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During the pandemic, Carl Prudhomme of Alpine, Texas, got his cancer drugs mailed directly to him from his oncologist. No longer. With the end of the Covid-19 public-health emergency, independent cancer doctors can no longer send prescriptions directly to their Medicare patients—creating hurdles for some people in rural areas who say they have to travel to get their medications. Prudhomme plans to drive the 569 miles each way to his oncologist’s office in Houston every three months to pick up his drugs in person. (Armour, 6/12)

A critical shortage of chemotherapy drugs is fueling calls to fortify the U.S. drug supply chain, which advocacy groups and lawmakers say too often relies on a handful of manufacturers to churn out products in highest demand. (Reed and Dreher, 6/14)

About 2 million people in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and 600,000 will die from the disease, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates. But cancer is not equal opportunity. A wide range of factors plays a role in determining whether a person will get and potentially die from the disease, including their genetics and where they live. (O'Connell-Domenech, 6/13)

Protagonist Therapeutics has run into some speed bumps as it’s developed its medicine for a rare blood cancer characterized by the overproduction of red blood cells. In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration put studies of the drug, rusfertide, on hold after a mouse study raised concerns about skin malignancies (the hold was lifted quickly, after less than a month). Then last year, citing concerns about malignancies, the FDA yanked the therapy’s “breakthrough” designation, which can expedite a medicine’s review. (Joseph, 6/13)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Listen To The Latest ‘�������ýҕ�l Health News Minute’ 

This week’s �������ýҕ�l Health News Minute looks at why hundreds of thousands of people are losing Medicaid coverage and why breast cancer patients are worried about changes to hospital billing. (6/13)