Walid Gellad

Data suggest Paxlovid doesn't reduce severe COVID in older, vaccinated adults

this study made me think of @walidgellad.bsky.social
www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/dat...

this brings back fond memories. thanks for sharing.

FDA finds little handwashing, dirty equipment at McDonald's supplier linked to E. coli outbreak More than a hundred E. coli cases were linked to contaminated onions produced by Taylor Farms used in McDonald's burgers.

Remember E. coli outbreak linked to onions in McDonald's Quarter Pounders?

FDA inspectors found dozens of violations at supplier, like:

- ignoring biofilm/debris buildup
- not using handwashing sinks
- cleaning chemicals getting on food

www.cbsnews.com/news/fda-rep...

Truly, one of the best changes to Medicare in decades. If you need a very expensive medicine (or a lot of medicine) and you are on Medicare you now have a hard cap on spending starting on 1/1. That is awesome.

FDA transfers regulatory oversight of medical maggots and leaches from its device center (the organisms previously regulated as medical devices) to biologics center

public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2024-31266.p...

More on their clinical applications here

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Some news ...

I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be joining the Brown School of Public Health as a Professor of Health Services Policy & Practice this upcoming summer, 2025! I'm excited for the move and the opportunity to grow my research in new directions.

hspp.sph.brown.edu

I'm looking for a third paper for a Medicaid managed care-focused panel for ASHE. DM me if interested!

Please RT, I'm new to the blue skies...

CP3 Associate Director Dr. Katie Suda is learning from past #drugshortages to help mitigate future ones. take a look at her most recent paper comparing US vs Canada.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Same Drug, 2,200 Different Prices Middlemen negotiate widely different prices for prescriptions, depending on your Medicare insurance plan.

When prescription drug costs are subjectively set by conflicted intermediates who profit off higher prices and misaligned incentives, the sticker shock isn’t really a shock at all. www.wsj.com/health/healt... @wsj.com

Generalizability of Clinical Trial Findings of Novel Weight Loss Medications This cross-sectional study investigates the extent to which individuals meeting label criteria for novel weight loss medications may not have been included in pivotal trials.

🆕from @LilyBessette & CP3's @TimAndersonMD - a third of patients eligible for weight loss 💊would have been excluded from their clinical trials.

Read more @JAMAInternalMed
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Reprising this from my AEI colleague Ben Ippolito on the cost of Medicare coverage for GLP-1s. CMS appears to see writing on wall here: As additional indications are approved, most Medicare recipients will get coverage for other co-morbidities. Also, Semaglutide subject to IRA price controls in 2027

My article in @statnews.bsky.social on GLP-1 compounding: the @fda.gov needs to maintain the integrity of its authorities — and the implementation of the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA).

www.statnews.com/2024/11/19/f...

Bluesky is the new destination for X/Twitter’s health and science community. Here's why #MedTwitter is migrating en masse from X to Bluesky, suddenly making it an essential hub for scientific discourse. Here's why.

I do hope it sticks this time @katiepalmer.bsky.social! Nice comments from @walidgellad.bsky.social and @scottgottliebmd.bsky.social.

Yes all under 12 is eua and all novo vax.

ICYMI: Our team previously showed ⬆️prices for indomethacin suppositories. Now, we found wide variation in hospital charges for this drug - charges passed to patients b/c the suppositories are excluded from Medicare Parts B&D.

More in JAMA Network Open
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Screenshot of tracked changes between original and new CMS RFI

CMS has updated its announcement that it is closing down physical access to data. Here are some key tracked changes.

Seems like some openness to adjusting the timelines for the transition - though not whether it's happening.

(Announcement here: www.cms.gov/data-researc... )

A screenshot of tables that reads in part: "Accord Healthcare Inc. (New 02/29/2024) Company Contact Information: 866-941-7875, option 2 Presentation Availability and Estimated Shortage Duration Related Information Shortage Reason (per FDASIA) Tablet, 50 mg (NDC 16729-081-01) Not Available. Resupply TBD Shortage of an active ingredient Tablet, 50 mg (NDC 16729-081-10) Available and shipping Customers Sales Orders Shortage of an active ingredient Elite Laboratories, Inc. (New 02/29/2024) Company Contact Information: 800-397-9228 Presentation Availability and Estimated Shortage Duration Related Information Shortage Reason (per FDASIA) Tablet, 50 mg (NDC 51224-206-50) Available Marketed by Tagi Pharma Tablet, 50 mg (NDC 51224-206-30) Available Marketed by Tagi Pharma Tablet, 50 mg (NDC 68094-909-50) Available Marketed by Precision Dose Tablet, 50 mg (NDC 68094-909-30) Available Marketed by Precision Dose SpecGx LLC (New 02/29/2024) Company Contact Information: 800-325-8888 Presentation A

Oral naltrexone is one of main medications doctors can turn to for treating alcohol use disorder

FDA now lists it in shortage, with multiple manufacturers citing a "Shortage of an active ingredient" or "Demand increase for the drug"

www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/drug...

I’m not posting much here, but I’d like to point out that it is tweets like this that exaggerate study findings. Stat shouldn’t do this. This study design cannot measure impact of COVID on cognition. Rather it compares cognition in those with and without COVID/symptoms with no baseline measure.

Bad time to bring up that as a VA researcher one can get access to all VA data linked to Medicare and Medicaid claims data all in a virtual desktop for free?

Good piece. Remember our collaboration few years ago related to this topic (where is development happening)

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Prospective PhD students: Applications are now open for the
#PittHPM Health Services Research and Policy PhD program! Join #PittPubHealth for info sessions in October (virtual) and November 3 (in-person)

The Department of Health Policy and Management at Pitt is hiring tenure track faculty in policy and health services research. Apply. French fries on salads.

https://cfopitt.taleo.net/careersection/pitt_faculty_external/jobdetail.ftl?job=22000867&tz=GMT-04%3A00&tzname=America%2FNew_York

Re-upping this since the health policy contingent is slowly but steadily growing:

BlueSky has "feeds," which are sort of like Twitter's lists, but you typically need to use a keyword (or key emoji) to have a post feature in the feed.

I created a health policy feed here:

Where do I announce a faculty recruitment to Pitt that I am really excited about?

Here or on the other place?

You should check this out - use the #healthpolicy hashtag to get posts to go into this feed. You can also pin the feed to your dashboard so you can just see these posts (very useufl, IMO).

Robert Califf's battling misinformation -- but with questionable facts and framings of his own. My latest: https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/fda-head-robert-califf-battles-misinformation-sometimes-with-fuzzy-facts/

Welcome, @bnrome.bsky.social ! Check out the health policy list and instructions for contributing to that feed. You can pin the feed to easily get back to it.

Original Humira’s list price grew so much that its actual price after rebates to Medicaid was zero.

(It will be fascinating to see what happens in Medicare with inflation rebate). #healthpolicy

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2807194

ICER's report on sickle cell disease🧪 is out today!

Current evidence suggests that lovo-cel and exa-cel would achieve common thresholds for cost-effectiveness if priced between $1.35M to $2.05M

#healthpolicy