October 24, 2024

The need-to-know this morning

Intellia Therapeutics reported results from a mid-stage clinical trial involving a CRISPR treatment for hereditary angioedema.

glp-1 drugs

Ozempic linked with lower Alzheimer's diagnosis rate

The Novo Nordisk GLP-1 blockbuster Ozempic has been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer's diagnoses among people with type 2 diabetes, according to a new analysis of medical records. Specifically, semaglutide use was linked to a 40% to 70% lower risk of an Alzheimer's diagnosis over three years compared to other diabetes treatments like insulin, metformin, SGLT2 inhibitors, and older GLP-1 drugs, STAT's Elaine Chen writes.

The study, which was published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia, is only observational and doesn't necessarily account for potential confounding variables. But one pharmacology researcher not involved in the research said "it's a very provocative study showing some potentially large benefits."

politics

Kamala Harris's plans for health care, drug pricing

If Vice President Harris wins the election, she intends to build on Democratic health care reforms. One priority would be reducing drug prices: She wants to cap insulin costs for people outside of the Medicare program, expand Medicare's drug price negotiation, and limit pharmacy drug costs to $2,000 per year — including for people with private insurance.

She also has proposed penalizing pharmaceutical companies for hiking prices faster than inflation, STAT's Rachel Cohrs Zhang writes. Beyond drug costs, Harris has goals to expand the Affordable Care Act, but many reforms — including codifying reproductive rights — will require congressional and state-level cooperation, which would be a real challenge.

venture capital

Head of Flagship's U.K. outpost sees opportunity

The venture firm Flagship Pioneering opened a London outpost last year, meant to tap into the talent pool there and connect it with Boston's. It is being led by Junaid Bajwa, who worked at Merck and at Microsoft Research, where he focused on artificial intelligence in medicine. He's a physician, too, and still tries to pick up shifts at a primary care practice once a week.

In a new interview, Bajwa told STAT's Andrew Joseph he wants to accelerate U.K.-based innovation, conduct more clinical trials, and, eventually, launch more companies there. He said the U.K. excels in basic science, but there's less of an industry focus and there's opportunity to grow.

Regulation

Elon Musk bungles criticism of U.S. drug regulators

It will come as no surprise that billionaire Elon Musk has a lot to say about government regulation — of rockets, electric cars, and satellites. But recently he turned his ire toward the FDA.

Musk recounted how the mother of a friend took a drug called Welireg in a clinical trial and it cured her brain cancer. He went on to bemoan the slow pace of FDA drug approvals.

As STAT's Adam Feuerstein points out, Welireg, a Merck drug, is not stuck in a regulatory morass of FDA's making. It was, in fact, approved three years ago to treat a rare genetic disorder and has since bene approved to treat advanced kidney cancer.

public health

CDC advisory panel shifts on pneumococcal shots

From STAT's Helen Branswell: An expert panel that advises the CDC on vaccination policy has recommended a change to when adults should get vaccinated against pneumococcal disease. The Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices voted 14 to 1 yesterday to lower the age for this shot to 50, from the current 65. The recommendation, which must be approved by CDC Director Mandy Cohen, reflects the fact that the risk of serious illness from pneumococcal disease rises from age 50 onward among Black adults.

The committee has struggled with this decision, in part because of the concern that moving forward the age at which older adults get this shot could leave them more vulnerable later in life, when the protection of the vaccine wanes. ACIP member Jamie Loehr, who chairs the ACIP's pneumococcal vaccine work group, told his colleagues the policy will likely need to be updated in future, to add a booster dose for people who get the shot in their 50s.

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