7 days in healthcare (October 21st-27th, 2024)

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Summary

Biomedicine

  • A drug that can change the world. Drugs like Ozempic will change the world. First they were for diabetes, then for obesity, now for cardiovascular and kidney diseases, and are being tested for Alzheimer’s and addictions. As they become cheaper and easier to use, they promise to change the lives of more than a billion people. These drugs can produce great social changes, improving productivity and freedom.
  • 950 AI devices approved by the FDA. The fact that 950 devices have already been approved argues for the impact of AI in health. Radiology leads the number of approved devices.
  • Potential for newborn screening. Genetic sequencing makes it possible to identify dozens of treatable diseases in newborns that escape current screening. A study of 4,000 babies found health problems in 120 ailments compared to 10 with conventional tests.
  • The promising future of vaccines for treatment. Curing Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s or tackling pancreatic cancer. Vaccinologists gathered in Malaga analyse the paradigm shift in serums, intended to cure, not just prevent, diseases. From Alzheimer’s to Parkinson’s, including certain cancers such as pancreatic or lung cancer.

Global Health

  • Microplastic pollution. Twenty years after the introduction of the concept of microplastics, we now know better their ecological impact and risks, as well as the risks to human health.
  • Climate change, cities and health. More than ever, the climate crisis is a health crisis. It is estimated that 5 million people a year die as a result of suboptimal temperatures, the vast majority (37%) from heat, attributed to changes in temperature due to human action.
  • The loss of biodiversity: a health crisis. There are two irrefutable pieces of evidence: that there is a loss of biodiversity and that this generates problems for human health, specifically more infectious diseases.

International health policy

  • The shortage of doctors in the USA. Article in the American Journal of Medicine: Congress is called upon to intervene to prevent the US doctor shortage, estimated at 57,259, 79,080, and 81,180 doctors in 2025, 2030, and 2035, respectively.
  • Public opinion is asked on how to fix the NHS. The Health Secretary wants to start a national conversation on the issue, asking professionals, experts, and the general public for their opinions.
  • Wes Streeting (British Health Secretary) unveils plans for “patient passports” to carry NHS medical records. The idea is that all NHS patients have digital access to their clinical information. It is a step in the line from “analogue to digital”.
  • “Mon bilan prévention”, launch of an ambitious device to improve the health of the French. Announced by the President of the Republic in 2022, this would allow access to preventive care at key ages in life: between 18 and 25 years; between 45 and 50; between 60 and 65; and between 70-75. It seems like an important step towards including preventive medicine in the public health system.
  • Europe falls behind China in the recruitment of new clinical trials. Clinical trials in Europe have been reduced by half in the last decade, while laboratories seek more simplified regulation in the USA and China.

National Health Policy (Spain)

  • Health will be present at the next Conference of Presidents, as stated by the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory. Regardless of the result, which will surely not be relevant, it is important that health is on the political agenda.
  • Catalonia promotes the joint purchase of medicines to improve the efficiency of the system. Agreement between the ICS, the Unió and the Consorció Sanitari de Catalunya. An important step, equivalent to the great step taken in the USA to allow Medicare to negotiate the price of medicines. This totally decentralised purchase of medicines in the hospital setting is something that does not make sense.
  • The new MUFACE agreement divides insurance companies. It seems that DKV is for no, ASISA for yes, and Adelas is in doubt. Among the shareholders of Adeslas, it is said that Mutua is for no, while La Caixa is for yes.
  • The POP denounces that waiting lists put lives at risk. It demands urgent solutions. The lives of the most vulnerable patients are being put at risk. In the United Kingdom, the consequences of waiting lists are well analyzed in terms of deaths. There is no reason to think that in Spain they do not have the same consequences.
  • The SEMI Congress urges the transformation of the SNS due to the chronicity of pathologies. They understand that home hospitalization must be intensively developed.
  • The Catalan EBAs want their model to expand. The president of their association, ACEBA, said that they will once again present proposals for this type of management by professionals. The halt to the expansion of the EBAs in Catalonia, during the time of Marina Gelli, was bad news for everyone. It is certainly not a model that can be generalised to the whole system, but in the face of empty proposals for reform of Primary Care, the EBAs offer a model with excellent results, both in terms of care and satisfaction of professionals. It would be good news if it expanded and not only in Catalonia. Already during the time of the councillor Lasquetty there was an attempt, with the advice of Albert Ledesma, to extend the model in Madrid, unfortunately failed due to the action of the “white tides”.

Companies

  • International
    • Competition will make anti-obesity drugs better and cheaper. Although NovoNordisk and Lilly are going to dominate the market for a while, many competitors are looming, with cheaper prices.
    • Walmart and Amazon threaten pharmacies in the USA in the distribution of drugs. CVS and Walgreens, traditional pharmaceutical chains, are under pressure.
  • National
    • HM integrates a new centre in Salamanca. With this incorporation the group will have 23 hospitals

Biomedicine

Global Health

International Health Policy

National health policy

  • Congress of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI)
    • he SEMI Congress urges the transformation of the SNS due to the chronicity of pathologies. They understand that home hospitalization must be intensively developed (https://www.larazon.es/salud/urge-transformar-sns-cronicidad-patologias_20241026671a4f2dd0584100016f768b.html)

Companies

This post is also available in: Spanish