Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Equitable Access To Covid Drugs Is Improving
The drugs included the oral antiviral drugs nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid) and molnupiravir (Lagevrio), the intravenous antiviral remdesivir (Veklury), and the monoclonal antibody bebtelovimab. (Van Beusekom, 10/28)
You’ve been free of COVID-19 symptoms for two days. Then the coughing, fatigue and headaches return. Join the growing number of people experiencing what’s being called COVID rebound. (Sisson, 10/31)
Also —
Last year, vials of the decades-old chemotherapy drug fludarabine could be purchased for a wholesale price of around $110. Not so much anymore. (Dunleavy, 11/1)
U.S. health regulators on Tuesday classified the recall of Teleflex Inc's Iso-Gard filter S, a medical device to protect patients from potential airborne contaminants, as most serious, saying its use could lead to injuries or death. (11/1)
Emily Whitehead has a secret weapon: "My T-cells, part of my immune system, were trained to fight and kill my cancer. "She was only six when she became the first child ever to receive genetically-modified T cells. The experimental treatment cured her leukemia, and the success of her case has allowed all kinds of cellular therapies to be developed. "Kind of made me feel like a superhero or something," she laughed. (10/30)
A decade ago, CAR T cell therapy changed the world of cancer treatment, offering a personalized approach to patients with blood cancers like leukemia. But getting that specialized treatment to patients is costly and time consuming. It can take up to two months to harvest a patient's T cells and reprogram them into cancer-fighters — a nonstarter for many young patients with aggressive cancer. (Edwards, 10/30)
Researchers have identified a new signaling process involving G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), a cellular target already exploited by hundreds of diverse drugs. The discovery opens the possibility of new therapies, including for multiple forms of cancer. (University of California - San Diego, 10/26)
Giving the combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors relatlimab and nivolumab to patients with stage III melanoma before surgery was safe and completely cleared all viable tumor in 57% of patients in a Phase II study, researchers report. (University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 10/26)
