Peter Wehrwein has been the lead editor of Managed Healthcare Executive since February 2020.
SGLT2 Inhibitors Superior to Other Oral Diabetes Drugs for People with Type 2 Diabetes and NAFLD
February 12th 2024A large retrospective study of patients in South Korea shows that the SGLT2 inhibitors seem to do a better job with bringing about regression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
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Housing Linked to Lower Cancer Mortality Among U.S. Veterans
February 8th 2024A study published in Health Affairs shows that lung and colorectal cancer mortality was higher among veterans who were unhoused compared with those who were housed and higher yet in those who lost housing after they received a diagnosis.
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Republicans voted in favor of a bill that would prohibit the use quality-adjusted life years (QALY) metrics by federal agencies, Medicare Advantage plans and Medicaid managed care organizations. Some patient groups celebrated the passage. Experts have worried that "similar measures" language could stifle all comparative effectiveness analysis.
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New AAD Acne Guidelines Warn About High Cost, Access to New Treatments
February 6th 2024New acne guidelines from the American Academy of Dermatology recommend Winlevi (clascoterone), a topical treatment, and Seysara (sarecycline), a narrow-spectrum tetracycline, but qualify the recommendation as conditional because of concerns that the high cost may affect equitable access to treatment,
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Antiretroviral Therapy Tamed the HIV/AIDS Epidemic. The Mortality Stats Show It.
January 28th 2024Data from 17 longitudinal studies of adults with HIV treated with antiretroviral therapy how that proportion of deaths caused by AIDS has fallen from nearly 50% to 16% and that all-cause mortality has been sliced in half.
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Trodelvy Falls Short As NSCLC Treatment, Taking Some of the Shine Off Antibody-Drug Conjugates
January 23rd 2024Gilead's share price fell 10% today after it announced that Trodelvy, an antibody-drug conjugate, failed to meet its overall survival end point in a trial testing it as treatment for metatstatic non-small cell lung cancer.
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Vtama Is Getting Ready to Elbow Its Way Into the Crowded Field of Atopic Dermatitis Medications
January 19th 2024The FDA approved Dermavant Science's Vtama (tapinarof cream) last year as a treatment for plaque psoriasis. Sales have been disappointing, according to press reports. Will Vtama, which has a different mechanism of action than the current batch of topical medications for atopic dermatitis, fare better in the atopic dermatitis market?
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Leukemia Death, Survival Trends Are Improving in the Era of Targeted Treatment
January 18th 2024The outlook for leukemia patients improved after Gleevec (imatinib) was approved in 2001 as a treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia. The American Cancer Society published its annual cancer statistics report today that projects 62,770 new cases of leukemia will be diagnosed this year and 23,670 deaths from the disease will occur.
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U.S. Healthcare Spending Settling Down into Prepandemic Patterns
December 13th 2023Total healthcare spending grew by 4.1% in 2022 and healthcare spending accounted for 17.3% of GDP, which is in the range of the spending numbers prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services actuarties. The proportion of Americans with health insurance reached 92% in 2022, an all-time high.
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Independent Assessment of Syfovre Needed, Argues JAMA Ophthalmologist Viewpoint
December 7th 2023A California retinal specialist argues in a JAMA Ophthalmology viewpoint article that an independent panel of retinal specialists and statisticians should assess the data from clinical trials of Syfovre (pegcetacoplan) because of the lack of a complete FDA scientific analysis of the drug and of peer-reviewed publication.
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RSV Vaccines for Adults: Gaps in Understanding
December 4th 2023Angela Branche, M.D., an infectious disease specialist at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, says the gaps are in a precise understanding of who is at risk for serious illness from respiratory syncytial virus and therefore who should get vaccinated.
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