Closer Look
Texas wants to wean trans youth off hormones in a 'safe' way. Not possible, doctors say
Eric Gay/AP
Bans on gender-affirming health care for young people under age 18 are rolling out across the country, despite medical evidence and major medical groups backing the treatments. The 19 states that outlaw such care for minors direct clinicians to stop prescribing hormones or puberty blockers, and a proposed Texas ban tells young patients to "wean off the prescription drug over a period of time and in a manner that is safe and medically appropriate and that minimizes the risk of complications."
But that's not possible, experts told STAT's Theresa Gaffney. "There's no appropriate way to do that because it's medically necessary treatment," said Alex Keuroghlian of Harvard Medical School. There is evidence showing trans youth are already much more likely to consider suicide than their cisgender peers. Gradually reducing the hormones that young people take may delay these crises, he said, but won't address the impact of denying them care. Read more.
research
U.K. launches plan to reinvigorate clinical trials
The U.K. has long had a sterling reputation for research, bolstered by studies run during the Covid-19 pandemic that helped the world learn which treatments might work. But judging by sheer numbers, the biomedical enterprise is slipping: According to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, Phase 3 industry clinical trials in the U.K. fell by 48% from 2017 to 2021. The pharma trade group says studies have been so slow to launch that companies look to other countries for faster trials.
Yesterday the U.K. government presented an $800 million package to bolster the life sciences, including $190 million for the genomics powerhouse known as the U.K. Biobank to build a new research facility. Other funding will support mental health clinical research, pharmaceutical manufacturing technology and workforce development — and a plan to grow and streamline industry clinical trials. STAT's Andrew Joseph has more.
opinion
In the U.S., there may be a better way to diversify clinical trials
Speaking of clinical trials, an author of a report on underrepresentation in clinical research from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine writes in a STAT First Opinion that safety-net clinics might hold the key to more diversity. About 30 million Americans, 59% of whom belong to racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in research, receive care in Federally Qualified Health Centers, whose patients are low-income and at high risk for chronic diseases.
Including these people in research would improve geographic diversity, too, by moving trials out of academic medical centers in cities to safety-net clinics, half of which are outside metropolitan areas. "At a time when trust in public health may be at an all-time low, institutions and health providers need to make concerted efforts to run research trials that more closely resemble the demographics of the U.S.," health care researchers Gloria Coronado and Leslie Bienen write. Read more about the remedy they suggest.
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