Summary

From the point of view of Biomedicine, the journal Nature reveals the role of mitochondria in the process of tumor growth.

Regarding Global Health, editorial of The Lancet on Water and Health. Although in developed societies this may seem like a secondary issue, the truth is that a quarter of the world’s population suffers tensions with water and it is an area in which governance over water management is needed. Tuberculosis is rebounding throughout the world, as has not been seen for more than ten years.

Regarding International Health Policy, despite the fact that the covid has caused many problems (including 6.7 million deaths, confinements of entire countries and serious economic problems), this has not affected the global happiness of humanity, according to an international study on the subject. Mysteries of human nature. The American transplant system with long waiting lists, which permanently affects more than 100,000 Americans, of whom about 17 per day die waiting. In this field, Spain could probably teach some lesson. The health of adolescents, a great concern for the American Surgeon General, since the cases of suicides between 10 and 19 years have risen in a very striking way in recent years. China approves the first covid vaccine with mRNA technology, after permanently denying permission to the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. In France, a bill is being discussed to protect children from screens. New health law in Croatia, which introduces concepts such as integration of care, complex patients, coordinated care and hospital without walls, as well as a reinforcement of Primary Care.

If we talk about National Health Policy (Spain), the incidence of covid drops slightly. Darias is preparing to leave the Ministry without having fulfilled the commitment to publish the report on the management of the pandemic, in contrast to what has been happening in many other countries, without going any further in the United States. A true national shame. In the motion of no confidence debated this week, the candidate Ramón Tamames favors a refounding of public health and pleads for something similar to what the Abril Martorell Report represented in 1981, thus joining many opinions in the sector. Demonstrations on public health continue, this time in Asturias, Andalusia and Madrid. The Complutense University, under the auspices of ASPE, publishes a report on the consequences of what it calls “low cost” health insurance. The real problem is that practically, to a greater or lesser degree, all health insurance is “low cost” and is based on low compensation for hospitals and doctors, which makes the system very unstable. The Roche Institute, which is directed by Federico Plaza and which is making so many valuable contributions to the health system, publishes an interesting report on the Health of the Future and Personalized Precision Medicine. The Supreme Court endorses the euthanasia law. However, seen with hindsight, it contrasts the scant citizen and professional debate that took place on this law in Spain, comparing it with what is happening in France with something similar, with the involvement of President Macron himself. It seems that this time the biomarkers are going to be introduced into the National Health System, without which there can be no advances in precision medicine.

In the field of companies, internationally, the effect of the release of some pharmaceutical patents is estimated at 30 billion euros. In Spain, the beginning of the evaluation of the authorization of the HIPRA covid vaccine stands out, which will be called “Bimervax”. AstraZeneca is going to make a very significant investment in research in Barcelona. The doctors of the Vizcaya IMQ are massively inclined towards the sale to Adeslas, which will control 75% of this insurer.

Biomedicine

• The role of mitochondria in cancer is precise. An article in the journal Nature establishes the key role of mitochondria in the growth process of tumors (https://www.lemonde.fr/sciences/article/2023/03/23/le-role-de-mitochondries-dans-les-cancers-se-precise_6166629_1650684.html)

Global Health

• Editorial of The Lancet: Water and health. Access to water is an emergency in many areas. A quarter of the world’s population suffers from water stress. (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00615-3/fulltext)
• Report from The Lancet. The health consequences of crowd control weapons. The indiscriminate use of weapons to control crowds such as rubber bullets, tear gas and batons with which protesters affect health and human rights. Deaths, permanent disability and various alterations, among the consequences (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00613-X/fulltext)
• The WHO warns of the spread of the Marburg virus after deaths in Tanzania. The outbreak in Tanzania included 161 cases. The disease has a high mortality (https://www.ft.com/content/0fe6bbbb-6993-41c5-900a-77054e4dc4d0)
• Influenza cases are increasing in Europe. The ECDC publishes a report with the incidence in the 8th week of 2023, with an increase of 5.2 times compared to the same period of the previous year (https://www.consalud.es/pacientes/infecciones/aumentan-casos-gripe-europe_128019_102.html)
• Methamphetamine, the booming drug that worries Europe. (https://elpais.com/salud-y-bienestar/2023-03-24/metanfetamina-la-droga-en-auge-que-preocupa-a-europa.html)
• Tuberculosis, cases rebound worldwide, for the first time in ten years (https://www.diariomedico.com/medicina/enfermedades-infeciosas/tuberculosis-los-casos-reputan-nivel-mundial-por-primera-vez-in-ten-years.html)

International Health Policy

• COVID
  • Biden orders the dissemination of certain intelligence information that establishes links between the covid and a laboratory in Wuhan, which Beijing vehemently rejects (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/21/president-joe-biden-orders-release-of-us-intelligence-on-potential-links-between-covid-and-wuhan-lab)
  • Covid has not affected global happiness. Despite having produced 6.7 million deaths, confinements in entire countries and serious economic setbacks, the covid has not affected the happiness of humanity, according to an international study (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/20/covid-not-affected-happiness-around-world-study)

• USA
  • The American transplant system, with long waiting lists. More than 100,000 Americans are permanently waiting for a transplant. Patients sometimes wait years and over 6,000 Americans, 17 a day, die waiting (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/22/us/politics/organ-transplants-biden.html)
  • The Surgeon General has a new mission: the health of adolescents, since suicides between 10 and 19 years old have increased 40% between 2001 and 2019, while visits to the emergency room for self-harm grew 88% (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/21/health/surgeon-general-adolescents-mental-health.html)
  • The income gap also translates into a large difference in physical activity. Children and adolescents from poor families participate much less in sports than those from wealthier families (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/24/health/sports-physical-education-children.html)
  • The prevalence of autism is increasing. The prevalence of autism grew between 2018 and 2020. This does not necessarily mean more cases, but also more control and screening. In the United States the rise has been especially among Blacks, Hispanics and Asians (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/23/health/autism-children-diagnosis.html)

• China
  • The first mRNA vaccine is approved. The CSPC group’s vaccine has achieved approval from the Chinese authorities, who for months refused to approve those of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech (https://www.consalud.es/ecsalud/internacional/china-aprueba-primera-vacuna-arnm_127866_102.html)

• UK and the NHS
  • The British government willing to address NHS staff issues (https://www.economist.com/britain/2023/03/23/the-british-government-attempts-to-take-on-the-nhss-workforce-problems)
  • British GPs (Primary Care Physicians), the most stressed, according to an international study (https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p676)
  • Improves flexible working in the NHS, until now quite averse to this way of working (https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p618)

• France
  • Bill on children and screens. Try to protect children (especially between 0 and 6 years) from excessive exposure to screens (https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2023/03/23/la-proposition-de-loi-sur-l-exposition-des-enfants-aux-ecrans-risque-de-se-transformer-en-loi-de-bonne-conscience_6166689_3232.html)

• Sweden
  • The Government introduces performance pay to increase places of care, which had declined (https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/monitors/health-systems-monitor/updates/hspm/sweden-2012/the-government-introduces-performance-based-payment-to-the-regions-to-increase-the-number-of-care-places)

• Croatia
  • New Health Law, the concepts of integration of care, complex patient, coordinated care in different settings and hospital without walls are introduced, as well as a reinforcement of Primary Care (https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/monitors/health-systems-monitor/analyses/hspm/croatia-2022/the-new-health-care-act)

• Israel
  • New health services are added to the “health basket”. New services include medicines, procedures, equipment and medical devices (https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/monitors/health-systems-monitor/analyses/hspm/israel-2015/new-services-added-to-the-national-health-insurance-health-basket-in-2023)

National health policy

• COVID
  • The cumulative incidence at 14 days drops to 69.76 points, and mortality stands at 64 in the last week. There are currently 2,014 admitted for covid, of which 102 are in ICU beds (https://www.consalud.es/pacientes/covid-19-espana-supera120000-muertes-mientras-ia-baja-6976-puntos_128047_102. html)
  • Darias leaves the Ministry of Health without doing the audit of the pandemic that Illa promised 900 days ago (https://theobjective.com/espana/2023-03-24/sanidad-auditoria-gestion-pandemia-900/)

• Motion of censure
  • The candidate Ramón Tamames proposes in health the re-founding of public health. “It is absolutely necessary to re-examine the Spanish health situation, in a certain way as was done at the time with the Abril Martorell Report in 1981. For the purposes, also, of having a NHS with a homogeneous and effective health policy throughout the country, instead of 17 systems, and one more from the State itself, by the common health system of Ceuta and Melilla” (https://www.amazon.es/Por-una-España-todos-Nuestro-ebook/dp/B0BZ8KNX7D/ref=sr_1_1?crid=23KLLRVVEJ68F&keywords=ramón+tamames+for+one+Spain+of+everyone&qid=1679807500&s=digital-text&sprefix=Ramón+Tamames%2C+For+one+%2Cdigital-text%2C158&sr=1-1 )

• Conflicts in public healthcare
  • Tens of thousands of Andalusians demonstrate against the deterioration of public health (https://elpais.com/sociedad/2023-03-25/cientos-de-miles-de-andaluces-muestran-su-indignacion-por-the-deterioration-of-public-health.html)
  • The healthcare workers demonstrate in Gijón, for the improvement of working conditions (https://www.lne.es/asturias/2023/03/25/sanitarios-manifiestan-gijon-queremos-dinero-85164500.html)
  • Citizens and professionals demonstrate in Madrid for quality public healthcare (https://www.diariomedico.com/medicina/profesion/ciudadanos-y-profesionales-se-manifiestan-en-madrid-por-una-sanidad-publish-and-quality.html)

• Private healthcare
  • Report from the Complutense University, sponsored by ASPE: “low cost” policies saturate private healthcare (https://www.epe.es/es/sanidad/20230324/baremos-polizas-seguros-salud-espana-85076064). To access the report: https://tribuna.ucm.es/news/la-catedra-salud-sostenible-y-responsabilidad-expone-los-retos-de-un-sistema-sanitario-en-transformacion
  • The CNMC opens a public consultation on health insurance (https://www.cnmc.es/prensa/consulta-publica-seguros-sanitarios-20230324)

• Judgment on euthanasia
  • The Constitutional Court endorses the euthanasia law (https://www.consalud.es/politica/tribunal-constitucional-avala-ley-eutanasia_127897_102.html)

• Personalized precision medicine
  • The Roche Institute publishes an interesting report on healthcare and Personalized Precision Medicine. Some proposed recommendations are included in 8 fields: health care, research and innovation, training and acquisition of skills, health professionals, users of the system, technology and digital transformation, ethical-legal framework and sustainability policies (https://www.instituroche.es/recursos/publicaciones/209/Sanidad_del_Futuro_y_Medicina_Personalizada_de_Precision)

• Regulatory changes
  • Congress gives its support to a portfolio of biomarkers available before June, those for cancer will be the first to arrive (https://elglobal.es/politica/los-biomarcadores-en-cancer-seran-los-primeros-en-arrive-at-a-portfolio-that-will-update-every-six-months/)

Companies

• International News
  • Nestlé says that less than half of its most popular foods and beverages can be considered healthy (https://www.ft.com/content/8d42f7e8-72a6-4d85-9990-ad2a2cd0da21)
  • Expiring pharmaceutical patents will release more than 30 billion euros, Abbie, Janssen and Takeda, the most affected (https://www.eleconomista.es/salud/noticias/12198510/03/23/Las-patentes-farmaceuticas-that-expire-willrelease-30000-millions-of-euros.html)

• National News
  • The EMA begins to evaluate the authorization for the HIPRA covid vaccine, which will be called “Bimervax” (https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2023/03/23/641c54b5fdddffbb0c8b45e5.html)
  • AstraZeneca will invest 800 million and create 1,000 jobs in a research hub in Barcelona (https://elpais.com/espana/catalunya/2023-03-22/astrazeneca-invertira-800-millones-en-un-hub-de-research-in-barcelona-with-a-thousand-new-jobs.html)
  • Moderna delays the opening of its new laboratory in Spain (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/moderna-retrasa-la-apertura-de-su-nuevo-laboratorio-en-espana.html)
  • Assistència Sanitaria prepares the opening of its own center, after invoicing 210 million in 2022 (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/assistencia-sanitaria-prepara-la-apertura-de-centros-propios-tras-facturar-210-millions-in-2022.html)
  • Doctors opt for massive sale and 75% of IMQ Vizcaya will go to Adeslas (https://www.elcorreo.com/economia/medicos-optan-venta-masiva-imq-pasa-manos-20230322011728-nt.html)