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This is the last issue of the newsletter to be edited by the wonderful Sarah Todd, who’s been behind some of your favorite headline puns in this newsletter for over a year. She’s moving into a reporter role here at STAT, covering the commercial determinants of health. It’s been a real pleasure working with her, but I’m excited to read her stories and to team up with editor Karen Pennar going forward!
Is herpes the missing link between concussions and Alzheimer’s?
It’s long been understood that traumatic brain injury — especially when severe or repeated — increases a person’s risk of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. But why? Researchers published evidence for a new theory yesterday, based on experiments with brain tissue models made with neural stem cells (also known as “organoids,” like the one seen above).
As with real human brains, some of these models carried DNA of dormant herpes virus. Researchers jolted the models to simulate a concussion and found that the virus was reactivated. The same models then began showing classic markers of Alzheimer’s. “It’s super exciting work” that has “a whole bunch of implications,” one outside expert told STAT’s Megan Molteni. Read more from Megan on the science and what it means.
How antidepressants and other drugs impact breast milk
JAMA Network Open published two interesting studies yesterday focused on the health of pregnant people.
One study is what the authors believe to be the first to look at associations between long-term medication use by pregnant people and the macronutrients found in their breast milk. Among 384 total milk samples, protein and fat levels were lower in milk from mothers who took SSRIs and anti-inflammatory drugs compared to those who didn’t.
The implications of any macronutrient changes in breast milk on the health of the baby are still unclear, the researchers noted. For example, healthy infants could likely compensate for lower protein and fat levels by feeding more. The researchers also said that since macronutrient levels in breast milk were still within the normal range for all groups, the results shouldn’t affect breastfeeding recommendations.
The second study found that pregnant people on Medicaid who have opioid use disorder experience serious or life-threatening complications more than twice as much as previous studies have estimated. Among more than 96,000 people with OUD who gave birth between 2016 and 2018, the rate of severe maternal morbidity was about 325 per 10,000 live births. Rates of these complications increased for those who were on Medicaid for shorter periods of time.
Part of why the study found higher rates of morbidity than others could be that its data included both inpatient and outpatient care, the authors wrote.
The results from both papers emphasize the importance of including pregnant people in research initiatives. And, as always, more research is needed.
FDA commissioner Califf on Trump, food, and Humpty Dumpty
Photo illustration/STAT, Drew Angerer/Getty Images
What does departing FDA commissioner Robert Califf’s think about the future of the agency? “I have a lot of reason to be concerned,” Califf told STAT’s Matt Herper.
With less than two weeks until President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House, we’re entering what could be a volatile period for the FDA. Before the election, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick for HHS secretary, warned the agency’s employees on social media to preserve “their records.”
Califf said he actually agreed with this directive. “If Humpty, Dumpty has a great fall, someone’s going to have to put Humpty, Dumpty back together again.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Califf also defended the FDA’s record under his leadership, praised the agency’s progress in how it regulates food, and worried about the impact of the coming administration. Read more from Matt.
East Asian Americans are shut out of top biotech positions
Despite working in high numbers in the biotech biopharmaceutical industry, East Asian Americans are absent from the top leadership positions in the field’s largest companies, according to a report released today. Among publicly traded therapeutics companies with market capitalizations of over $500 million, East Asians hold 7% of C-suite roles among all companies. But among the industry’s largest companies, they hold just 2.5% of C-suite roles and 1.2% of board seats.
The report echoes some great recent reporting about Asian Americans in science from STAT’s Usha Lee McFarling — including how people in this demographic receive major research awards at lower rates and are less likely to hold leadership positions in academic medicine. (Thanks to Usha, also, for sharing this report’s findings with me.)
The findings are good to keep in mind as we careen toward the craziest week of the year for the biotech industry: the J.P. Morgan Health Care Conference. If you know, you know. And if you don’t, STAT’s Adam Feuerstein and Allison DeAngelis have the story on the stakes of this year’s conference with a major patent cliff coming between now and 2033.
Most cancers actually don’t have a screening test
While there’s been some debate over how much preventative screening might be too much, it’s clear that tests like Pap smears, mammograms, and colonoscopies have prevented countless cancer deaths. That’s in part because the Affordable Care Act mandates that insurers offer these lifesaving tests for free, as long as the tests achieve an “A or B rating” from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
In reality, only tests for “the Big Four” of cervical, breast, colorectal, and lung cancer are covered, because no other test has shown the kind of performance that would merit those high ratings. In a new First Opinion essay, biotech CEO Dawn Mattoon argues that the absence of a stronger insurance mandate has made companies reluctant to invest the money and work needed to create innovative, lifesaving tests. Read more from Mattoon on what needs to change.
What we’re reading
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They were going to be doctors. Instead, they had to dodge bombs and flee war, NPR
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Biden administration bars medical debt from credit scores, KFF Health News
- Generic GLP-1 drugs could help Medicare drive a harder bargain for Ozempic and Wegovy, STAT
- Drug company to share revenues with indigenous people who donated their genes, New York Times
- How one foundation changed its approach to diversify grant recipient institutions, STAT