All News

Based on US health insurance consumer behavior reported in the eHealth Insights: 2020 Retrospective report, notable trends of the past year to watch for in 2021 include the popularity of $0 premium Medicare Advantage plans, the rise of telemedicine, and potential hesitancy against taking a vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019.

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

HHS aims to ease access to medication-assisted treatment for patients with opioid use disorder; David Kessler, MD, named top Operation Warp Speed official; President-Elect Joe Biden unveils coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) relief package.

Focused ultrasound subthalamotomy was shown to improve motor features among patients with Parkinson disease who present with asymmetric symptom severity.

Investigators using real-world data found that patients receiving treatment from slow mist inhalers (SMIs) had fewer exacerbations and hospitals readmissions compared with patients using dry powder inhalers (DPIs).

The researchers say their new results can ease the concerns physicians or patients have when weighing the decision to switch route of administration for rheumatoid arthritis treatment.

The US Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Jerome Adams, MD, and other officials urged for greater uptake of FDA-approved treatments for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in an effort to slow the surge of cases requiring hospitalization. However, logistic, monetary, and efficacy concerns may have drastically limited the amount of biologic treatments actually administered to patients.

Among the viewpoints offered by the authors to overcome barriers in solving unmet needs in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) are preclinical pipelines for drug repurposing, working around challenges in early-stage trial design, and refining target selection and demonstration of engagement.

A comparison of 3 levels of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in convalescent plasma shows that the 30-day death rate was lowest in the group receiving high-titer plasma.

Home confinement during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic was associated with a significant myopic shift among Chinese children aged 6 to 8, according to new research published in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is charged over his role in the Flint water crisis of 2014; states report new strains of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); the United States could see 90,000 more COVID-19 deaths in 3 weeks.

Study findings show that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) had increased risks of respiratory complications and pneumonia after undergoing a transcatheter aortic valve insertion (TAVI) compared with those without COPD.

The statement is aimed at drug companies, policymakers, pharmacy benefit managers, employers, and others, and calls to attention soaring insulin costs, which were the subject of several Congressional hearings in 2019.

Use of the RNA inhibitor givosiran was shown to reduce expression of delta-aminolevulinic acid synthase 1, in turn reducing the severity of acute attacks and chronic symptoms for patients with severe hepatic porphyria.

Among patients hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China, fatigue and muscle weakness, as well as sleep difficulties, were shown to persist in more than 1 in 4 patients after 6 months.

Non-Hispanic Black individuals with type 1 diabetes and coronavirus disease 2019 infections may be more likely to be hospitalized for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) compared with non-Hispanic White patients.

The Supreme Court reinstates the requirement on in-person pickup of pregnancy-ending medications; CMS releases numbers on 2020’s final week of Marketplace open enrollment; the FDA updates safety information for filgrastim (Neupogen).

Alexey Aleshin, MD, senior medical director of Oncology at biotech giant Natera, said that attention on finding biomarkers for metastatic reoccurrence needs to be directed at women with a high risk of this happening.

Starting in 2 weeks, allocation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines will be based on the percentage of doses each state has successfully administered thus far and the number of residents aged 65 or over, according to HHS.

Emerging research into natural killer cells has shown promise, but the findings are complicated by the heterogeneity of multiple myeloma (MM).

Erenumab treatment has been associated with reductions in migraine frequency and improvements in health-related quality of life that were maintained for at least 5 years, according to the results of an open-label treatment phase of a recent study.

FDA accepts for priority review a Biologics License Application for V114, Merck's investigational 15-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine; bluebird bio will be split into 2 publicly traded drug companies; a new variant of coronavirus is reported in Japan.

Study results, published in JAMA Ophthalmology, showed the Home Acuity Test can be used to measure visual acuity by telephone for a wide range of outpatients with diverse conditions under the care of an ophthalmologist.

Defective metabolism of levodopa in the brain was associated with a decline in the drug's efficacy over time and the adverse effect of dyskinesia among patients with Parkinson disease.

A more aggressive tumor microenvironment may be to blame for the exaggerated inflammatory response more often seen in Black women with breast cancer compared with White women.

A new American Diabetes Association (ADA) survey highlights how the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic took a toll on the population with diabetes, which is one of the most prevalent preexisting conditions in America.

The FDA today accepted Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly’s supplemental New Drug Application for Jardiance (empagliflozin), the sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor being investigated for use in patients with heart failure.

Data on patients with migraine who stopped erenumab treatment show that over half of patients had an early disease worsening while the remaining patients maintained their responder status during weeks 1 through 4 post treatment.