7 days in healthcare (July 10th-16th, 2023)

 

Summary

From the point of view of Biomedicine, there is little doubt that Artificial Intelligence will revolutionize medicine: from diagnosis, to the robotic-AI combination for surgical procedures, rehabilitation aid, support in the fight against infectious diseases, development of new drugs, etc. There will be few areas of medicine that are not affected by the development of Artificial Intelligence.

As regards Global Health, The Lancet insists on the WHO-Europe notice on the need to decontaminate the air, since pollution contributes to the appearance of a large number of diseases and premature deaths. This time, 12 African countries are going to receive 18 million doses of the malaria vaccine. Now one can dream of the disappearance of malaria – that secular plague – from our planet.

Regarding International Health Policy, the American regulator approves the first contraceptive pill that will be dispatched (in pharmacies, supermarkets and online) without the need for a prescription. Although the “pill” could be used in the USA for 50 years, until now it was always under medical prescription. It is believed that this measure will contribute to reinforcing women’s reproductive rights, which were so affected by the US Supreme Court ruling that repealed the previous interpretation of the federal constitutional right to abortion, leaving this regulation in the hands of the states. Great controversy as a result of the WHO declaration of the possible carcinogenic effects of aspartame, a sugar substitute widely used in many beverages, including Coca-Cola. The WHO statement is not without controversy.

If we talk about National Health Policy (Spain), to highlight the private health agreement in Madrid, with a rise of 15% in four years. The private provision employers address a decalogue of petitions to the new government. One of them is not addressed so much to the government as to health insurers, by requesting that relations between insurers and health centers be regulated in writing. The Coordinates Institute reveals the very different development of the right of choice in health in the national territory. On the other hand, the Minister of Health presents the new citizen folder. According to him “with one click you can access the medical history”. This of presenting a project of this magnitude a week before the elections cannot be taken very seriously.

In the field of Companies, internationally, Moderna has established itself in China. As for national news, Quirón announces a new hospital in Badajoz and Viamed the expansion of its hospital in Zaragoza. The funds, interested in radiodiagnostic companies, a sector so far very fragmented. ALSA, the bus company of Asturian origin, together with the Asturian health transport company Trasinsa, agree to launch a new health transport operator: SANIR.

Biomedicine

• Artificial intelligence revolutionizes medicine
  • Artificial intelligence allies with medical robotics: performing diagnostic and surgical procedures, assisting rehabilitation and prosthetics to replace limbs (https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/science.adj3312)
  • Artificial intelligence and infectious diseases. AI is facilitating the emergence of new drugs, our understanding of infection biology, and accelerating diagnostic development (https://link.springer.com/chapter/11007/978-981-16-1480-4_28)
  • Big Pharma, very interested in AI for the development of new drugs (https://economist.com/business/2023/07/13/big-pharma-is-warming-to-the-potential-of-ai )
  • Artificial intelligence is correct as elite doctors in some health issues, according to a study by Google Research (https://elpais.com/salud-y-bienestar/2023-07-13/la-inteligencia-artificial-acierta-as-elite-doctors-in-some-health-issues.html)
  • ChatGPT, widely used in the health sector (https://www.eleconomista.es/salud/noticias/12367918/07/23/chatgpt-la-nueva-tecnologia-que-hace-tremlar-al-sector-de-health.html)

• Risk of dementia
  • Brain activity in older age reduces the risk of dementia, according to a study (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/14/challenging-brain-older-age-may-reduce-dementia-risk-study#:~:text=The%20results%20reveal%20that%20for,over%20a%2010%2Year%)

Global Health

• The need to decontaminate the air. According to a WHO-Europe study, 97% of the region’s population is subject to pollution levels that exceed the limits established by the WHO, which led to 723,000 premature deaths in 2019, only in the European region. The effects on health are well known: respiratory infections, COPD, lung cancer, stroke, ischemic heart disease, diabetes and others (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)01459-9/fulltext)
• The best medicine to improve global health: reduce inequities (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02251-y)
• 12 countries obtain the first doses of the malaria vaccine. 18 million doses of the first malaria vaccine will be distributed in 12 African countries over the next two years, Gavi, WHO and UNICEF announce (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)01456-3/fulltext#:~:text=Vaccination%20will%20continue%20in%20Ghana,%2C%20Sierra%20Leone%2C%20and%20Uganda.)

International Health Policy

• COVID19
  • Weekly covid report published by the WHO, July 13, 2023. The African region has shown a slight increase in deaths with a decrease in cases. The remaining five WHO regions show a decrease in both the number of cases and deaths (https://reliefweb.int/report/world/covid-19-weekly-epidemiological-update-edition-151-published-13-july-2023)

• USA
  • The American regulator (FDA) approves the first contraceptive pill for sale without a prescription. It is called Opill and it will be available in pharmacies, supermarkets and online from 2024. The manufacturer is Perrigo, an American-Irish consortium. This pill can be used with a prescription for 50 years. The change is that, from now on, it is freely dispensed (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/13/health/otc-birth-control-pill.html)

• United Kingdom and National Health Service
  • Article in the NEJM: The crisis situation in the NHS coinciding with the 75th anniversary: is it a moment of change or the end? (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2301257)
  • London measles epidemic, which may affect thousands (https://www.ft.com/content/fc73cd65-7a11-4877-aeac-966c0321d5a3)
  • British doctors on strike again, showing the great power of the British Medical Association, to which two thirds of doctors in the UK are affiliated (https://www.economist.com/britain/2023/07/13/britains-doctors-are-on-strike-again)

• WHO
  • Aspartame is possibly associated with cancer in humans. This product is in quantity of soft drinks, yogurts and many other foods, including PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Fanta. The FDA disagrees with this alarm (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/13/health/aspartame-cancer-who-sweetener.html)

National health policy

• Public healthcare
  • The Minister of Health presents the new citizen folder. “Through a click you can get the medical history,” he said. “Let the data travel and not the people,” he added (https://www.consalud.es/politica/ministerio-sanidad/minones-presenta-carpeta-ciudadana-con-clic-se-podra-tener-clinical-history_132242_102.html#)
  • Mazón ensures that the language requirement in the Valencian Community will go down in history (https://diariofarma.com/2023/07/13/mazon-asegura-que-el-requisito-linguistico-en-c-valenciana-pasara-to-history#:~:text=The%20linguistic%20requirement%2C%20“will pass%20a,to%20form%20the%20new%20Executive.)

• Private healthcare
  • New private healthcare agreement in Madrid, which affects 75,000 workers. 15% increase in 4 years and start of a professional career in private healthcare (https://elpais.com/espana/madrid/2023-07-12/la-sanidad-privada-madrilena-firma-un-acuerdo-between-unions-and-employers-that-improves-the-conditions-of-75000-workers.html)
  • Demands from ASPE (the employers’ association of the private health provision) to the new government. It presents a decalogue, among which is the increase in public/private collaboration, it also asks to regulate in writing the conditions that bind insurance companies and health centers (https://www.plantadoce.com/entorno/mas-colaboracion-and-fiscal-measures-aspe-demands-for-the-new-government.html)

• Professionals
  • Doctors involved in transplantation receive 8,000 euros per transplant (https://theobjective.com/economia/2023-07-12/pluses-medicos-trasplante-organos/#)

• Right to choose centers
  • Great inequalities from one community to another, according to the Coordenadas Institute, which maintains that only 44.5% of the Spanish population has real access to free choice. They do not have free choice in Catalonia, the Basque Country, the Region of Murcia, Extremadura, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands and it is very limited in Castilla y León, Asturias, Cantabria, Galicia and the Valencian Community (https://www.elindependiente.com/espana/2023/07/13/the-445-of-spanish-does-not-have-real-access-to-the-freedom-of-health-choice/)

Companies

• International News
  • Pfizer invests 25 million dollars in Caribou Biosciences (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/pfizer-invierte-25-millones-de-dolares-en-caribou-biosciences.html#:~:text=La% 20multinational%20American%20will finance%20a,of%20shares%20ordinary%20of%20Caribou.)
  • Moderna takes hold in China (https://cincodias.elpais.com/opinion/2023-07-11/moderna-por-fin-se-afianza-en-china.html)

• National News
  • SegurCaixaAdeslas 2022 integrated report: 405.3 million benefits and 15.5 million policyholders (https://www.segurcaixaadeslas.es/sites/default/files/2023-05/sca-iai-2022-new.pdf)
  • The funds fly over the radiodiagnostic clinics (https://www.expansion.com/empresas/2023/07/14/64b06222468aebc31d8b4649.html)
  • CVC, Partners and Mubadala bid for the purchase of the Eugin clinics (https://www.expansion.com/empresas/2023/07/10/64ab12b6468aeb6e7f8b45f1.html)
  • Quirón receives the green light from the Supreme Court to launch its new hospital in Badajoz (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/quironsalud-recibe-luz-verde-del-supremo-para-poner-en-marcha-your-new-hospital-in-badajoz.html#:~:text=2023%20—%2010%3A46-,Quirónsalud%20receives%20light%20green%20from%20Supreme%20to%20put%20on%20start,Luz%20verde %20pa)
  • Viamed Salud will expand and renovate the facilities of its hospital in Zaragoza (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/viamed-salud-ampliara-y-renovara-las-instalaciones-de-su-hospital-de-zaragoza.html)
  • Sanitas invoices 10% more in 2022 and exceeds 2,500 million (https://www.redaccionmedica.com/secciones/privada/sanitas-factura-un-10-mas-en-2022-y-supera-los-2-500-million-euros-3747#)
  • Asepeyo invoices 3,000 million euros in 2022, 17% more than in 2021 (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/asepeyo-factura-3000-millones-de-euros-en-2022-un-17-more-than-2021.html)
  • ALSA and Trasinsa launch a new health transport operator: SANIR (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/alsa-y-transinsa-ponen-en-marcha-el-operador-de-transporte-sanitario-sanir.html#:~:text=2023%20—%2013%3A40-,Alsa%20and%20Transinsa%20start%20%20up%20the%20operator%20of%20transportation,patients%20that%20may%20be%20tr)

 

This post is also available in: Spanish