Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Bayer Directed To Pay Cancer Patient Nearly $2.1 Billion In Roundup Case
The company behind Roundup weedkiller herbicide was ordered to pay more than $2 billion in a man’s cancer lawsuit. According to his attorneys, John Barnes developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after using Monsanto’s Roundup for two decades. The case resulted in a $2.065 billion verdict, Barnes’s lawyers said. The Associated Press reported that Bayer, the parent company for Monsanto, was ordered to pay $65 million to compensate Barnes and an additional $2 billion in punitive damages by a Georgia jury. Monsanto is appealing the ruling. (Frazin, 3/24)
In cancer research —
A more precise form of prostate cancer surgery nearly doubles the chances of men retaining erectile function afterwards compared with standard surgery, according to the first comprehensive trial of the procedure. Doctors in five UK hospitals assessed the surgical approach that aims to preserve crucial nerves that run through the outer layer of the prostate and are thought to be responsible for producing erections. (Sample, 3/24)
Researchers are warning that men who regularly dodge prostate cancer screening appointments are 45% more likely to die from the disease. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men and the second-leading cause of cancer deaths, according to UC San Francisco (UCSF). (Rudy, 3/22)
Patients with certain subtypes of breast cancer may face a higher risk of death from the cancer if they wait more than 42 days after diagnosis to have surgery, according to newly published research from the University of Oklahoma. The research team was surprised that the subtypes of breast cancer most affected by delayed surgery were those with the best prognosis: hormone receptor-positive breast cancers, meaning the cancer uses estrogen or progesterone to grow, and HER2-negative cancers, which do not have high levels of the HER2 protein that is associated with more aggressive cancer growth. (3/24)
Mark Vieth was stunned when he saw the numbers. Vieth coordinates the Defense Health Research Consortium, which advocates for a Pentagon program that has long received about $1.5 billion a year in federal funds for medical research — nearly half of which typically goes toward cancer. (Chen, 3/24)
