Summary

From the point of view of Biomedicine, after years of research, scientists have published an atlas of the brain, the most unknown organ and whose knowledge will allow great advances in biomedicine. This week 21 articles have appeared about the brain and its cells. The work is done under the BRAIN Initiative Census Network project. The objectives of this effort were three: first, to understand the cellular components of the brain; second, to know which cells are affected in neurological and psychiatric diseases; and, third, what makes the brain of Homo sapiens different from that of other animals. The brain is the most complex object in the universe and contains around 3,000 types of cells. Until recently it was believed that the human body, including the brain, had only 300 types of cells. Artificial intelligence, new therapeutic vaccines, xenotransplantations and quantum computing, in the focus of monitoring progress in medical sciences.

Regarding Global Health, The Lancet asks in several articles the impact on health of a world with a shortage of work, since until now a job in good conditions was considered important for health. The malaria community welcomes the WHO approval of the new vaccine. Malaria kills half a million children a year, mainly under five years old. This decision is expected to improve access to doses of the vaccine, especially in Africa. 28 African countries are going to introduce this vaccine as part of their immunization program.

Regarding International Health Policy, in the United States pharmaceutical companies agree to negotiate the price of medicines with Medicare, despite the fact that some maintain lawsuits against the American government. In the European Union, the shortage of amoxicillin, a widely used antibiotic, persists. There is also in the EU an increase in deaths due to mental disorders.

If we talk about National Health Policy (Spain), the government puts out to public consultation the draft Royal Decree for the evaluation of health technologies which, among other things, rethinks the economic evaluation of medicines, incorporating the participation of professionals and patients and attempting predictability and transparency in decision-making times.

In the field of Companies, at the international level, it is worth highlighting that the global cannabis market will reach 100 billion in 2030. At the national level, Sanitas is launching an educational experience, which is an example of the importance they give healthcare companies to the issue of training, aware that attracting and retaining talent will be the most important competitive advantage.

Biomedicine

• Scientists have published an atlas of the brain (https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2023/10/12/scientists-have-published-an-atlas-of-the-brain). Presentation of the original works in Science: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl0913
• Nature magazine article: the impact of AI in accelerating the launch of medicines needs verification (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03172-6)
• First global gene therapy trial launched to cure a form of deafness (https://www.ft.com/content/fc34dbe1-db03-4dd7-91a2-3cc3a367aa01)
• New AI tool for brain tumor diagnosis on the operating table (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/health/ai-tumor-diagnosis-brain-cancer.html#:~:text=Their%20deep%20learning%20system%2C%20called,because%20the%20information%20was%20unclear.)
• Important forum in Le Monde: Cancer, the growing hope of therapeutic vaccines (https://www.lemonde.fr/sciences/article/2023/10/10/cancers-l-espoir-grandissant-de-vaccines-therapeutiques_6193588_1650684.html#:~:text=Il%20est%20sans%20doute%20encore,cliniques%20sont%20venus%20le%20confirmer.)
• One more step towards xenotransplantation: they implant a pig kidney in a macaque that manages to survive more than two years (https://www.diariomedico.com/medicina/trasplantes/implantan-un-rinon-de-cerdo-en-a-macaque-that-manages-to-survive-with-the-graft-more-than-two-years.html)
• Quantum computing predicts pathologies and improves care (https://elpais.com/tecnologia/2023-10-13/la-computacion-cuantica-va-al-medico-los-nuevos-sistemas-predicen-patologias-y-improve-attendance.html)

Global Health

• The Lancet asks about the health impact of a world with less work, since until now it was considered that employment with good working conditions was good for health (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)02272-9/fulltext)
• Malaria community welcomes WHO approval of vaccine (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)02276-6/fulltext)
• Half a million children die from malaria every year: we can change this (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03173-5#:~:text=malaria%20every%20year.-,Finally%20we%20can%20change%20that,together%20to%20make%20it%20happen%3F&text=Malaria%20is%20likely%20to%20kill%20more%20than%20600%2C000%20people%20this%20year.)
• Will pandemics ever end? Strictly speaking, the covid pandemic is not over. Let’s say that it has become “endemized”, as happens with tuberculosis, cholera or HIV-AIDS (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2306631)
• Philip Morris lobbies to stop WHO attempts to stop vaping and similar products (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/12/philip-morris-lobbying-to-stop-who-attack-on-vapes-and-similar-products#:~:text=Philip%20Morris%20International%20(PMI)%2C,treaty%2C%20a%20leaked%20email%20reveals.)
• Stroke will cause almost 10 million deaths per year in 2050, the majority in poor countries (https://elpais.com/salud-y-bienestar/2023-10-09/el-ictus-provocara-casi-10-million-deaths-per-year-in-2050-most-in-poor-countries.html)

International health policy

• USA
  • Pharmaceutical companies agree to negotiate the prices of their drugs with Medicare (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/03/us/politics/drug-makers-negotiate-prices-medicare.html#:~:text=survives%20legal%20challenges.-,The%20first%20negotiations%20will%20be%20over%2010%20drugs%20selected%20by,in%20the%20years%20that%20follow.)
  • Kaiser Permanente reaches a tentative agreement with its workers (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/health/kaiser-permanente-labor-settlement.html)
  • FDA tries to ban the sale of menthol vapes (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/health/fda-ban-vuse-e-cigarettes.html)

• United Kingdom and the National Health Service
  • The United Kingdom has one of the worst obesity rates in Europe (https://www.ft.com/content/03fa7f4e-f50a-4876-9ea8-9852929f9c12)
  • A growing number of people are waiting more than 18 months on the NHS (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/oct/12/growing-number-people-face-18-month-waits-nhs-care-england)

• Portugal
  • Some 2,000 Portuguese doctors mutiny against overtime (https://elpais.com/sociedad/2023-10-12/unos-2000-medicos-portugueses-se-amotinan-contra-las-horas-extras.html#:~:text=Some%202,000%20doctors%20of%20everything,150%20extra%20hours%20per%20year.)

• European Union
  • Amoxicillin shortage persists/lack in 24 countries of the European Union (https://www.elespanol.com/invertia/observatorios/sanidad/20231011/escasez-amoxicillina-persiste-falta-paises-union-europea-espana/800919985_0.html#:~:text=According to%20the%20registry%20of%20la,which%20is%20accounted%20to%20Spain.)
  • Deaths from mental disorders increase in the EU (https://www.consalud.es/pacientes/aumentan-muertes-por-trastornos-mentales-en-ue-representan-37-total_135626_102.html#)

National health policy

• Regulatory framework
  • The Ministry of Health puts out to public consultation the RD project for the evaluation of health technologies. Citizens and organizations will be able to send their opinions until October 25, 2023 (https://diariofarma.com/2023/10/11/sanidad-saca-a-consulta-publica-el-proyecto-de-rd-de-evaluation-of-health-technology). Access to the text of the public consultation: https://www.sanidad.gob.es/normativa/docs/VDEFINITIVA_CPP_HTA_CCC_SGNORM_DGCF_v_AEMPS.pdf

• Public healthcare
  • Galicia is committed to a new comprehensive model of primary care centers, which integrates emergencies, radiodiagnosis and mental health (https://www.diariomedico.com/medicina/politica/galicia-apuesta-por-un-nuevo-model-of-integral-health-centers.html)

• Pharmaceutical policy
  • Miñones hopes to resume the Strategic Plan of the pharmaceutical industry this month (https://diariofarma.com/2023/10/11/minones-espera-retomar-este-mes-el-plan-de-la-industria)

• Mortality of multiresistant bacteria
  • About 4,000 people die every year in Spain due to multiresistant bacteria (https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20231015/9300488/4000-personas-mueren-ano-espana-due-bacterias-multirresistentes.html#:~:text=Multiresistant%20%20bacteria%20already%20cause%20excess%20consumption%20of%20antibiotics.)

• Incompatibility in medical practice
  • Navarra and Asturias still restrict their doctors from compatibility between private and public practice (https://theobjective.com/sanidad/2023-10-09/navarra-asturias-compaginar-sanidad-publica-privada/#:~:text=Navarra%20and%20Asturias%20are%20las,and%20when%20not%20is%20mutual).)

• Great increase in cosmetic surgery in Spain
  • Aesthetic surgeries increase by 215% in eight years (https://elpais.com/salud-y-bienestar/2023-10-11/las-cirugias-esteticas-aumentaron-un-215-en-ocho-anos-without-the-mental-health-of-the-patients-being-evaluated.html)

• Access to abortion
  • Inequalities in access to abortion between autonomous communities (https://www.consalud.es/autonomias/aborto-sanidad-publica-diferences-cc-aa_135517_102.html)

• Access to orphan drugs
  • 49 unfinanced drugs and 26 months of waiting (https://www.diariomedico.com/farmacia/industria/asi-es-el-acceso-los-medicamentos-huerfanos-49-farmacos-sin-finar-y-26-months-of-waiting.html)

• HIPRA vaccine
  • The Ministry of Health wastes 31 million due to the low use of the HIPRA vaccine (https://www.eleconomista.es/salud/noticias/12479261/10/23/sanidad-despilfarra-31-millones-por-el-escaso-use-of-the-hipra-vaccine-.html)

• Deficit of psychiatrists
  • There is a need for 565 psychiatrists per year during the next five years (https://www.eleconomista.es/salud/noticias/12482604/10/23/deficit-de-psiquiatras-hace-falta-la-incorporacion-de-hasta-565-per-year-during-the-nextlustro-.html#:~:text=%22We need%20that%20be%20incorporated%20between,Spanish%20of%20Psychiatry%20and%20Health)

Companies

• International News
  • Novo Nordisk increases its profit, as the sale of its anti-obesity drug grows (https://www.ft.com/content/e7200651-8659-4c3b-8913-a9e3486f0a5b)
  • GSK signs £2.5bn shingles vaccine deal with China’s Zhifei (https://www.ft.com/content/fcf72c1d-b26f-45b4-b4c7-98cae0ea94df)
  • The EU delays the approval of the Novavax vaccine (https://www.ft.com/content/2e10b2ab-7d0c-48a3-b49b-8de8dc302c6d)
  • AstraZeneca announces the EU approval of its asthma drug (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/astrazeneca-anuncia-la-aprobacion-de-la-comision-europea-de-su-farmaco-para-el-asma.html#:~:text=AstraZeneca%20refuerza%20su%20portfolio%20of,%20twelve%20years%20or%20more.)
  • The medical cannabis market will reach 100 billion in 2030 (https://www.eleconomista.es/salud/noticias/12481313/10/23/el-mercado-del-cannabis-medicinal-rozara-los-100000-millones-en-2030.html#:~:text=Last%20year%20%20market, year-on-year%20%2025%2C4%25.)

• National
  • Sanitas inaugurates the school of the future (https://www.plantadoce.com/sala-de-espera/sanitas-inaugura-la-escuela-del-futuro.html#:~:text=Sanitas%20estrena%20nuevo%20centro %20of,the%20future%20professionals%20of%20sector.)
  • Sandoz plans to invest 25 million euros until 2025 in its Barcelona plant (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/sandoz-preve-invertir-cincuenta-millones-de-euros-hasta-2025-en-su-barcelona-plant.html)
  • Almirall partners with EpimAB Biotherapeutics to develop bispecific antibodies (https://cincodias.elpais.com/companias/2023-10-12/almirall-se-alia-con-epimab-biotherapeutics-para-desarrollar-anticuerpos-biespecificos.html#:~:text=The%20pharmaceutical%20Almirall%20has%20closed, due to%20certain%20types%20of%20cancer.)