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Celyad, a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies, recently announced that the FDA has accepted its Investigational New Drug (IND) application for CYAD-101, the first non–gene-edited allogeneic clinical program.

Complementary medicine and alternative medicine (CAM) is estimated to be a multibillion business in the United States, but people who use it instead of conventional cancer treatment have a 2-fold risk of death, a recent study in JAMA Oncology reported. Patients using or considering CAM are unlikely to discuss it with their doctors, who should proactively inform patients of the risk, the study said.

Bone mineral density (BMD) declines early in the course of type 1 diabetes in men but is little affected by the condition in women, according to a 10-year prospective study.

The California insurance commissioner, who has spoken out against other large healthcare mergers, this week asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to block the $69 billion deal combining Aetna with CVS Health.

A recent study analyzed the role of purinergic receptor P2X4 in microglia/macrophages during autoimmune inflammation, finding that P2X4 receptors modulate microglia/macrophage inflammatory responses and identify allosteric modulator ivermectin (IVM) as a potential candidate to promote the repair of myelin damage.

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who work are costly to their employers in both direct and indirect costs and have greater productivity losses, according to a recent study.

If Medicare was allowed to negotiate drug prices, the Medicare Part D program could save $2.8 billion in 1 year on the 20 most commonly prescribed drugs alone, according to a new report from Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

During the 2018 International AIDS Conference, the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Elton John AIDS Foundation revealed initial results from the LGBT Fund, which they launched in 2016. PEPFAR also announced over $360 million in funding over the next 12 months.

Cross-sector data sharing is particularly relevant to the burgeoning field of complex care. The creation of data-sharing partnerships requires flexible relationship-building approaches that establish trust among partnering organizations.

The use of inhaled vaporized cannabis neither improved nor worsened exercise performance and activity-related breathlessness for patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to a recent trial published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

In addition to survival among adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with hematological malignancies lagging behind that of children and older adults, AYAs also face unique challenges related to their physical, psychosocial, and economic circumstances.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain documents showing the FDA did little to intervene in the wider prescribing of fast-acting fentanyl drugs approved for patients with cancer who have high opioid tolerance; HHS said 96 organizations will get funding under Title X, the federal family planning program; drug companies may have reduced some prices in response to President Trump taking to Twitter to complain about costs, but the moves are largely symbolic and won’t have any real effect, analysts said.

Coverage of our peer-reviewed research and news reporting in the healthcare and mainstream press.

CMS announced a raft of final rulemaking Thursday for 2019, including ending the so-called 25% rule for long-term care hospitals, and approving add-on payments estimated to cost about $72 million for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy.

This week, the top managed care stories included a report that found quality issues and fraud in Medicare’s hospice program; the Trump administration expanded short-term health plans; cancer screening rates are falling short of targets.

Bristol-Myers Squibb recently announced that the European Commission has approved nivolumab (Opdivo) for the adjuvant treatment of adult patients with melanoma that have lymph node involvement or metastatic disease and who have undergone complete resection.

Following a peak of 17.4 million people enrolled in the individual insurance market in 2015, enrollment has continuously declined. With the elimination of the individual mandate and the expansion of short-term health plans, enrollment will likely continue to drop in 2019.

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute recently announced that it is partnering with Royal Philips in order to establish and provide improved clinical pathways in cancer care.

A recent report about Senator Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan calls attention to a substantial federal cost increase of $32.6 trillion in spending over 10 years. But, the report also reveals that total cost of healthcare spending would decrease over that 10-year period.

The lead author of a study appearing this month in Diabetes Care said other data support his findings, pointing to the potential for the SGLT2 inhibitor empagliflozin to replace metformin as first-line therapy.

Another study examining the death toll in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria last year came up with another number that is higher than the official death toll of 64. Using records of vital statistics, the researchers said there were at least 1139 excess deaths.

The once-monthly self-injected calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) inhibitor is now approved in the European Union, Switzerland, the United States, and Australia.

Researchers recently found that the use of a standardized electronic health system–based order set to manage acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was linked to a decreased reduction in steroid dose and length of stay in the hospital.

Current therapy management mainly comprises of attempting to delay disease progression in neurodegenerative diseases but have been unable to reverse the myelin damage already done.

Major insurers are now seeking smaller, single-digit premium increases for Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans; drug makers and distributors of painkillers being sued for their alleged role in the opioid crisis are trying to build goodwill by giving grants and donations to hard-hit counties, cities, and states that are filing the lawsuits; hundreds of people have sued Bristol-Myers Squibb and Otsuka, alleging that the drug Abilify caused compulsive behavior.

The research and therapeutic options are limited for skeletal abnormalities found in neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1)—a haploinsufficient and multisystemic disease caused by inherited or sporadic mutations in the NF1 gene. However, denosumab may be an effective treatment option for osteoporosis in patients with NF1, according to a recent case report.

Two days after a critical report into the quality and care of hospices caring for Medicare beneficiaries, CMS released a final payment rule for 2019, giving providers an increase of $340 million, and said it will update the information on its Hospice Compare website.

Developmental issues, such as impaired brain growth, are more likely to occur in children with HIV than those without the virus.

Researchers have found that transitional care management (TCM) services are associated with reductions in mortality and total Medicare costs; however, adoption of these services has remained low since the implementation of TCM payment codes in 2013.

Because the majority of a patient’s time is spent outside the clinic, physicians may find it difficult to arrive at an accurate assessment of performance status (PS) for patients who have advanced cancer. Objectively evaluating PS, which measures a patient’s level of function and ability of self-care, can be challenging, but new research suggests that fitness trackers may help clinicians gain better insight into their patients’ PS.