The CRISPR Trackr gets a reboot

It's back. STAT’s CRISPR Trackr was the brainchild of STAT senior science writer Sharon Begley, who curated the flood of research in which scientists used the gene-editing technology to understand, treat, or even cure disease in mice, cells, or human embryos. Sharon kept tabs on the field until her death in January 2021. The Trackr then was dormant while CRISPR scientists, like the rest of the world, faced pandemic disruptions to their work or diverted their attention to Covid-19. Now the CRISPR Trackr is back, rebooted with some cool new features (search and filter, for two). Not intended to be a comprehensive database of all CRISPR research, it collects methods, milestones, and discoveries that we at STAT believe represent a key advance in either genome editing or its application toward treating human disease. STAT+ subscribers, check out the new Trackr, engineered by STAT’s J. Emory Parker and curated by Megan Molteni, and let us know what you think.

For perspective, in the 10 years leading up to 2012, when Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier published their Nobel-winning work, 200 papers mentioned CRISPR. In 2020 alone, there were more than 6,000. Currently, there are more than two dozen human trials of the technology underway around the world. Megan has more.

Cost of cystic fibrosis therapy means only 1 in 8 can afford it, study finds

The average life expectancy for someone with cystic fibrosis, an inherited disorder that severely damages the lungs, has grown from 38 to 46 years in the past decade, thanks to better treatments such as Trikafta, effective for roughly 90% of patients. But the cost of the therapy, made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, is out of reach for all but 12% of the 162,000 people estimated to be living with the disease. That means life expectancy can be half as long in low- and middle-income countries compared to the U.S., the U.K., France, and Canada. “Does the company see this as a success if only one in eight people around the world are being treated?” Andrew Hill, a co-author of a study in the Journal of Cystic Fibrosis, asked STAT’s Ed Silverman. Read more in STAT+.

Eric Lander’s fall may spell the end of science’s ‘big ego’ era

The resignation of Eric Lander as President Biden’s lead scientific adviser is not just a blow to one president’s plans for advancing research, STAT’s Matthew Herper writes in a new commentary, but a signpost on the death march of a certain way of doing science. “It’s not quite ‘big science,’ which isn’t going anywhere,” Matt writes. “Call it ‘big ego.’” Big egos aren’t new, but they fit certain types of scientific discoveries, like mapping genomes or understanding how molecular changes in a cell lead to cancer. Lander excelled at both the gloves-off debate that can mark academic discourse and marshaling vast resources to make certain types of scientific discoveries. More recently, “perhaps his efforts at creating a new Cancer Moonshot and ARPA-H … led old bad habits to metastasize. Perhaps he could always be a jerk.”

Closer look: Insurers wade into privacy debate

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For years, the country's most powerful insurance lobbying group has stayed on the sidelines in the fierce debate over how to protect consumers from unscrupulous selling or sharing of their data. Now, as federal data sharing rules come into play, America’s Health Insurance Plans will finally wade in. The group, whose members include heavyweights Anthem and Humana, is calling on Congress to expand its privacy oversight to ensure that apps and health services like medication and fitness trackers are held to the same rigorous privacy standards as insurers — especially when a growing number of patients are opting to share their claims information with those apps. “They're starting to engage in the national privacy debate, which, up until now, [was led by] tech companies and people who aren't regulated by other laws,” WilmerHale privacy lawyer Kirk Nahra told STAT’s Mohana Ravindranath. Read more in STAT+.

Ebola's persistence defies antibody treatment, study in animals concludes

The Ebola virus is extremely deadly, killing more than 11,000 people in the 2013-2016 outbreak in Africa that galvanized the world’s attention. The disease hasn’t gone away, and in 2021 its staying power has turned up in Guinea, where it re-emerged in someone who survived a major outbreak at least five years ago. Over the years scientists have learned that the virus can hide in the eyes, the testes, and in the brain, but it was unclear if standard antibody treatment made a difference. New research in 36 monkeys shows that the virus persisted in the brains of seven monkeys, even after they received monoclonal antibodies. That persistence can harm the brain, and it led to relapse and death in two of the animals. In the Science Translational Medicine article, the authors suggest combining antibody treatments with antivirals.

Access to acute stroke care is getting better

Ten years ago, 20% of Americans couldn’t get to a hospital in time to treat their strokes with the best clot-busting medication. Since then, acute stroke care has improved in two ways: There are more stroke centers and there are more telestroke services. A new research letter in JAMA Network Open says 91% of the U.S. population lives within 60 minutes of an emergency department in a stroke center, 90% live that far away from a telestroke center, which translates into 96% of the population having access within 60 minutes to an emergency department with any acute stroke capabilities, either as a stroke center or having telestroke services that allow clinicians to quickly tap the necessary expertise to treat stroke. That access varied by region, from 91% in the Mountain West to 99% in the Mid-Atlantic.

What to read around the web today

Covid-19 takes serious toll on heart health—a full year after recovery. Science
Thirty Madison and Nurx to merge, as digital pharmacy companies outgrow their origins. STAT+
Program to cut student debt for health care providers sticks some with even more. Wall Street Journal
South Africa's antitrust regulator wants Roche penalized for 'excessive' cancer drug pricing. STAT+
Beijing diary: Testing positive at the no-Covid Olympics. Associated Press