7 days in healthcare (November 25th-December 1st, 2024)

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Summary

The most impactful news in health this week were:

  • Biomedicine: lung cancer is dealt a blow, the USA has managed to increase survival by 26% in the last five years.
  • Global health: HIV/AIDS deaths have been the lowest in two decades.
  • International health policy: Biden proposes a broad expansion of anti-obesity drugs.
  • National health policy: Adeslas has announced that it will not participate in the new competition, which makes it very difficult, if confirmed, unless a new insurer willing to participate appears, the continuity of the MUFACE model, since ASISA will not be able to assume all of ADESLAS’ MUFACE policyholders.

Biomedicine

  • Scientists discover why ultra-processed foods are bad for health. According to the Nova classification, foods are classified into four types, according to their degree of processing, from 1 (minimally processed: fruit and milk); to 2, basic ingredients (such as butter and sugar); 3 (vegetables, bread) and 4, highly processed foods, which contain elements not commonly found in a home kitchen (sparkling drinks, sugary cereals, frozen pizzas). The latter contain many ingredients that are harmful to health (type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, mental illness). There is no single ingredient identified as negative, but it must be a combination of several.
  • Lung cancer hit. The USA has managed to increase survival by 26% in the last five years. Mortality remains high, but something is beginning to change.

Global Health

  • HIV triumphs and threats in 2024. This year has been one of ups and downs in the effort to eradicate HIV globally. More people than ever are receiving antiretroviral treatment and AIDS deaths have been the lowest in two decades. However, the Sustainable Development Goals’ goal of ending HIV/AIDS as a global threat by 2030 is not going to be met.

International health policy

  • Biden proposes a broad expansion of coverage for anti-obesity drugs. The administration proposes the use of anti-obesity drugs for obese people without other associated conditions.
  • RFK’s (Trump-appointed health secretary) ideas on big pharma and the food industry generate a lot of controversy. Certain of RFK’s attitudes against Big Pharma and ultra-processed foods may go against long-held positions by Republicans.
  • The document “Health at a Glance, Europe 2024” appears. It analyzes information from 30 European countries, including the 25 EU countries and five others: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The conclusions are: urgent action is needed on the shortage of professionals; promoting healthy longevity can reduce the burden of disease; there are significant gaps in life expectancy in Europe; progress in lifestyle changes has been met with great socio-economic disparities.

National Health Policy (Spain)

  • Royal Decree on Health Technology Assessment. The Ministry of Health will submit the Royal Decree on Health Technology Assessment to the Council of State on January 25, although its initial plan was to approve the regulation in 2024.
  • The creation of the Genetics specialty is moving forward, gaining momentum in the Ministry and Congress. The Ministry of Health will take the specialty to the Human Resources Commission on December 5.
  • Imminent green light for the Strategic Plan for the pharmaceutical industry, announced in 2021 and subject to numerous delays. It seems that it will be presented shortly.
  • Cantabria: 98 million for the digital health plan. This is the budget that the Cantabria Digital Health Plan 2024-2027 will have.
  • Adeslas informs mutualists that it will not apply for the new MUFACE health competition and that care will end on January 31. If this is confirmed, it will make the continuity of the model very difficult, since ASISA, apparently, cannot take on all the insured.

Companies

  • International
    • Carlyle supports investments of 1.5 billion dollars in a clinical trials fund.
  • National
    • Problems continue at Grifols. The share price plummets after Brookfield withdraws its offer.

Biomedicine

Global Health

International health policy

  • OECD
    • The document “Health at a Glance, Europe 2024” appears. Information from 30 European countries is analysed, including the 25 EU countries and five others: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK. The conclusions are: urgent action is needed on the shortage of professionals; promoting healthy longevity can reduce the burden of disease; there are significant gaps in life expectancy in Europe; progress in lifestyle changes has been met with large socio-economic disparities (https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/health-at-a-glance-europe-2024_b3704e14-en)

National health policy

Companies

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