Weekend Update

David Ermer–Congress, Mental health care, Rx coverage, U.S. Healthcare–

From Washington DC,

From the public health and medical research front,

  • The New York Times reports
    • “Federal regulators on Friday said that they had not yet discovered live bird flu virus in the first batch of retail milk samples they tested, a reassuring indication that the milk on store shelves remains safe despite an outbreak of the virus among dairy cows.
    • “In an online update, the Food and Drug Administration said an initial set of tests looking for live virus, not just genetic fragments, suggested that the pasteurization process was effectively neutralizing the pathogen.
    • “These results reaffirm our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” the F.D.A. wrote in the update, adding that the testing efforts were ongoing.
    • “Officials also tested infant and toddler formula, which incorporate powdered dairy, and did not find the virus, the agency wrote.”
  • The National Institutes of Health announced yesterday,
    • “A dose-sparing intradermal mpox vaccination regimen was safe and generated an antibody response equivalent to that induced by the standard regimen at six weeks (two weeks after the second dose), according to findings presented today at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Global Congress in Barcelona. The results suggest that antibody responses contributed to the effectiveness of dose-sparing mpox vaccine regimens used during the 2022 U.S. outbreak(link is external).”
  • The New York Times explains how our country can improve the rate of vaccinations against Hepatitis C.
    • “Dr. Francis Collins, who headed the National Institutes of Health for decades until retiring in 2021, has been spearheading a White House initiative aimed at eliminating the disease.
    • “In an interview, he said he was motivated by memories of his brother-in-law, Rick Boterf, who died of hepatitis C just before the introduction of the new cures. An outdoorsman, Mr. Boterf endured five years of liver failure waiting for a transplant, and even that procedure wasn’t enough to save him from the destructive virus.
    • “The more I looked at this, the more it just seemed impossible to walk away,” Dr. Collins said.
    • The initiative, which was included in President Biden’s latest budget proposal, calls for about $5 billion to establish a five-year “subscription” contract. The federal government would pay a flat fee and, in return, receive drugs for every patient it enrolled for treatment. * * *
    • “Dr. Collins acknowledged that on its own, a national drug-purchasing agreement like Louisiana’s would not be sufficient to turn the tide.
    • “Anybody who tries to say, ‘Oh, it’s just the cost of the drug, that’s the only thing that’s gotten in the way,’ hasn’t looked at those lessons carefully,” he said. To that end the proposal also calls for a $4.3 billion campaign to raise awareness, train clinicians and promote treatment at health centers, prisons and drug treatment programs.”
  • The New York Times offers an in-depth look at anti-depressant medications. Here’s why an in-depth look is useful reading.
    • “Antidepressants are among the most prescribed medications in the United States. This is, in part, because the number of people diagnosed with depression and anxiety has been on the rise, and prescriptions jumped sharply among some age groups during the pandemic.
    • “Despite the prevalence of these medications, some patients have “significant misconceptions” about how the drugs work, said Dr. Andrew J. Gerber, a psychiatrist and the president and medical director of Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Conn.
    • “About 80 percent of antidepressants are prescribed by primary care doctors who have not had extensive training in managing mental illness.
    • “Dr. Paul Nestadt, an associate professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said patients tell him, “‘You know, Doc, I’ve tried everything.’” But often, he said, “they never got to a good dose, or they were only on it for a week or two.”