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7 days in healthcare (15-21 November, 2021)

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ABSTRACT

From the international point of view, the plan of the American Democrats to negotiate the price of medicines and its possible impact on innovation continues to be discussed; Europe is once again the engine of the pandemic, with demonstrations in some European cities against confinements and COVID passport measures; and finally, the United States reach a peak in mortality from opioid as the covid pandemic continues.

At the national level, four elements of interest: 1. Spain exceeds 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, although the situation is worrying, nothing to do with that of other European countries; 2. The state-of-the-art health PERTE is presented, doubts regarding its reformist impact; 3. Publication of the draft law that aims to consolidate the universality and equity of our National Health System; 4. The waiting lists are published as of June 30, 2021.

In terms of company news, perhaps most relevant is that both Merck and Pfizer’s COVID therapies will be available in generics for low- and middle-income countries.

INTERNATIONAL

  • Request for action in Afghanistan, given the food emergency, by the director of the World Food Program. Disaster is the consequence of conflict, economic collapse and drought (The Lancet, Nov 20 21)
  • Intense debate in the USA about the consequences for pharmaceutical innovation of the regulatory framework on the price of drugs that the Biden Administration wants to approve (NEJM, Nov 18, 21)
  • Democrats in the USA have a plan to reduce the price of drugs, without harming innovation (The Economist, Nov 20 21)
  • A year after the decision of the British NHS to move towards zero carbon emissions by the health system, another 13 countries, including Spain, have joined this approach, which entails important changes, especially in supply chains (The Lancet, Nov 17 21)
  • Europe is once again the engine of the pandemic, with the extremely worrying situation in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hungary, Romania and Russia, among others (Le Monde, 17 Nov 21)
  • Austria returns to lockdown (The Guardian, Nov 18 21)
  • Thousands of people protest in Vienna against confinement and mandatory vaccination (El País, 20 Nov 21)
  • Germany tightens restrictions on the unvaccinated and will force health workers and nursing home workers to be vaccinated (El País, 18 Nov 21)
  • Bavaria cancels Christmas markets, given the growth of the pandemic (The Guardian, 19 Nov 21)
  • The third dose can be extended to all adults, says British Health Minister Sajid Javid (The Guardian,
  • The majority of the European population, in favor of COVID passports (The Guardian, 19 Nov 21)
  • The use of masks reduces the incidence by 53%, according to an international study published in the British Medical Journal (The Guardian, 18 Nov 21)
  • In the USA, mortality from opioid overdose reaches record growth, while the pandemic continues (NYT, Nov 17, 21)
  • Fauci says the pandemic may be under control in 2022, with more third doses (The Guardian, Nov 17, 21)
  • Europe will prioritize the local manufacture of drugs to gain autonomy. This coming week the new EU pharmaceutical strategy will be approved (El Economista 21 Nov 21)

NATIONAL

  • Spain exceeds 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants for the first time in two months (El País, 18 Nov 21). Comment: although the situation is worrying, it has nothing to do, however serious, with that of other parts of Europe. It seems that the high immunization, the fifth wave and the high percentage of vaccination are at the origin of this situation. However, we do not know if this differential is going to be maintained or we are heading towards a situation similar to that of most of the rest of Europe.
  • The autonomous communities denounce that they once again lack legal tools in the face of another wave of the pandemic (El Mundo, Nov 21, 21)
  • The state-of-the-art health PERTE is presented, which entails 1,489 million investment until 2023 (diariofarma, 15 Nov 21). Comment: there is no transformation in the sense of reforming the health system (which they consider good) and it is an investment aimed at the biotechnology industry. Mentions of primary care are imprecise. In summary: facing the transformation of the health system and to what extent European funds can help, including digitization, is an issue that remains to be seen
  • Published the Draft Law that modifies various regulations to consolidate equity, universality and cohesion of the National Health System, which seeks to prevent co-payments and promote direct management (Diario Médico, Nov 16 21)
  • Waiting lists published as of June 30, 2021: 121 days on average to undergo surgery and 75 days to visit a specialist. 661,162 people, waiting for an intervention. The lists are close to those in 2019 (La Vanguardia, Nov 26 21)
  • ASPE offers its collaboration to end the waiting lists (Medical Redaction, Nov 18 21)
  • Summer-22 is set as the limit to reform the Framework Statute in the summer of 2022, for which it is announced that there will be minor changes to adapt to the Basic Statute of Public Employees and the labour conditions of residents (Diario Médico, Nov 18, 21)
  • The Public Health Center will go to the Council of Ministers soon (Consalud, 19 Nov 21)

COMPANIES, EMPLOYERS AND MAIN ACTORS IN HEALTH

  • Pfizer’s anticovid pill will be sold as a generic drug in 95 low- and middle-income countries, mainly in Africa and Asia, although the agreement excludes some countries hit hard by the pandemic. Previously, Merck had announced something similar (NYT, Nov 16 21)
  • European regulators, with serious doubts about Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug (FT, Nov 17 21)
  • DKV remains in the MUFACE system (company declarations)
  • The EMA launches the emergency authorization process for the NOVAVAX vaccine, which would be the first vaccine with recombinant proteins developed in the European Union (Expansión, 18 Nov 21)
  • Quirónsalud launches two new phase I clinical trial units in Madrid and Barcelona, ​​following an agreement with Next Oncology (Diario Médico, 19 Nov 21)
  • Prim improves its profit by 90% in the first nine months of the year, to 12 million (PlantaDoce, Nov 15, 21)
  • Moderna appoints new general manager for Spain and Portugal, Juan Carlos Gil (PlantaDoce, Nov 16 21)
  • Miranza expands its presence in the Basque Country and opens a new center in Bilbao (PlantaDoce, 15 Nov 21)
  • The German biotechnology company CureVac will begin second-generation vaccine trials (ConSalud, 19 Nov 21)
  • Rovi expects to reach growth forecasts for 2023 this year (CincoDías, Nov 16, 21)
  • Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna expect to bill 62,000 million euros in 2021 with their vaccines (CincoDías, 15 Nov 21)
  • The Spanish HIPRA vaccine will prove its effectiveness as a booster injection for Pfizer vaccinated (Expansión, 16 Nov 21)
  • USA will pay 4,650 million euros to Pfizer for 10 million anti-covid treatments (CincoDías, Nov 18, 21)
  • Almirall collapses on the stock market, after losing 40 million euros (Expansión, 15 Nov 21)

7 days in healthcare (1-7 november, 2021)

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ABSTRACT

From an international point of view, to highlight something we knew: that WHO, in its current configuration, is not prepared for global health challenges. However, this finding is important in the article in the British Medical Journal by Anthony Costello. Europe, once again in the center of expansion of the pandemic. The decision of the North American Democrats to reduce the price of medicines, via the negotiation in Medicare, is very far-reaching. This decision, if applied, will have major consequences for the entire pharmaceutical industry globally.

At the national level, to highlight the article in The Lancet, which says that Spain could have achieved group immunity. For the rest, the incidence of COVID continues to grow in our country, although it does not reach, by far, those of other European countries. Waiting lists are a big concern throughout Spain. Controversy over the new Equity, Universalization and Cohesion Law. Podemos wants to take advantage of it to repeal Law 15/1997, which allows the outsourcing of health services.

As a business activity, to highlight the two new antivirals against covid-19, one from Merck and the other from Pfizer. Merck has released the patent so that it can be used widely in developing countries. Novartis dissociates itself from Roche, selling it its 33% stake in the latter company.

INTERNATIONAL

  • The WHO, in its current configuration, is not ready for its purpose, but is limited by lack of funds and political interference, and this has been demonstrated in this pandemic that has produced more than 18 million deaths, writes the economist Anthony Costello in the British Medical Journal (BMJ, 3 Nov 21)
  • Europe once again at the center of the covid pandemic, says WHO, (The Guardian, 4 Nov 21)
  • The WHO warns of the increase in deaths from covid in 56 countries, and insists that vaccine manufacturers have not done their job well (ConSalud, 5 Nov 21)
  • Democrats in the United States reach an agreement to reduce the price of drugs, allowing the government to negotiate the price of Medicare drugs. The United States pays three times more for many drugs than Europe, according to a study by the Brookings Institution. Initially, the measure will be launched with the 12 most expensive drugs (FT, 2 Nov 21)
  • The fourth wave continues to beat the record of infections in Greece, with almost 7,000 daily (El Confidencial, 6 Nov 21)
  • Excess mortality grows in Russia, since the beginning of the pandemic (FT, 2 Nov 21)
  • The management of the pandemic leaves a trail of investigated political leaders: Brazil, France, Italy, Austria, India, … (El Debate, 2 Nov 21)
  • India’s successes against covid are analyzed: more than half of Indians have received at least one dose of the vaccine. 6 million are vaccinated every day (The Economist, 29 Oct 21)

NATIONAL

 

  • The Lancet suggests that Spain could have achieved group immunity. They are based on the high infections and the high percentage of vaccination (La Razón, 3 Nov 21)
  • The incidence of covid rises more than two points, to 53.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (El País, 5 Nov 21)
  • Madrid for the first time exceeds half a million patients to see the specialist. Experts warn that the pandemic has generated in Spain a dammed demand that will emerge in the coming semesters (El País, 5 Nov 21)
  • Spain, one of the five countries in which Covid-19 caused the greatest loss in life expectancy, according to a study published by the British Medical Journal (ABC, 3 Nov 21)
  • The Health Ministry sells a million vaccines to Australia, New Zealand and Paraguay, before they expire (El Español, 2 Nov 21)
  • The WHO requests to increase oral public coverage in Spain (Health Act. The proposal receives the support of the General Council of Dentists (Health Act, 5 Nov 21)
  • Podemos will not support the Darias Equity Law. The Ministry wants to promote a Law of Equity, Universality and Cohesion and Podemos does not support it by not repealing Law 15/1997, which allows the outsourcing of health services (ConSalud, 5 Nov 21)
  • The Health Ministry seeks location for its strategic reserve of covid material (El Periódico de España, 5 Nov 21)

COMPANIES, EMPLOYERS AND MAIN ACTORS IN HEALTH

 

  • Merck drug effective to treat covid-19. The drug is an oral antiviral, called molnupiravir, and has already been approved by the British Agency. It has been launched by Merck and Ridbback Biotherapeutics, a Florida-based biotech. The drug is indicated for the unvaccinated and for those vaccinated who develop the disease. The treatment will be worth US $ 700 in developed countries. Merck will allow the development of generics in 105 countries (The Economist, 4 Nov 21)
  • Alphabet, Google’s parent company, launches an AI company, Isomorphic Labs, for the discovery of new drugs. It will work together with DeepMinds, Google’s AI company (FT, 4 Nov 21)
  • Pfizer increases the sales forecast of its covid vaccine in 2021 to 36,000 million US $ (FT, 2 Nov 21)
  • Biogroup, a bioanalysis group piloted by Stéphane Eimer and with a presence in Belgium, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, enters the Iberian Peninsula with the purchase of Cerba Internacional and Analiza (both owned by Marcelo Weisz). ASISA will retain its 50% stake in Analiza (Les Echos, 4 Nov 21)
  • Novavax, a protein-based American covid-19 vaccine, receives its first approval in Indonesia. May promote immunization in developing countries. An application for authorization has also been sent to Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union (FT, 1 Nov 21)
  • Pfizer announces an antiviral pill (Paxlovid) that prevents 89% of hospitalizations and deaths from covid (El País, 5 Nov 21)
  • The Valencian government will propose to the Data Protection Agency a sanction to Ribera for withholding data from the Torrevieja hospital (eldiario.es, Nov 4 21)
  • Centene closes the year of the coronavirus with losses in its health adventure in Spain (Nov 6, 21)
  • “Son Espases”: the macro-investigation on the concession to OHL of this hospital in the Balearic Islands, which links the Balearic Islands with the illegal financing of the PP (eldiario.es, Nov 5, 21)
  • Novartis sells its 33% stake to Roche for more than US $ 20 billion. A relationship of more than twenty years between the two companies is ended (PlantaDoce, Nov 4, 21)
  • MD Anderson launches a clinical trials unit (PlantaDoce, 3 Nov 21)
  • Eugin expands through Canada and acquires the fertility centers of Trio Fertility (PlantaDoce, 2 Nov 21)
  • Affidea, a European provider of diagnostic imaging, outpatient services and cancer care, expands in Spain and Northern Ireland with two new acquisitions (PlantaDoce, Nov 3, 21)
  • The biotechnology company of Spanish origin Aura Biosciences, jumps to the Nasdaq (PlantaDoce, 3 Nov 21)
  • Rovi doubles its profit in the first nine months of 2021, to 99 million (PlantaDoce, 3 Nov 21)