Feb 02 The modern tragedy of fake cancer cures By Matthew Herper, STAT News Cancer is older than human beings. Scientists have found dinosaurs with metastatic tumors. It’s simply not likely we’re going to outsmart all cancers with a single treatment, without drawbacks. Continue reading
Feb 01 Watch 9:24 Sec. Azar on how new proposal ‘brings transparency’ to drug pricing A new rule bans pharmaceutical companies from providing rebates to middlemen and insurers in exchange for choosing their drugs. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar also called on Congress to pass a new prescription drug discount plan that would… Continue watching
Feb 01 Planned Parenthood group from western states adds Indiana, Kentucky in ‘strategic alliance’ By Rick Callahan, Associated Press Planned Parenthood's affiliate overseeing Hawaii and three western states announced Friday that it was adding Indiana and Kentucky, a first-of-its-kind consolidation based not on geography but on reallocating resources to fight new abortion restrictions in the Midwest and South. Continue reading
Feb 01 Purdue Pharma family sought to profit off opioid crisis, filing alleges By Alanna Durkin, Geoff Mulvihill, Associated Press While aggressively marketing OxyContin, the Sackler family also sought to profit off the drug abuse crisis its company helped create by exploring selling drugs used to treat addiction and reverse overdoses, state lawyers contend in previously secret parts of their… Continue reading
Feb 01 Health Secretary Alex Azar unveils plan to revamp prescription drug discounts By Associated Press A day after unveiling the plan as a proposed regulation, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar raised the stakes by calling on Congress to make it law and broaden it to include people covered by employer health insurance, not… Continue reading
Jan 29 Measles patients are mostly children. Here’s why By Jamie Leventhal Here’s a look into how the latest epidemic started, why children may face the worst of it, and how it's no surprise that the outbreak hit the Pacific Northwest. Continue reading
Jan 28 Watch 6:38 Washington state’s measles outbreak coincides with low rates of immunization Washington state is experiencing an outbreak of measles, with 35 confirmed cases in a single county. The disease's flare-up is reinforcing concerns about insufficient immunization in some communities. Hari Sreenivasan talks to Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of… Continue watching
Jan 26 Measles outbreak grows in northwest U.S., 31 cases reported By Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press The number of confirmed measles cases near Portland grew to 31 on Friday — an outbreak boosted by lower-than-normal vaccination rates in what has been called an anti-vaccination U.S. “hot spot.”… Continue reading
Jan 24 Juuling skyrocketed among students in 2018, national survey finds By Sarah D. Sparks, Education Week The percentage of students who reported vaping nicotine in the last 30 days doubled or nearly doubled among eighth, 10th and 12th graders since 2017, representing some of the largest single-year jumps ever recorded in the survey. Continue reading
Jan 23 Watch 6:56 In Thailand, tracking animal health to prevent outbreaks of human disease By Fred de Sam Lazaro Viruses like avian flu, Ebola and Marburg often fester in animals before moving into human populations. Animals in regions that are geographically remote present particular challenges for disease containment. But in Thailand, local residents are using technology, including digital scanning,… Continue watching