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7 days in healthcare (December 4th-10th, 2023)

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Summary

From the point of view of Biomedicine, Nature magazine analyzes the clinical trials that will shape medicine in 2024, including genetic editing for hypercholesterolemia; AI for early diagnosis of lung cancer; HIV vaccines; stem cells for Parkinson’s; the use of machine learning for patient triage; conjugated antibodies for brain metastases; and, computed tomography for lung cancer screening. The New England Journal of Medicine analyzes whether clinical trials with xenotransplants should be “liberalized” in the absence of human donors, especially in the United States.

Regarding Global Health, at COP28, 124 countries, including Spain, sign a Declaration on Climate and Health. It remains surprising, however, that the president of the COP28 meeting, held in Dubai, is the president of that country’s state oil company, which did not stop expressing its skepticism regarding decarbonization actions. On the other hand, populist leaders around the world (Wilders, Milei, Bolsonaro, Trump) have made climate change denial an electoral platform. Decline of AIDS worldwide, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

In terms of International Health Policy, the White House creates an Office for the Prevention of Firearm Violence. Large drop in state health insurance policyholders in China, the largest health insurance organization in the world. In the United Kingdom, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change analyzes the high and increasing cost of being overweight. Many Britons, despite their adoration of the NHS, choose to pay for certain interventions and procedures, in order to avoid the waiting list. In that country, this form of payment for certain actions is more common than insurance, which is expensive in Britain. Germany announces a plan to strengthen the pharmaceutical industry. It seems that the promotion of research and production in the country will be the main axes. The European Union definitively approves the AI law, the first law in the world on this subject. Without a doubt, it will have a great impact on health.

If we talk about National Health Policy (Spain), after the constitution of the writing team appointed by the Ministry of Health in October 2021, 2023 is about to end without the official report on the management of the pandemic having been made public, which which puts us behind many countries that have already published analyzes and reports. On the other hand, it does not seem that, contrary to what was done in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, where even Boris Johnson had to appear, the Spanish commission has sought the opinion of many actors. Surely the delay in publication could come from the problems of managing the pandemic in our country: two confinements declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court, delay in decision-making, high mortality figures at the beginning, high mortality among professionals, serious problems in purchasing supplies, etc. The Minister of Health takes her first steps, having to face in the coming weeks the problem of the lack of doctors in Primary Care. In Asturias, the autonomous community will dedicate 57 million extra hours for professionals to address the problem of waiting lists. A measure that seems reasonable and that overcomes the criticism of the so-called “peonadas”, as if activity in the public sector could not be controlled.

In the field of Companies, on an international level, Roche is jumping on the obesity bandwagon, following moves in this direction by NovoNordisk, Lilly and AstraZeneca. In our country, Ribera is finalizing the purchase of IMSKEN, an important trauma hospital in Valencia. The bankruptcy administrator and creditors are demanding the seizure of KKR, which they accuse of the bankruptcy of Dentix.

Biomedicine

Global Health

International health policy

  • China
    • The Chinese state health insurance, the largest in the world with 1.3 billion insured, loses tens of millions of members. In 2022, 19 million people were no longer covered, an unprecedented drop. It is blamed on the rise in premiums and co-payment increases and the decline in household income, https://www.ft.com/content/0ef68e30-bbe7-4b6e-8d17-479a552be994

National health policy

  • Lack of professionals in Primary Care

Companies