimente.elconfidencial.com/bienestar/2025-03-06/como-el-trumpismo-a-llegado-a-los-trasplantes_4079200/)

• United Kingdom and the National Health Service
  • Maternal health in the NHS. Maternity services in the UK have been the subject of repeated national scandals, with reports of serious negligence and preventable deaths, yet the situation has not improved. It is argued that this problem should be addressed in the 10-year plan being prepared (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)00446-5/fulltext)
  • Researchers will soon have access to data from primary care GPs. The information will be disseminated via the OpenSAFELY system to selected researchers (https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r375)

• Germany
  • Merz’s health agenda. The likely new chancellor inherits a series of reforms that have been started but not completed, including hospital reform, which sought to reduce the number of hospitals. The new coalition will also have to deal with the financial situation of the system (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)00443-X/abstract)

National health policy

• Central administration
  • The Health Commission will debate the law for the creation of the Public Health Agency next Thursday. This is the previous step before it is voted on in the Plenary Session of Congress (https://diariofarma.com/2025/03/06/la-comision-de-sanidad-debate-el-proximo-jueves-la-ley-de-creacion-de-la-agencia-de-salud-publica)
  • The Ministry of Health links the consumption of 13 medicines with the risk of developing gambling addiction. Most of the drugs are for treating Parkinson’s disease (https://elpais.com/sociedad/2025-03-07/sanidad-relaciona-el-consumo-de-13-medicamentos-con-el-riesgo-de-desarrollar-ludopatia.html)
  • More transparency for the Interministerial Commission on Drug Prices: a report will be published for each drug financed. The aim is to enable citizens to better understand the system for incorporating drugs into public prescription (https://elglobalfarma.com/politica/transparencia-cipm-sanidad-informe-farmaco-financiado/)

• Initiatives and news from the autonomous communities
  • Madrid demonises cannabis in its anti-drug plan, but does not contemplate measures against anxiolytics and antidepressants (https://elpais.com/espana/madrid/2025-03-05/madrid-demoniza-el-cannabis-en-su-plan-antidroga-pero-no-contempla-medidas-contra-ansioliticos-y-antidepresivos.html)

• Framework Statute
  • Some 16 medical organisations join together to demand that the Ministry of Health issue its own Statute (https://www.lne.es/sociedad/2025/03/05/16-organizaciones-medicas-agrupan-reclamar-sanidad-estatuto-propio-114970649.html)

• MUFACE
  • Adeslas and ASISA are the only ones that are applying for the MUFACE civil servants insurance tender (https://www.eleconomista.es/banca-finanzas/noticias/13252566/03/25/adeslas-y-asisa-se-presentan-a-la-licitacion-del-seguro-de-los-funcionarios-de-muface.html)
  • Private doctors threaten to leave MUFACE if Asisa and Adeslas do not raise their rates by 150%. According to private doctors, under the current Muface system, general practitioners are paid between €7 and €9 per consultation, when it should be between €25 and €30 (https://www.vozpopuli.com/economia/los-medicos-amenazan-con-dejar-muface-si-asisa-y-adeslas-no-elevan-un-150-las-tarifas.html)

Companies

• International news
  • Bayer faces third year of falling profits with reform efforts. CEO sees hopes of recovery in 2026 (https://www.ft.com/content/38cddea7-47bc-4451-9cc7-51dca5108c35)
  • Clearlake wants to buy a majority of ModernizingMedicine, a software company, for $5.3 billion (https://www.ft.com/content/f79eccfb-b799-4b47-accd-8eb44371f57d)
  • Hikma prepares to launch generic versions of obesity drugs. Both Wegovy and Ozempic will be off patent within a year (https://www.ft.com/content/3f03b203-72a8-4921-9ecc-0c9ea9ec0f62)
  • Private equity group Sycamore aims to take over Walgreens with a deal worth up to $24 billion, in order to take it private (https://www.ft.com/content/722dfbf1-82a1-435d-9f6f-8586c4f0f038)
  • Patent dispute over RNA vaccine for Covid: US backs Pfizer, Europe backs Moderna. The US Patent Appeals Board rules in favor of Pfizer-BioNTech, while a Dusseldorf court confirms that Pfizer-BioNTech infringed a patent (https://theobjective.com/economia/2025-03-09/patentes-vacuna-arn-covid-pfizer-moderna/)
  • Moderna and Pfizer’s covid vaccines remain bestsellers despite falling sales after the pandemic (https://www.elespanol.com/invertia/observatorios/sanidad/20250309/vacunas-covid-pfizer-moderna-siguen-superventas-pesar-caer-ventas-pandemia/929407182_0.html)
  • Merck reports strong financial results in 2024 and expects continued growth in 2025 (https://www.consalud.es/salud35/internacional/merck-reporta-solidos-resultados-financieros-en-2024-preve-crecimiento-continuo-en-2025_155585_102.html)

• National
  • CIMA of Navarra, an ally in R&D for big pharma, through the association with Pfizer, Roche or AstraZeneca and has generated six “spinoffs” to advance in new treatments (https://www.expansion.com/directivos/2025/03/08/67cc998f468aeb5b1d8b4570.html)
  • The CNMV reveals that the top management of Grifols acted with continued deceit for 3 years. The commission accuses of systematic violation of financial reporting rules (https://www.diariomedico.com/medicina/empresas/cnmv-desvela-cupula-grifols-actuo-dolo-continuado-durante-tres-anos.html)
  • DomusVi straightens out its finances and will open four nursing homes in 2025 (https://theobjective.com/economia/2025-03-04/domusvi-residencias-financias-abrira-geriatricos-2025/)

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