The first of a new wave of cancer-detection blood tests likely saved Gilbert Milam Jr.'s life. But many cancer researchers, wary of overtesting, argue it's premature to prescribe the Galleri test widely. (Mark Kreidler, )
Pop Star Donates To California Food Bank: Before Taylor Swift took the stage at Levi's Stadium on Friday night for the first of two sold-out shows this weekend, the pop singer made a donation to Second Harvest of Silicon Valley. A spokesperson for Second Harvest wouldn't say how much Swift donated, but during her recent stop in Denver, the Food Bank of the Rockies said the donation was enough for 75,000 meals. Read more from the Bay Area News Group.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline's coverage. For today's national health news, read KFF Health News' Morning Briefing.
More News From Across The State
Health Care Industry and Pharmaceuticals
Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Gave Up On A Mental Health Program — And Is Handing Back Millions In Grants It seemed like any other night. Silverio Lujan's teenage daughter was distant and listless. Then, before he knew it, she had a fistful of pills and a knife in her hand and threatened to end her life. Panic-stricken, he dialed 911. After an evaluation, an intensive-care team from a local nonprofit quickly intervened with Lujan, 34, and his 13-year-old daughter. For three months after the February episode, the team wrapped itself into the lives of the South L.A. family. Both father and daughter received therapy. (Seidman, 7/31)
CalMatters: California Needs Thousands Of Nurses, But Leaders Can't Agree On How To Fill Jobs Ashley Hooks always planned to retire at Lakewood Regional Medical Center, where she has been a nurse for 12 years. But now, Hooks said, staffing issues are so bad and burnout so severe that she's rethinking how she wants to spend the rest of her career. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the number of nurses at the hospital dropped from just below 500 to 330 according to her union's roster, said Hooks, who is 53. (Hwang, 7/31)
Roll Call: Senate Sends Organ Transplant Bill To Biden's Desk Days after it was passed by the House, the Senate cleared legislation Thursday evening that aims to overhaul the organ transplant system in the United States. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden's desk for his signature. The bill would give the Department of Health and Human Services the authority to expand competition for contracts related to the operation of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which matches donor organs with patients waiting for transplants. (Hellmann, 7/28)
San Francisco Chronicle: The First RSV Vaccines Are Coming In August. Who Should Get One? This fall is the first time vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus, which lands thousands of infants and older adults in the hospital each year, will become available. They could provide some relief after an unusually severe RSV season last year that led to a spike in pediatric hospitalizations in the Bay Area and around the country. (Ho, 7/30)
NPR: CDC Says Summer COVID Wave May Have Begun Yet another summer COVID-19 wave may have started in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "After roughly six, seven months of steady declines, things are starting to tick back up again," Dr. Brendan Jackson, the CDC's COVID-19 incident manager, tells NPR. The amount of coronavirus being detected in wastewater, the percentage of people testing positive for the virus and the number of people seeking care for COVID-19 at emergency rooms all started increasing in early July, Jackson says. (Stein, 7/28)
CNBC: Covid Vaccine: What Uptake Of New Shots Could Look Like A new round of Covid vaccines is coming to the U.S. this fall — but many Americans may not roll up their sleeves and take one. That's largely because pandemic fatigue, the belief that Covid is "over" and confusion over personal risk levels could deter some people from getting an additional shot, experts in public health and health policy told CNBC. (Constantino, 7/29)
Sierra Sun Times: California Attorney General Bonta Fights To Protect The Public From Gun Violence In Sensitive Places Like Bars, Airports And Places Of Worship California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Friday, joined a coalition of 18 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in support of states' rights to enact laws that protect their residents from gun violence. In the brief, the attorneys general urge the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to reverse a decision by a district court blocking enforcement of a New Jersey law, which places reasonable restrictions prohibiting the carrying of firearms on private property without consent and in public places like bars, airports, and places of worship. The brief argues that the law is in line with a long tradition of constitutionally acceptable regulations designed to meet states' responsibility to protect their residents from gun violence. (7/29)
Axios: A Possible New Way To Prevent Fentanyl Overdoses: Monoclonal Antibodies The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday gave a North Carolina biotech company the go-ahead to test if a monoclonal antibody can prevent people from overdosing on fentanyl. The synthetic opiate is becoming a leading cause of death for people under 50. Naloxone is currently the most widely used drug to reverse an overdose, but researchers are looking at other treatments, including an experimental vaccine. (Moreno, 7/28)
Reuters: US FDA Approves Second Over-The-Counter Opioid Overdose Reversal Drug The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the prescription-free sale of the second opioid overdose reversal drug, its manufacturer Harm Reduction Therapeutics said on Friday. The approval of the drug, called RiVive, will provide patients with another over-the-counter option in the United States, where drug-related overdose deaths surpassed 100,000 in 2021. (7/28)
The Hill: FDA Approves First Opioid Reversal Drug From A Nonprofit Company The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first version of over-the-counter (OTC) naloxone from a nonprofit company, a move that could bring cheap and even free doses of the opioid overdose drug to Americans who need it most. ... Each RiVive device contains one dose of naloxone. It will be exclusively available in twin packs containing two single-dose devices of 3 milligrams each. (Weixel, 7/28)
Reuters: US Asks Supreme Court To Delay Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Settlement The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Purdue Pharma from proceeding with a bankruptcy settlement that protects its Sackler family owners from lawsuits. An appeals court rejected a proposed delay earlier this week, ruling that Purdue may proceed with a bankruptcy plan that was approved in May. Purdue's bankruptcy plan would shield its owners from opioid lawsuits in exchange for a $6 billion contribution to the company's broader bankruptcy settlement. (Knauth, 7/28)
Alcohol Use
NBC News: More Women In The U.S. Are Drinking Themselves To Death, Research Finds Deaths related to excessive alcohol consumption are rapidly rising in the United States, especially among women, a new study finds. While drinking is still killing more men than women, the rate of alcohol-related deaths is rising faster among women, according to the report published Friday in JAMA Network Open. "The gender gap is narrowing," said the study's lead author, Dr. Ibraheem Karaye, a professor of population health and director of the health science program at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. (Carroll, 7/28)
CNN: Just One Drink A Day Can Raise Blood Pressure, Study Says As little as one alcoholic drink a day increased systolic blood pressure — the top number in a blood pressure reading — even in men and women with no existing hypertension, a new study found. "We found no beneficial effects in adults who drank a low level of alcohol compared to those who did not drink alcohol," said senior study author Dr. Marco Vinceti, a professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy, in a statement. (LaMotte, 7/31)
Environmental Health
Bay Area News Group: Why California Is Having Its Best Wildfire Season In 25 Years California is off to its slowest start to fire season in 25 years. A state traumatized by huge fires over the past decade that have burned millions of acres — killing more than 200 people, and generating choking smoke and apocalyptic orange skies — has seen almost no major fire activity so far in 2023. (Rogers, 7/30)
Stat: As Wildfires Burn, Scientists Race To Understand The Health Dangers Of Prolonged Exposure More than 120 million Americans — one-third of the U.S. population — have been living under air quality alerts this summer, with citizens in New York City, Chicago, and Detroit at times experiencing some of the unhealthiest air in the world. The hazy conditions, fed by an unprecedented surge in Canadian wildfires likely fueled by climate change, has grounded planes, canceled outdoor sporting events, and filled emergency rooms with asthma patients. (Molteni, 7/31)
NBC News: Mosquitoes That Carry West Nile Are Becoming Resistant To Insecticides, CDC Says John VanDenBerg suspects he was gardening when a mosquito got him. It was September 2018, and VanDenBerg, then 67, had been feeling a little "off" for a few days, he said, like maybe he had the flu. But one morning, as he was walking out of his Colorado home, he collapsed. "I just went down," VanDenBerg said. "That's the last I remember for quite some time." VanDenBerg had a severe form of West Nile virus, caused by a single mosquito bite. (Edwards, 7/29)
Around California
San Diego Union-Tribune: California Child Care Deal Slashes Family Fees, Promises Rate Overhaul Child care providers across California are voting on an agreement some advocates are hailing as "transformative" for the beleaguered industry. The state has promised and set deadlines to overhaul its reimbursement model for providers of subsidized care, which advocates believe is key to solving the shortage of child care in California. (Taketa, 7/28)
Los Angeles Daily News: Turning 100: More Thoughts On The Possibilities Of Living Longer Last week, we identified several changes and predictions that support living to be 100 described by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott in their book, "The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity" (Bloomsbury, 2016). For context, here are some statistics: In the U.S. there are about 90,000 centenarians; in California, that number is 8,000. And about half of the current five-year-olds can expect to live to age 100, the likely norm for newborns in 2050. (Dennis, 7/30)
Medicare Drug Prices
The Hill: Which Drugs Will Be Selected For Medicare Negotiations? Here's What We Know The first 10 drugs selected for Medicare price negotiation will be announced by Sep. 1 and will set the stage for unprecedented government action regulating drug costs, with billions of dollars at stake and scores of patients standing to benefit. Once the initial batch of drugs chosen for negotiations are announced, the years-long negotiation process — currently being challenged in courts — will kick off. The manufacturers of the Medicare Part D-covered drugs picked by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will have one month to send in their agreements saying they will engage in the negotiation process. (Choi, 7/28)
NPR: Medicare Drug Price Negotiations Raise The Question: What's A Fair Price? Drugmakers around the globe are bracing for a major shakeup in how one of their largest customers does business. On Sept. 1, Medicare will target its first 10 drugs for historic price negotiations. The medications are sure to be among the country's costliest and will likely include common treatments for cancer and diabetes. (Walker and Gorenstein, 7/28)
Reuters: Focus: Drugmakers Go Under The Skin, Skirting Early US Medicare Price Negotiations Injectable versions of some widely-used cancer drugs including Johnson & Johnson's blockbuster multiple myeloma treatment Darzalex are likely to be excluded from new U.S. government price negotiations for years, drugmakers told Reuters, protecting billions in revenue. (Erman, 7/28)
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