Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Survey: Shortages Of Meds, Equipment Now At Levels To Harm Patients
Ongoing national medication, medical supply and medical equipment shortages are harming patients, a new survey reveals. The survey was issued by the nonprofit patient safety organization ECRI and its affiliate, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), and reached nearly 200 people in July. Respondents included pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, procurement specialists and clinicians across a variety of healthcare settings. (Gliadkovskaya, 10/23)
In other pharmaceutical developments —
Verve Therapeutics said Monday that it had received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to conduct a clinical trial in the U.S. of its experimental, gene-editing treatment for a common form of heart disease. The FDA’s action removes a clinical hold on Verve’s CRISPR-based therapy, called VERVE-101, that was placed on it last November. Verve now intends to recruit participants from U.S. sites into a Phase 1 study that’s been underway since last year in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. (Feuerstein, 10/23)
Results presented Monday could expand the use of a Novartis therapy for metastatic prostate cancer, moving it from a treatment used after chemotherapy to one with demonstrated benefits beforehand as well. (Joseph, 10/23)
A competition has been brewing between two pharma titans — Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca — to gain an edge in the market for targeted lung cancer treatments. A primetime presentation here Monday amounted to the latest salvo. (Joseph, 10/23)
Questions about one of AstraZeneca’s key cancer drug candidates — and the dribs and drabs that have come out about its performance — have been dogging the company for months. (Joseph, 10/23)
Also —
Several people were taken to hospital in Austria after using suspected counterfeits of the diabetes drug Ozempic, according to the federal health safety office. The patients were reported to have suffered hypoglycaemia and seizures, serious side effects that indicate the product contained insulin instead of Ozempic's active ingredient, semaglutide, the BASG said in a warning issued on Monday. (10/24)
