How — and why — the language of addiction is evolving

(hyacinth empinado/STAT)

Words matter. Even as drugs and alcohol claim 200,000 lives each year, many who seek addiction treatment are greeted by the harsh, stigmatizing labels that many Americans don’t think twice about: words like addict, alcoholic, junkie, abuser, or worse. New research shows that word choices can affect the care people with substance use disorders — the preferred term — receive: Health workers who instead say “substance abuser” or “addict” are more likely to exhibit bias against patients struggling with addiction.

“This isn’t about being politically correct, it’s not about being nice or polite,” said Michael Botticelli, the former director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy who authored a 2017 memo directing federal agencies to use more neutral language when referring to people with addiction. “Our language really colors how we think about people, and colors policy.” STAT’s Lev Facher has more.

A MacArthur 'genius' on drug patents

(macarthur foundation)

Priti Krishtel (above), co-executive director of the nonprofit patent reform group I-MAK and a 2022 MacArthur fellow, has spent the past two decades fighting for equitable access to drugs. She allows that recent U.S. drug-pricing legislation is a win, but calls it just a start. Her sights are set on patents that keep prices so high in the first place. Here's what she told STAT’s Ambar Castillo:

How does the patenting system affect health care?
We have identified one of the root causes for why drug costs are so high. As companies face loss of exclusivity, they’re trying to figure out, "How do I block my competition for longer so I can make more money for my shareholders?" We’re in a situation today where we do not have a competitive market for pharmaceuticals.

Who's most affected by this?
Anybody who needs medication.

Read the full interview here.

Disparities in research publications begin in medical school

STAT’s Usha Lee McFarling brings this item: Women and students from groups underrepresented in medicine had fewer research publications during medical school than white and Asian men, according to a new JAMA Network Open study of more than 30,000 medical students.

On average, women had 10% fewer studies, Black students had 15% less, and Hispanic students had 7% less. The issue was worse for women from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine; these students had 20% fewer publications than white men. Asian women also had fewer publications than Asian men.

The differences may be caused by a lack of mentorship, negative stereotypes mentors may hold about some students, and a devaluing of research ideas coming from women and people underrepresented in medicine, said the authors, led by Mytien Nguyen of Yale School of Medicine. The study examined students who matriculated in 2014 and 2015. The findings, the authors wrote, “illustrate that inequities in the physician-scientist workforce began early in training.”

Closer look: Biotech's newest odd couple launches a health care VC

(Time BioVentures)

Let’s start with the rom-com scene before we get to the (other) boldface names. D.A. Wallach met Tim Wright in 2018 at a beachside restaurant in Del Mar, Calif., where they dissected the health care industry over seafood dinners, and then walked on the beach. “It was very romantic,” Wallach said of the first meeting with his business partner. Wallach, you may know, landed a job at Spotify after catching the eye of Pharrell Williams. He had a cameo in his friend Damien Chazelle’s 2016 film “La La Land” as an ’80s cover band singer. And there’s a connection to Diddy and to Sean Parker, who has also invested in biomedical research.

And Wright? He’s a “father figure of drug discovery,” Matt Tremblay, chief operating officer at Calibr and Scripps Research, says. Together the odd couple have begun investing in companies like Neuralink (Elon Musk is a personal friend of Wallach’s). STAT’s Allison DeAngelis has more on the tale.

The toll of fossil fuels on our health

Our health is at the mercy of our dependence on fossil fuels, a new analysis says, outlining how climate change exacerbates multiple health crises. The 2022 Report of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change points a finger at countries that subsidize companies producing fossil fuels, warning it could take 150 years to remove carbon from the energy system at the rate we're going. Current damage includes:

Food insecurity: Rising temperatures and extreme weather events threaten crop yields by shortening growing seasons.
Impacts on disease: Extreme heat worsens cardiovascular and respiratory disease; causes heat stroke, adverse pregnancy outcomes, worse sleep, poor mental health, and increased injury-related death; and limits people’s capacity to work and exercise. (STAT’s Isabella Cueto wrote about heat and chronic conditions.)
Infectious disease transmission: Climate change means diseases spread for much longer each year, up as much as 32% for malaria and 12% for dengue.

Americans are split over scientists' role in policy

Yesterday STAT’s Sarah Owermohle told us Republican campaigns for the midterm elections are ramping up their anti-science, anti-Covid, often anti-Fauci messaging. Now a new Pew Research Center report says Americans are about evenly divided on whether scientists should play an active role in policy debates, with Republicans more skeptical than Democrats. Details from the mid-September survey:

48% of respondents — down 12 percentage points since May 2020 — said scientists should actively take part in policy debates about scientific issues while 51% say scientists should instead stick to establishing sound scientific facts.
Americans’ confidence in scientists has changed little since last year — 3 in 10 have high confidence, three-quarters have a fair amount — staying below a high point early in the pandemic.
14% think the U.S. is gaining ground on other nations in its scientific achievements. More (47%) say it’s holding steady but a good chunk (38%) think the U.S. is losing ground.

On this week's episode of the "First Opinion Podcast," First Opinion editor Patrick Skerrett talks with Terry Wilcox, co-founder and CEO of Patients Rising, about Medicare cuts to home health care. Listen here.

What we're reading

Sleep apnea device recall drags on, stoking anger from users, Associated Press
Health-insurance inflation is poised to drop sharply, Wall Street Journal
Merck fined $39 million by Spain’s antitrust regulator for ‘serious’ violation, STAT
With promise of legalization, psychedelic companies joust over future profits, New York Times
Pacific Biosciences, known for niche DNA sequencing, looks to rival Illumina with new product launch, STAT