Telehealth startups share patients' sensitive information with tech giants

(MOLLY FERGUSON FOR STAT)

"Oh, no," I said under my breath when I read this headline: “‘Out of control’: Dozens of telehealth startups send sensitive health information to big tech companies.” Imagine logging on to a telehealth company's website and filling out a simple intake form to find your way to treatment for opioid use disorder: Are you in danger of harming yourself or others? If not, what’s your current opioid and alcohol use? How much methadone do you use?

Patients can book a video visit with a provider licensed to prescribe suboxone and other drugs. But patients probably don’t know their delicate, even intimate, details about drug use and self-harm are sent to Facebook. A joint investigation by STAT’s Katie Palmer and The Markup’s Todd Feathers and Simon Fondrie-Teitler looking into 50 direct-to-consumer telehealth companies found this practice is common. Read how they did it, and how startups and tech giants responded.

WHO's Mike Ryan on why health security investments make sense, not just for Ebola

As soon as today, the first doses of Ebola Sudan vaccine will go into arms in a clinical trial. That’s much faster than a similar effort to test vaccines against Ebola Zaire eight years ago. That took more than five months, compared to about 80 days for the Ebola Sudan version. That’s still not fast enough. The outbreak in Uganda appears to be ending, making it impossible to test a vaccine against it.

Had these experimental vaccines been available to push into the field earlier, in ready-to-use vials, that outcome could well have been different. “What we should be doing is have ready-to-go trial platforms in a set of countries with products ready to go,” Mike Ryan, who heads the WHO’s health emergencies program, told STAT’s Helen Branswell. But that takes money. Read more on why Ryan says health security investments make sense.

How Covid vaccination continues to work

As uptake of the bivalent Covid booster remains low among Americans of all ages, it’s time for a what-might-have-been analysis from the Commonwealth Fund. Two years after the first Covid vaccine was administered, 80% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose. That coverage has prevented 18.5 million additional hospitalizations and 3.2 million additional deaths in the U.S., while saving more than $1 trillion in medical costs, researchers modeled in a report out today.

Without vaccination, the model says, there would have been almost 120 million additional Covid-19 infections. That's 1.5 times more infections, 3.8 times more hospitalizations, and 4.1 times more deaths. Lower hospitalization rates, thanks to fewer and less severe infections, have helped hospitals stressed by other infections. STAT’s Brittany Trang has more.

Closer look: The making of a 'CRISPR babies' documentary

(Courtesy Alexey_ds/Getty Images)

Back in 2017, geneticist Samira Kiani and filmmaker Cody Sheehy started talking about making a documentary about the fast-moving world of gene editing. Come 2018, their movie became a ride-along on the most explosive science story of the 21st century: the CRISPR babies scandal. Out today, “Make People Better” casts doubt on the narrative that casts Chinese scientist He Jiankui as a “rogue” actor for experiments leading to the first humans with intentionally manipulated genomes. Instead, it focuses on forces that shaped He’s ambitions.

He “was getting advice from American scientists, but was interpreting them in light of his own social, cultural background,” Kiani told STAT’s Megan Molteni. “So we have to do better as a scientific community to acknowledge these different realities. But I was really surprised and distressed, honestly, that he was scapegoated and put in prison without the opportunity to explain himself.” Read Megan’s joint interview with Kiania and Sheehy here.

England will sequence the genomes of 100,000 newborns in a pilot study

It’s not universal, but it’s a step in that direction. England will sequence the genomes of up to 100,000 newborns in a pilot program meant to accelerate the detection and potential treatment of genetic diseases. The Newborn Genomes Programme, announced yesterday and recruiting late next year, will focus on mutations highly likely to cause a childhood-onset disease. Researchers are still wading through ethical questions and trying to establish best practices before sequencing the DNA of more babies. For example: Many genetic variants raise the likelihood of disease but don’t actually cause the conditions, or are mutations that researchers don’t fully understand.

Sequencing of newborns has proven its worth when there’s suspicion of a genetic disease, but experts are still trying to figure out whether there’s value for much more widespread — even universal — sequencing for apparently healthy babies. STAT’s Andrew Joseph has more from London.

Calm before the storms: Mobile devices to quiet kids could delay emotional control later

Anyone who’s had a kid gets it: Sometimes you’d give anything for a little peace, so if a smartphone or tablet can defuse a tantrum and deliver a moment of quiet, you go for it, even if you don’t feel like parent of the year. Well, here’s a study confirming the inner voice that makes you pause before handing over the digital device. The researchers warn in JAMA Pediatrics that frequently using such devices to calm young children could lead to later difficulties learning how to regulate their emotions on their own.

In the pre-pandemic study of 422 parents and their children ages 3-5, parents were asked on three occasions over nine months to assess their children’s device use and behavior. At the study’s end, more device use was associated with less emotional regulation, particularly in boys or children described as “high energy,” even at bedtime.

What to read around the web today

A Brooklyn hospital network battles a cyberattack, New York Times
Long division: The persistence of race science, Undark
Amgen’s $27.8 billion Horizon merger is latest industry bet on pricey rare disease drugs, STAT
Cause of death: Washington faltered as fentanyl gripped America, Washington Post
Cambodia halts exports of non-human primates, threatening drug discovery efforts, STAT