Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Delayed Treatments For Heart Conditions, Cancer During The Pandemic Worry Medical Experts
Heart attacks and other medical emergencies had not mysteriously disappeared, however. Doctors in Massachusetts and around the world believe that many patients were fearful they would contract the coronavirus at a doctor’s office or hospital, so they waited to seek care. For some patients with cardiac disease, that led to more severe complications — and in some cases, doctors fear, even death. (Chen, 6/24)
Kaiser Health News: Fearing The Deadly Combo Of COVID-19 And Cancer
Three Tuesdays each month, Katherine O’Brien straps on her face mask and journeys about half an hour by Metra rail to Northwestern University’s Lurie Cancer Center. What were once packed train cars rolling into Chicago are now eerily empty, as those usually commuting to towering skyscrapers weather the pandemic from home. But for O’Brien, the excursion is mandatory. She’s one of millions of Americans battling cancer and depends on chemotherapy to treat the breast cancer that has spread to her bones and liver. (Norman, 6/25)
Tweaking an immune protein called interleukin-18 can overcome tumors that lure it into binding with a decoy receptor protein and render it harmless to cancer cells, new research in mice shows. In conjunction with the paper, published Wednesday in Nature, a company founded by senior author Aaron Ring announced $25 million in initial financing to create and commercialize a drug based on the discovery. (Cooney, 6/24)
Two years ago, French regulators made a surprising decision, overruling one of their own expert committees to approve a controversial drug for combating alcoholism. But the move has triggered an increasingly heated debate over a key clinical trial, which critics argue raises troubling questions about transparency, as well as the extent to which patient groups may have influenced the regulator. (Silverman, 6/25)
Researchers developed a new method for transforming brain cells that can completely eliminate Parkinson’s disease in mice, though experts caution the potential treatment is still a long way from the clinic. The new method, which was detailed Wednesday in Nature, helps replace some of the brain cells that have disappeared in people with Parkinson’s disease. It is the loss of those brain cells — specifically, dopamine neurons — that causes the severe motor symptoms associated with the condition, like tremors, speech changes, and slow movement. (Ortolano, 6/24)
