Summary

The week’s most impactful health news stories were:

• Biomedicine: A new AI model improves the diagnosis of rare diseases.
• Global health: Commitments, voluntary measures, and no mention of fossil fuels—these are the COP30 agreements.
• International health policy: Trump opens the door to extending Obamacare subsidies.
• National health policy: Deadly African swine fever returns to Spain after three decades.
• Business: Vithas Barcelona Hospital, the largest in the network, opens.

Biomedicine

• A new AI model improves the diagnosis of rare diseases. The innovation promises to offer doctors additional tools for diagnosing certain conditions.
• An analysis of millions of people confirms that the HPV vaccine prevents cancer. Two large reviews of 132 million people confirm that the HPV vaccine prevents cervical cancer.

Global Health

• Commitments, voluntary measures, and no mention of fossil fuels: these are the COP30 agreements. The final agreement contains small steps instead of ambitious goals.

International Health Policy

• Trump opens the door to extending Obamacare subsidies. He says an extension of the subsidies to help families may be necessary.
• The Trump Administration boasts of achieving $12 billion in savings from negotiating drug prices in Medicare.
• Argentina faces a historic drop in its vaccination coverage.
• Measles is resurging as vaccination rates fall, warns the WHO. Measles cases have risen 8% since 2019.

National Health Policy (Spain)

• The deadly African swine fever returns to Spain after three decades. Catalonia detects two wild boars that died from the disease, which can kill all the pigs on a farm in days. Japan, Mexico, and the United Kingdom have already banned imports of Spanish meat, while China has opted to limit only those from the province of Barcelona.
• Alert over the H3N2 influenza virus that evades the vaccine. The SiVIRA (ISCIII) confirms that flu cases exceed the epidemic threshold in Spain. Experts explain why the A(H3N2) subclass K virus is more transmissible.

Companies

• International
  • Bayer announces promising results in trials of a stroke prevention drug.

• National
  • Vithas Barcelona Hospital, the largest in the network, opens. Spanning over 39,000 square meters, Vithas Barcelona Hospital features 160 single rooms (7 of them suites), 60 specialist consultation rooms, a 24-hour emergency service with separate circuits for adult and pediatric patients, and a full range of services, including a surgical suite with 14 operating rooms.

Biomedicine

• A different type of dementia is changing what we know about cognitive decline. Many cases labeled as Alzheimer’s are actually cases of LATE (usually less severe than Alzheimer’s) (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/health/late-dementia-alzheimers.html)
• Defying death: the origin of aging. This Financial Times series delves into what we really know about aging (https://www.ft.com/content/a33d20fc-c4b5-4790-8f8c-5877f65d4bca)
• A new AI model improves the diagnosis of rare diseases. The innovation promises to offer doctors additional tools for diagnosing certain problems (https://www.ft.com/content/bc49e334-776b-41d0-a9be-fb0c29c54853)
• They identify the five phases the brain goes through in life. The research is based on brain scans of 3,802 people between the ages of 0 and 90 (https://www.elespanol.com/ciencia/investigacion/20251125/identifican-fases-pasa-cerebro-vida-cambios-llegan-anos/1003744029169_0.html)
• An analysis of millions of people confirms that the HPV vaccine prevents cancer. Two large reviews of 132 million people confirm that the HPV vaccine prevents cervical cancer (https://www.abc.es/salud/enfermedades/analisis-sobre-millones-personas-confirma-vacuna-papiloma-20251125101004-nt.html)

Global Health

• The Global Fund and the future of Global Health. This fund is dedicated to fighting AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The US withdraws from this fund (https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0140673625024213)
• Amid massive cuts, the Global Fund reaches $11 billion, from a target of $18 billion (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)02419-5/fulltext)
• Commitments, voluntary measures, and no mention of fossil fuels: these are the COP30 agreements. The final agreement contains small steps, rather than ambitious goals (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/22/roadmaps-adaptations-and-transitions-what-climate-measures-were-agreed-at-cop30)
• Global leaders must have the courage to end the era of fossil fuels. Despite the meager achievements of COP30, Brazil is prepared to prioritize abandoning fossil fuels (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03851-6)
• Aid cuts: impact on Tanzania. This country is taking steps to reduce and compensate for the lack of foreign aid (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)02420-1/fulltext)

International Health Policy

• USA
  • As the 2026 elections approach, health issues are gaining importance for voters. 4 out of 10 adults who report debt are due to medical or dental bills (https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2025.24331)
  • Trump opens the door to extending Obamacare subsidies. He says an extension of subsidies to help families may be necessary (https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/25/trump-obamacare-subsidy-extension-aca-00669491)
  • The Trump Administration boasts of achieving $12 billion in savings from Medicare drug price negotiations (https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/25/trumps-cms-touts-12b-savings-from-medicare-drug-price-negotiations-00669231)

• United Kingdom
  • A health minister says the UK should monetize NHS health data. Zubir Ahmed says services from the NHS’s new data center should benefit the public coffers. (https://www.ft.com/content/0531e76b-a800-450f-8a10-ac5ada1b2695)
  • Routine prostate checks rejected by the NHS. Limited follow-up is recommended for people with certain mutations (https://www.ft.com/content/9065a8d8-8bfb-40e7-a64d-a326275a00e8)

• Argentina
  • Argentina faces a historic drop in vaccination coverage (https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2025/11/28/l-argentine-confrontee-a-une-chute-historique-de-sa-couverture-vaccinale_6655267_3244.html)

• WHO
  • Measles is resurging as vaccination rates decline, warns the WHO. Measles cases have risen 8% since 2019 (https://www.ft.com/content/3f3226db-645c-4b50-93dc-2d50e2423b79)

National Health Policy

• Central Government Initiatives
  • The government opens the race to host Certera and details the selection criteria. The government has initiated the process to determine the physical headquarters of the State Network Consortium for the Development of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (Certera) and has published the report outlining the criteria that candidates must meet, a key step in accelerating the creation of the future state consortium. (https://diariofarma.com/2025/11/26/el-gobierno-abre-la-carrera-por-la-sede-de-certera-y-detalla-los-requisitos-de-su-eleccion)

• Regional Government Initiatives
  • Navarre’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical centers are booming. The region boasts the Navarra Health Cluster. This ecosystem represents around 11% of the regional GDP (https://cincodias.elpais.com/extras/navarra/2025-11-29/los-centros-biotecnologicos-y-farmaceuticos-en-plena-expansion.html)

• African swine fever
  • Four new cases of African swine fever detected in Catalonia. The Catalan animal health center has analyzed samples from the four dead wild boars found in the Collserola mountain range (https://elpais.com/sociedad/2025-11-29/detectados-en-cataluna-cuatro-nuevos-casos-de-peste-porcina-africana-en-el-mismo-radio-de-vigilancia-que-los-dos-primeros.html(https://elpais.com/sociedad/2025-11-28/la-mortifera-peste-porcina-africana-regresa-a-espana-despues-de-tres-decadas.html)
  • The deadly African swine fever returns to Spain after three decades. Catalonia has detected two wild boars that died from the disease, which can kill all the pigs on a farm in days. Japan, Mexico, and the United Kingdom have already banned imports of Spanish meat, while China has opted to limit only those from the province of Barcelona. (https://elpais.com/sociedad/2025-11-28/la-mortifera-peste-porcina-africana-regresa-a-espana-despues-de-tres-decadas.html)

• Flu Epidemic
  • Alert over the H3N2 influenza virus that evades the vaccine. SiVIRA (ISCIII) confirms that flu cases exceed the epidemic threshold in Spain. Experts explain why the A(H3N2) subclass K virus is more transmissible (https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2025/11/28/69295e77e4d4d85b6e8b457d.html)

• Framework Statute
  • Doctors send a new counterproposal to the Framework Statute to the Ministry of Health and will meet next Monday (https://www.elespanol.com/invertia/observatorios/sanidad/20251128/sanidad_-_actualidad_sanitaria-medicos-sanidad_-_profesiones-sanidad_-_medicina-observatorio_de_la_sanidad/1003744033892_0.html)

• FENIN Report on In Vitro Diagnostics
  • FENIN Press Release (https://fenin.es/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/NP-Fenin-jornada-presentacion-informe-DIV_DEF.pdf). Access the original report: https://fenin.es/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/InformeDIV_2025FeninAAFF.pdf

Companies

• International
  • Bayer Announces Promising Results in Trials of a Stroke Prevention Drug (https://www.ft.com/content/ff8c225a-90fe-4c0e-a2cf-83877ed9a824)
  • Novo Nordisk’s new drug shows significant weight loss in diabetes trials (https://www.ft.com/content/3b521c6f-f1be-475d-af5e-99ed595dd228)

• National
  • Vithas Barcelona Hospital, the largest in the network, opens. Spanning over 39,000 square meters, Vithas Barcelona Hospital features 160 single rooms (7 of them suites), 60 specialist consultation rooms, a 24-hour emergency department with separate circuits for adult and pediatric patients, and a full range of services, including a surgical suite with 14 operating rooms. (https://www.elespanol.com/invertia/observatorios/sanidad/20251124/hospital-vithas-barcelona-mayor-compania-inicia-activity-asistencial/1003744027700_0.html)
  • Switzerland gives the green light to a PharmaMar drug for small cell lung cancer (https://www.elespanol.com/invertia/observatorios/sanidad/20251124/suiza-da-luz-verde-lurbinectedina-pharmamar-atezolizumab-cancer-pulmon-celula-pequena/1003744026534_0.html)

This post is also available in: Spanish