Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Judge Tosses Lawsuits Against Harvard After Body Parts Theft From Morgue
A Suffolk Superior Court judge on Monday dismissed all the lawsuits against Harvard Medical School over the theft of body parts from its morgue, saying that the allegations from donors鈥 families 鈥渄o not plausibly suggest鈥 that Harvard failed to act in good faith and do not show Harvard was responsible for its morgue manager鈥檚 conduct. (Freyer, 2/12)
麻豆女优 Health News: 鈥楤ehind The Times鈥: Washington Tries To Catch Up With AI鈥檚 Use In Health Care聽
Lawmakers and regulators in Washington are starting to puzzle over how to regulate artificial intelligence in health care 鈥 and the AI industry thinks there鈥檚 a good chance they鈥檒l mess it up. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an incredibly daunting problem,鈥 said Bob Wachter, the chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California-San Francisco. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a risk we come in with guns blazing and overregulate.鈥 (Tahir, 2/13)
In pharmaceutical news 鈥
Gilead Sciences said Monday it will acquire CymaBay Therapeutics for $4.3 billion, adding a new treatment for a liver disease that is on track for approval later this year. (Feuerstein, 2/12)
All Jennifer Howell wanted was to find medication for her son. Instead, she was caught in a maze of desperate phone calls to pharmacies and physicians. Her son, Linus, had been diagnosed with ADHD in 2021 during the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of his behavioral traits 鈥 restlessness, impulsivity, difficulty focusing 鈥 suddenly made sense. When he was first prescribed medication, its effects were instantaneous. (Armanini, 2/12)
Super Bowl ads are a show within the show, an opportunity for brands and advertising creatives to put their work in front of more than 100 million viewers. And while the occasion is most closely associated with ads for beer, cars, and soft drinks, pharma giant Pfizer dished out millions of dollars for its own message: 鈥淗ere鈥檚 to science.鈥 (Merelli, 2/12)
The vow is 鈥渢il death do us part.鈥 But for former Dutch prime minister Dries van Agt and his wife, Eugenie, the aim was to leave this life the same way they had spent the past seven decades 鈥 together. The couple, both 93, died 鈥渉and in hand鈥 earlier this month, according to a statement from the Rights Forum, a pro-Palestinian organization that Dries van Agt created. They chose to die by what is known as 鈥渄uo euthanasia鈥 鈥 a growing trend in the Netherlands, where a small number of couples have been granted their wish to die in unison in recent years, usually by a lethal dose of a drug. (Cho, 2/13)