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The FDA will start to review gene therapy experiments and products the same as other treatments and drugs; Alaska and Minnesota have become models for other states looking to curb health insurance premium increases with reinsurance programs; patients with limited English proficiency often have to rely on family members and friends to interpret for them, which can have serious consequences.

Insilico Medicine, an artificial intelligence (AI) for drug discovery company, and A2A Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on novel drug development for oncology, have recently announced their research collaboration to form a new company, Consortium.AI, which will apply advances in AI to discovery of novel small molecules for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and other rare diseases.

Contrasting the excitement and optimism coming out of clinical research presented at the AIDS 2018 conference, there was a sobering takeaway in the political and advocacy sphere. Among the general consensus that we are in a fragile moment in time, there were several policies and advocacy efforts that made it to the forefront of the conference.

The approval was notable not only for the promise that it offers patients, but also for the strategy by which Alnylam hopes to sell the drug: In order to help payers cope with the $450,000 annual list price of patisiran, Alnylam is working with commercial insurance plans to offer value-based contracts for the therapy.

Advocacy groups filed a lawsuit on behalf of 3 Medicaid recipients challenging Arkansas' Medicaid work requirements; CVS Health announced that its pharmacy benefit manager will target expensive drugs to be excluded from formularies if they are not cost effective; Senate leaders have received a letter from 120 consumer and patient associations on the impact Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh could have on health policy.

In a test of what could happen as more work requirements are attached as conditions to receiving government health benefits or other forms of government assistance, more than 25% of Medicaid recipients in Arkansas are at risk of losing health insurance for failing to meet work requirements, a recent blog post in Health Affairs said.

The 2018 International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam brought a plethora of new clinical implications for HIV care, reflecting ongoing investments in research efforts and optimism across all clinical domains, including vaccines, prevention, and new treatment approaches. However, with the excitement also came caution in other areas, such as stagnant incidence rates.

Major tech companies publicly committed at a Trump administration event to improve provider–patient communications and data exchanges in health information technology in an effort to cut costs and improve outcomes; public health advocates and the FDA are at odds over how to regulate the exploding electronic cigarette industry, even as both sides agree teens and college students are using the devices at an alarming rate; billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who last week said Cigna was overpaying for Express Scripts, is no longer intending to solicit proxies to vote against the $52 billion deal.

A study that sought to replicate the effects of vaping on lung cells found that vapor from e-cigarettes boosts the production of inflammatory chemicals and disables key protective cells in the lung that engulf potentially harmful particles. Some of the effects were similar to those seen in regular smokers and people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

A proposed rule from CMS would end the practice of home health aides paid directly by Medicaid having their union dues automatically deducted from their paychecks; the Trump administration says it has found a way around a federal judge’s June ruling stopping a Kentucky plan from introducing work requirements on those receiving Medicaid and will continue to allow states to put the restrictions in place; a California jury found Monsanto liable in a lawsuit filed by a school groundskeeper who said the company’s weedkillers, including Roundup, caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

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