7 days in healthcare (October 23rd-29th, 2023)

 

Summary

From the point of view of Biomedicine, Nature magazine analyzes the great impact of Artificial Intelligence in medicine. Interesting article from the New York Times about the possible addictive nature of social networks.

Regarding Global Health, the WHO adds 6.9 million deaths from covid, although warning that the global figure could triple. Major humanitarian and health crisis in Gaza, which is the subject of WHO concern.

In terms of International Health Policy, the NEJM wonders if the introduction of the American government’s law that requires negotiating the price of drugs for Medicare will delay the appearance of new cancer drugs. The conclusion is that, although pharmaceutical companies will look for ways to maintain their profits, delaying the appearance of medications does not seem to be the best strategy, due to the ethical, reputational and financial considerations inherent to the operation. The Economist analyzes how it seems that healthcare has ceased to be the bottomless pit for public accounts, as it was for many years, in which, year after year, its relative weight in the countries’ GDP increased. Although health expenditure increased its share of GDP in the years 20-21, due to the joint effect of health expenditure due to the pandemic and the decline in GDP, it has since fallen to reach 2008 levels. In the United Kingdom, It seems highly unlikely that Prime Minister Sunak will deliver on his promises on NHS waiting lists.

If we talk about National Health Policy (Spain), given the evolution of the negotiations for the investiture and the possible continuity of Sánchez in the government, the national news of the week is the publication of the document “Spain advances”, which contains the agreements of the PSOE with SUMAR on different topics. The general tone of the document is more about promises than progress in certain necessary reforms and this same philosophy permeates the health part. On the other hand, the document does not cover all the topics (it does not talk about Defense, very little about foreign policy or other relevant issues). It gives the impression that this is the part in which SUMAR would intervene. From this point of view, as the health part is developed in some detail, it is assumed that a strong intervention by SUMAR in health is expected, regardless of whether the Ministry of Health is handed over to it. In summary, what is promised is to continue the processing of the Equity Law (which establishes direct public management as the preferred form of management in the SNS), a law is proposed with maximum times for waiting lists and there is talk of new benefits in mental health, oral health (although it seems to limit it to children and adolescents) and visual health. We consider the emphasis on the preferential nature of direct public management negative (there is multiple evidence of the good results of public companies and foundations or health concessions) and regarding the law on the waiting list it will surely not be the best way to solve this problem. We have already seen laws and regulations in some communities that had no effect. Both the PP, in the political sphere, and ASPE and ACES, in the world of health representation, have been against these measures.

In the field of Companies, on an international level, Amazon is torn between promises and realities in healthcare. Although large technology platforms will surely have an increasing role in healthcare (as in the financial world), it seems that they are finding it difficult to enter. Roche reaches an agreement to buy Telavant. At the national level, Ribera reaches an agreement with Microsoft to promote innovation and AI in healthcare. It seems that Grifols is making progress in its therapy against Alzheimer’s.

Biomedicine

• Article in Nature: AI, a true revolution in medicine (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03302-0)
• New studies find benefits in the early treatment of Alzheimer’s (https://www.ft.com/content/c29b1014-98f4-4395-a0c0-128a222e4809)
• What science says about the possible addictive nature of social media (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/25/health/social-media-addiction.html)
• The human body has 1.8 trillion cells in the immune system dedicated to defending it (https://elpais.com/ciencia/2023-10-24/el-cuerpo-humano-tiene-18-billones-de-celulas-dedicadas-a-defenderlo.html).Access to the original article: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2308511120#:~:text=Our%20findings%20show%20that%20an,neutrophils%20account%20for%20comparable%20proportions.

^{Global Health}

• The WHO adds 6.9 million deaths from covid, although the global figure could triple (https://diariofarma.com/2023/10/27/la-oms-suma-69-millones-de-muertes-por-the-covid-although-the-real-figure-could-triple)
• British Medical Journal: It is time to treat the climate and nature crisis as a global health emergency (https://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj.p2355)
• The Lancet, forgotten mothers: pregnant adolescents and their newborns in low-income countries (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)01682-3/fulltext)
• Another health crisis: the Israel-Gaza conflict (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)02398-X/fulltext)
• The WHO states that it is seriously concerned about the evacuation of the Al Quds hospital in Gaza (https://elpais.com/internacional/2023-10-29/guerra-entre-israel-y-gaza-en-directo.html)

International health policy

• USA
  • NEJM: Will new Medicare drug pricing delay the launch of new cancer drugs? The conclusion is that delaying the appearance of new anticancer drugs is not the best strategy to fight against this government measure, taking into account ethical, reputational and financial considerations (https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMp2310269#)
  • The Economist: How the growth of health spending stopped. Although as a percentage of GDP, health expenditures increased in the period 20-21, due to the pandemic and the decrease in GDP, since then it has been falling to reach 2008 levels. This phenomenon is especially notable in Australia, Sweden and Norway ( https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/10/26/how-health-care-costs-stopped-rising)
  • Why healthcare workers are burned out (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/24/health/doctors-nurses-burnout.html)
  • Few Americans are getting the new dose of the covid vaccine, according to the CDC (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/health/covid-vaccination-rates.html#:~:text=Few%20Americans%20have%20received%20the,for%20Disease%20Control%20and%20Prevention.)

• United Kingdom and the National Health Service
  • NICE says stroke patients should be offered at least 15 hours of rehabilitation a week (https://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj.p2417)
  • The cost of living and the healthcare workforce crisis are creating a two-thirds unequal healthcare system (https://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj.p2440#:~:text=News-,Cost%20of%20living%20and%20workforce%20crises%20are%20creating%20two,and%20care%20system%2C%20CQC%20warns&text=“The%20combination%20of%20the%20cost,Trenholm%20told%20a%20press%20briefing.)
  • Sunak is highly unlikely to deliver on his NHS waiting list promises, experts warn (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/oct/27/sunak-highly-unlikely-to-meet-promise-to-cut-nhs-waiting-lists-warn-health-leaders#:~:text=Rishi%20Sunak%20is%20“highly%20unlikely,to%20fall%20until%20next%20summer.)
  • Inequality leaves 115,000 cases of dementia undiagnosed in England (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/oct/23/inequality-leaving-115000-dementia-cases-undiagnosed-in-england)

• France
  • Warning about new vasoconstrictor medications to decompress the nose in colds, warns the French Agency for Drug Safety (https://www.lemonde.fr/sante/article/2023/10/23/l-agence-nationale-du-medicament-alerte-sur-les-medicaments-antirhume-actifed-rhume-humex-rhinadvil-et-dolirhume_6196101_1651302.html#:~:text=Médecine-,Alerte%20sur%20la%20dangerosité%20potentielle%20des%20c)

National health policy

• PSOE-SUMAR agreement on the coalition government
  • Text of the agreement: https://static.eldiario.es/eldiario/public/content/file/original/2023/1024/11/atrabajo-gobierno-coalicion-2023-def-pdf.pdf?_gl=1*1r970oj*_ga*MTA4OTkxNTIxNy4xNjk4NjQxNTg5*_ga_4RZPWREGF3*MTY5ODY0MTU4OC4xLjEuMTY5ODY0MTYxMC4zOC4wLjA.
  • Reactions to the previous agreement:
    • Diario Médico: shields the direct management of healthcare (https://www.diariomedico.com/medicina/politica/psoe-y-sumar-recuperan-en-su-pacto-aprobar-la-ley-que-blinda-direct-management-of-health.html)
    • Diariofarma: move forward with the Equity Law (https://diariofarma.com/2023/10/24/psoe-y-sumar-acuerdan-sacar-adelante-la-ley-de-equidad-en-su-atrabajo-de-coalition)
    • Medical Editorial: The law on waiting lists poses sanctions to the autonomies (https://www.redaccionmedica.com/secciones/sanidad-hoy/la-ley-de-listas-de-espera-plantea-sanciones-a-the-unfulfilling-autonomies-4493)
    • Consalud: Feijóo describes health measures as “wet paper” (https://www.consalud.es/politica/feijoo-califica-papel-mojado-medidas-sanitarias-pacto-psoe-sumar_136072_102.html)
    • ASPE and ACES: the private sector, disconcerted (https://www.diariomedico.com/medicina/politica/el-sector-privado-desconcertado-con-el-pacto-psoe-sumar.html)
    • Article by Carmen Fernández in Diario Médico: Between ideology and reality (health and legal): https://www.diariomedico.com/opinion/carmen-fernandez/entre-la-ideologia-y-la-realidad-sanitaria-y-legal.html

• Relationships between pharmaceutical innovation and cancer mortality in Spain
  • Article that analyzes this reality between 1996 and 2016 (https://www.valueinhealthjournal.com/article/S1098-3015(23)03128-5/fulltext)

• Assisted reproduction increases in Spain
  • 40,638 births in 2021 (https://www.consalud.es/politica/ministerio-sanidad/aumenta-reproduccion-asistida-en-espana-40638-bebes-han-nacido-en-2021-gracias-estas-tenicas_136083_102.html)

• Strategic medications
  • Miñones says that Spain is the first country in Europe with a list of strategic medicines (https://elglobal.es/farmacia/minones-destaca-el-liderazgo-de-espana-al-ser-el-primer-pais-with-list-of-strategic-drugs/)

• Reversal of the concession of the Denia hospital
  • The Health Minister of the Valencian Community promises an orderly reversal (https://diariofarma.com/2023/10/24/gomez-garantiza-una-transicion-rigurosa-y-ordenada-en-el-departamento-de-denia)

• Public consultation on the health card
  • Contributions can be sent until November 6 (https://www.sanidad.gob.es/normativa/consultas/home.htm)

Companies

• International News
  • Amazon in healthcare: promises and realities (https://medicalfuturist.com/amazon-in-healthcare-disruption-data-nightmares-and-digital-health-dreams/)
  • Roche agrees to pay $7.1 billion for Telavant to strengthen its pipeline (https://www.ft.com/content/909ba009-9384-4889-b40d-664853e437b6)
  • Novo Nordisk investigates the Ozempic counterfeits that have appeared in Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom (https://www.elespanol.com/invertia/observatorios/sanidad/20231029/novo-nordisk-investiga-falsificacións-ozempic-aparecido-alemania-austria-uk/804919794_0.html)

• National
  • Alliance between Grupo Ribera and Microsoft to promote innovation and AI in the healthcare sector (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/alianza-entre-grupo-ribera-y-microsoft-para-impulsar-la-innovacion-and-ai-in-the-health-sector.html)
  • Grifols advances its vaccine against Alzheimer’s (https://cincodias.elpais.com/companias/2023-10-25/grifols-avanza-en-su-vacuna-contra-el-alzheimer.html#:~:text=Grifols%20advances%20in%20its%20vaccine%20against%20al%20Alzheimer.,of%20this%20product%20called%20ABvac40.)

This post is also available in: Spanish