Going, going, gonorrhea

Just one day after The Lancet published data on a new antibiotic to treat gonorrhea, the drug received FDA approval. It was the second drug to be approved last week as treatment for the country's second most common STI — a remarkable feat as the virus has evolved for decades to evade nearly every other antibiotic that's been used to treat it.

STAT's Helen Branswell has the latest on the approval, what it means, and how a public-private partnership got us here. Read more.

health tech

New data on how hospitals implement generative AI

In 2024, about a third of U.S. hospitals were early adopters of generative AI, and about a quarter planned to do so in a year, according to a study published Friday in JAMA Network Open. That's based on responses to questions about IT in the 2024 American Hospital Association annual survey. Out of more than 2,100 hospitals that provided information on AI use, about 42% were identified as "delayed adopters," meaning they either had plans to use the technology in five years, had no plans, or didn't know.

Hospitals that used Epic were more likely than those on other electronic health records like Oracle to be using generative AI or to have plans for the next year. (Fifty-two percent of Epic users were early adopters, while 62% of Oracle and 52% of Meditech users were delayed adopters.) An accompanying commentary notes how "a handful of EHR developers have substantial ability to influence competition among health AI firms."

STAT's Katie Palmer said the study "looks like the best source of truth I've seen on just how widely adopted generative AI tools are and where." For a more detailed breakdown of the findings, make sure to subscribe for our health tech newsletter before tomorrow morning's issue drops. Reporter Mario Aguilar will have more.

more health tech

How mammograms could transform to predict the future

More on AI: When it comes to folding AI tools into mammograms, AI firms believe there's even more knowledge to be gleaned from the breast than whether or not it's currently being invaded by cancerous cells. Researchers and companies believe that AI tools can be used predictively, both for breast cancer and cardiovascular disease.

We may already be on our way there: In May, the FDA gave its first de novo authorization to an algorithm that uses breast imaging to predict a patient's risk of getting breast cancer in the next five years. "We've now opened up a new domain where AI is doing things that the human cannot do," said Connie Lehman, who co-founded the company behind the tool. Read more from Katie on what advancements the field is working toward and how they might get there.

biotech

After a child's shocking death, what's next for gene therapy?

Maria Fabrizio for STAT

Since 2020, more than $800 million has been invested into companies working on gene therapy treatments for at least a dozen different brain disorders. But money can't solve every problem, and at least a dozen patients have died in relation to the treatments. This summer, a young child was the first person to receive a new experimental gene therapy, engineered to overcome previous safety and efficacy challenges. Just days later, the child died.

"This is an outlier that, to me, is the most material event that I've seen in the field of genetic medicine for 10 years, where there was no suggestion that this was going to happen," said Jim Wilson, a pioneer in the field. "And this is scary, I'm sure, for all those involved."

Read more from STAT's Jason Mast about how the death has sent concern and uncertainty rippling through labs and companies developing gene therapies, and what changes advocates and academics are calling for to prevent — or at least better protect against — future tragedies.

one big number

£13 million

That's how much it costs the U.K.'s National Health Service each year to treat women with sudden heavy menstrual bleeding. (Most people think of heavy flows as a chronic issue, but it's possible to experience in an acute episode, where a blood transfusion may be needed.) This cost estimate comes from a study published last week in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women's Health, which assessed data on more than 1,000 women who were admitted to the hospital with acute cases of heavy menstrual bleeding in the first half of 2024.

The findings signal an "urgent need" for better clinical strategies and early interventions to manage heavy menstrual bleeding, especially in these cases of sudden, strong onset, the authors write.

quote of the day

'The ventilator wasn't keeping Michael alive. It was keeping the rest of us from having to say goodbye.'

That's from a First Opinion essay published today by palliative medicine physician Raya Elfadel Kheirbek. In the piece, she recounts an experience being called in to help a family understand that even though their loved one didn't look dead, a fatal injury in his brain meant that he wouldn't ever come back.

"The science of medicine told us Michael was gone," Kheirbek writes. "But the art of medicine, and the work of palliative care, meant holding space for his family's grief, hope, and faith." Read more.

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