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7 days in healthcare (July 31st-August 6th, 2023)

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Summary

From the point of view of Biomedicine, it seems that for the first time, apart from the complicated bariatric surgery, medicine will have a treatment for obesity, this disease that affects more than 1 billion people worldwide. With GLP-1 it seems that we are entering the phase of effective drugs against obesity. Generative AI, which is capable of generating new algorithms, based on the patterns and structure of the data, is called to play an important role in health care. It seems that cancer is growing at younger ages. The WHO declares the polypill, developed by the CNIC and Ferrer, as an “essential medicine”.

With regard to Global Health, a call by the editors of the most important scientific journals in the world, through a common article, for health professionals to get involved in the fight against the risk of nuclear war, since it seems that we are in a situation of risk not seen since the Cold War. The WHO detects progress in tobacco control in many countries, through the WHO Framework Agreement for Tobacco Control, signed 20 years ago.

Regarding International Health Policy, in the United States a cyberattack forces the paralyzation of the activity of several hospitals. In the United Kingdom, new diagnostic centers are being created to increase the capacity to carry out tests and reduce the waiting list. Of the 13 centers announced, 8 will be privately financed and managed. The waiting list is a political priority for Prime Minister Sunak.

If we talk about National Health Policy (Spain), the incidence of covid has risen since July. It is extremely striking that a new registry multiplies by four the official number of maternal mortality in Spain. Maternal mortality is precisely one of the indicators most taken into account when establishing the health of a country. The Health Accounts System document has been published, which updates the data with those of 2021. Between 2017 and 2021 there has been a 25% increase in health spending, including public and private. The MUFACE system is doubly threatened, firstly because of its high losses and, secondly, because the SUMAR program, Sánchez’s possible partner in a new government, is sponsoring its disappearance. The agreement signed in Aragon for the constitution of the new PP-Vox government contemplates resorting to public/private collaboration to address the waiting list. It should be noted that the integration of the workforce of the former Health Agencies of Andalusia has been completed, which affects 3,500 workers, who may be integrated as permanent statutory employees. An important regression, which reinforces the most rigid aspects of the public health system, precisely what the public hospitals with the configuration of public companies, unfairly called by the PP in Andalusia as “chiringuitos”, had tried to overcome with remarkable success. A blunder, not to use euphemisms, both from the Andalusian government and from the party that supports it. Information from the old management teams ensures that the deterioration is already taking place. If, rightly, an audit is required to see the results of the reversals of the concessions in the Valencian Community, something similar will have to be done in due course with these Andalusian hospitals.

In the field of Companies, internationally, Amazon launches a new documentation service based on generative AI. The pharmaceutical companies that had made cash with the covid vaccine are deflating, something that was already discounted by the market. At the national level, a new incursion of Magnum Partners into health, by buying the nutraceutical company Martínez Nieto. Apax acquires 50% of Palex, a company that had become a target for many funds, and which will surely herald a consolidation of the medical technology distribution sector.

Biomedicine

Global Health

International Health Policy

National health policy

Companies

7 days in healthcare (November 7th-13th, 2022)

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Summary

From the point of view of biomedicine, to highlight the blood transfusion with cells generated in the laboratory from donor stem cells, carried out in the United Kingdom, which opens up possibilities for what has been pursued for years: the so-called “artificial blood”. Likewise, two advances that originate in Spain: the discovery of a genetic variant that favors thinness (CNIO) and the fact that malignant cells break off from cancer and cause deaths by metastasis (Institute of Medical Research of Barcelona).

As regards Global Health, Nature insists in an editorial, following the COP27 meeting, that rich countries must advance compensation for polluting. Important challenges for the new Brazilian President in health matters, particularly in primary care.

Regarding International Health Policy, debate on the covid-zero policy in China, on the one hand, there seem to be signs that China is easing quarantines, on the other hand, according to José Luis Puerta in an article, this policy is a death trap , since its abandonment may mean assuming a high number of deaths, given the low percentage of vaccination in China. In the United Kingdom (NHS) a nurses’ strike for salary demands is raised for the first time, which. according to the Government, they are unaffordable.

If we talk about National Health Policy (Spain), it seems that the crisis of Primary Care, long incubated, has exploded. Although the problems of low wages, poor working conditions for doctors and flight or refusal to go to Primary Care is a national problem, the crisis has broken out above all, although not only, in Madrid, which has some peculiarities that aggravate the situation: 1. the closure of out-of-hospital emergencies for two years; 2. the low funding of the health system in Madrid and of Primary Care; and, 3. some confrontation practice. The truth is that the “white tide” has been activated, with a large demonstration in defense of public healthcare in the center of Madrid, which was a great success for the organizers. As always in these cases, the defense of public healthcare is mixed with the rejection of any form of public/private collaboration. Tensions in primary care also in the rest of Spain. Highly recommendable is the video on YouTube entitled “Doctors are lacking in Spain”?

In the field of companies, at the international level Bavarian Nordic increases its growth due to the monkeypox vaccine, while BioNTech’s revenues fall, due to the drop in sales of the covid vaccine. In Spain, changes in the CEO of Quirón, to whom Víctor Madera, the company’s founder, returns to executive positions. Success for Ribera, which is awarded an important contract for a hospital concession in Cascais (Portugal). New delays in the approval by the EMA of the HIPRA vaccine.

Biomedicine

Global Health

International health policy

  • COVID-19
    • China eases quarantine rules, with Guangzhou close to lockdown. There is speculation that Beijing is considering a relaxation of the covid-zero policy (https://www.ft.com/content/709e95e6-cc63-4fe0-9c4a-5683c87f7e7b)
    • Interesting article by José Luis Puerta: “China: the deadly trap of the covid-zero policy”. If the government lifts the restrictions, which are sinking the economy, the country risks suffering a tsunami of infections, due to the low level of vaccination. It is estimated that this could cause 1.6 million deaths and a demand for intensive care that exceeds its current capacity by 15.6 times (https://theobjective.com/internacional/2022-11-12/china-covid-zero/ )

National health policy

Companies

 

7 days in healthcare (August 21st-28th, 2022)

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Summary

From the point of view of biomedicine, the very encouraging results of the polypill published by a Spanish group led by Valentin Fuster should be highlighted. The Economist underlines the great future of gene therapies in medicine, with a list of diseases for which there is a therapy or is in advanced study.

Regarding Global Health, The Lancet publishes a report with some conclusions and lessons regarding future pandemics.

As for International Health Policy, both monkeypox and covid are plummeting in Europe. The controversial annulment of the Roe v Wade ruling in the United States, which leaves the right to abortion to the criteria and regulation of the states, continues to be talked about. American companies, including Walmart, the largest American employer, introduce this benefit for women, regardless of the state where they work.

If we talk about National Health Policy (Spain), covid continues to drop and especially the number of cases in the ICU. The Government approves the bill that creates the Public Health Agency, probably the largest, if not the only, far-reaching measure after the pandemic. The text of the law is not yet public, and therefore important aspects such as governance and functions are not known. The location is not known either, although the Government has advanced that it would not be in Madrid, which is not without controversy either. Next week the government will approve the abortion law, according to a text promoted by Podemos.

In the field of companies, Moderna’s lawsuit against Pfizer and BioNTech has been shocked, which it accuses of plagiarism of its mRNA technology in the covid vaccine. Amazon closes its telecare service, which once again demonstrates the difficulties of the large technology platforms in finding an adequate strategy for health, a sector in which they want to be above all else. In Spain, the export of drugs manufactured in Spain grows by 60% in one year.

Biomedicine

Global Health

International health policy

National health policy

Companies