Why did a tiny Florida company get more of a scarce Covid therapy than some big hospitals?

The surprise shipments arrived on Dec. 24 at the iCare Mobile Medicine clinic near Miami: six boxes of Evusheld, the precious cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies that may provide some six months of protection against Covid-19 for people too immunocompromised to mount a strong response to a vaccine. The tiny private company got more of the federal supply of this scarce therapy than some of Florida’s major hospitals — enough for 264 courses, the most sent to any of the state’s providers in its first shipment. There isn’t nearly enough for everyone who’s eligible for the therapy. Patients have been clamoring for it. Big hospitals have been rationing it. In this exclusive story, STAT’s Eric Boodman explores why iCare, launched in the pandemic to make urgent-care house calls and sometimes act like “medical bouncers” at celebrity parties, got the scarce medication.

Vaccine mandates have their day in court and clues to kids’ Covid emerge

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared skeptical on Friday of the Biden administration’s authority to impose a vaccine-or-testing requirement on the nation’s large employers, while the high court seemed more open to a separate vaccine mandate for most health care workers, the Associated Press reports. Meanwhile:

Covid hospitalizations of U.S. children under 5 — too young for vaccination — have soared to their highest level since the pandemic began. That includes kids hospitalized for Covid and those found to be infected when admitted for other reasons.
Back when Delta was the dominant coronavirus variant, a study in 24 pediatric hospitals found that two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine protected 12- to 18-year-old patients very well against MIS-C, the rare but severe inflammatory condition following some Covid infections.
The connection between diabetes and Covid grew stronger in a study of children under age 18. Having diabetes increases risk for more severe Covid illness and some adults develop diabetes after being infected. New research says children and teens were more likely than their counterparts without Covid who had acute respiratory infections to be newly diagnosed with diabetes a month after having Covid.

For digital diabetes care, is more data always better?

Digital behavioral health programs are making a bold pitch to payers, employers, and patients themselves: Shell out upfront for our virtual coaching and remote monitoring, and we’ll save you money by avoiding costly complications from diabetes and other diseases in the long run. For diabetes, which tops the list of chronic health conditions by cost, many virtual programs are selling continuous glucose monitoring as part of that promise. The devices, which stream users’ blood glucose data throughout the day, are most commonly used by people who need multiple daily doses of insulin to manage their diabetes, but virtual care companies say they’re not just for people who inject insulin — even though they don’t have the data to back that strategy up just yet. STAT’s Katie Palmer explores what companies and researchers are doing in today’s story and in a deeper STAT Report.

Inside STAT: How unicorns, singing dogs, and a compassionate fox spread safety messages

There is a corner of the internet where a bulldog sings country ballads about lawn mower safety and an earnest fox provides comforting advice about the Covid-19 pandemic. You’ll find them on the social media channels of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a small federal agency tasked with reducing injuries and deaths related to consumer products ranging from toasters to ATVs to furniture. The agency has built a reputation for colorful and bizarre social media posts more characteristic of a meme account than a public health messenger. STAT’s Hyacinth Empinado and Alissa Ambrose have noticed. In their video, they ask Joseph Galbo, a CPSC social media specialist, to give us all a peek behind the scenes of the agency’s unusual approach. Watch here.

An experimental blood test could predict who could benefit from lung cancer screening

Back in March, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force broadened its recommendations on who should be screened for lung cancer, lowering the age and amount of cigarettes smoked in a move that expands testing to hundreds of thousands more smokers. Those guidelines still miss some cases, so researchers have long been inspired to find a better way to see who’s at high enough risk to benefit from CT screening. In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, scientists explain how combining a four-biomarker blood test with a smoker’s risk profile proved better than those USPSTF parameters at finding people who did or didn’t need screening. Such a test would need to be evaluated in clinical trials, but the researchers believe if it works, it could benefit millions around the world.

What the physician exodus means to one medical student

Here’s how Tricia Pendergrast describes being in medical school during the coronavirus pandemic: “It feels like I’m starting a job at a new building, except the building is on fire and everyone is rushing outside as they try to save their own lives,” the third-year Northwestern medical student writes in a STAT First Opinion. "It is an appropriate comparison, as nearly 1 in 5 health care workers has left medicine since the pandemic began." She reminds us that physicians were expected to work on the frontlines without adequate personal protective equipment. So she and other medical students worked to get PPE to the providers who needed them. But it’s the clinician exodus that sends a clear message to trainees: “It isn’t safe here.” Read more.

What to read around the web today

A looming decision on Medicare coverage for Biogen's Alzheimer's drug could shock state Medicaid programs. STAT+
Omicron could have a silver lining by boosting immunity, some experts say. But don’t bet on it. Washington Post
A preview of the burning biotech and health tech questions at JPM 2022. STAT+
Omicron isn’t mild for the health-care system. The Atlantic
Texas’ abortion law could stay in effect for months, appeals court suggests. The 19th