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What We’re Reading: Licensing COVID-19 Pill; Pig-to-Human Transplants; Blood Tube Shortage
Drug makers sign on to help produce Merck’s COVID-19 pill for developing countries; research shows promise for organ transplants from genetically modified pigs; blood sample collection tubes added to FDA list of shortages.
Drug Makers Sign On to Manufacture Merck COVID-19 Drug
The Medicines Patent Pool has signed agreements with 27 generic drug manufacturers to produce versions of Merck’s COVID-19 pill, according to a report from ABC News. These deals would enable the drug companies to make the raw ingredients needed for molnupiravir and the finished product itself, and they would help 105 developing countries. Molnupiravir, from Merck and Ridgeback Bioherapeutics, reportedly cuts hospitalization rates in half among patients with early signs of COVID-19. It is approved for use in the United Kingdom and the European Union, and received an emergency use authorization from the FDA in December.
Research Shows Promise for Pig-to-Human Organ Transplants
Reported by The Associated Press, researchers in Alabama successfully transplanted genetically modified pig kidneys into a brain-dead man, potentially opening the door for the testing of similar transplants in living patients. The latest in a string of experimental surgeries provides hope at overcoming the organ shortage experts consider an “unmitigated crisis” with no real solution. Similar experiments have involved temporarily attaching a pig’s kidney to blood vessels outside the body of a deceased recipient and giving a dying man a heart from a pig, which continues to keep him alive.
FDA Adds Blood Sample Collection Tubes to Shortage List
The FDA has expanded their medical device shortage list to include all blood specimen collection tubes, according to Reuters, marking yet another challenge caused by increased demand and vendor issues from the COVID-19 pandemic. At present, according to the FDA, laboratory professionals should only perform blood draws when medically necessary, adding that health care personnel should consider sharing samples between lab departments if specimens are already available. Previously, only sodium citrate tubes, which were used to help and treat bleeding disorders in patients with COVID-19, were added to the shortage list.
Urticaria Diagnosis Challenged by Overlapping Pruritic Skin Conditions
April 23rd 2025Urticaria is complicated to diagnose by its symptomatic overlap with other skin conditions and the frequent misclassification in literature of distinct pathologies like vasculitic urticaria and bullous pemphigus.
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New Research Challenges Assumptions About Hospital-Physician Integration, Medicare Patient Mix
April 22nd 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Brady Post, PhD, lead author of a study published in the April 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®, challenges the claim that hospital-employed physicians serve a more complex patient mix.
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Personalized Care Key as Tirzepatide Use Expands Rapidly
April 15th 2025Using commercial insurance claims data and the US launch of tirzepatide as their dividing point, John Ostrominski, MD, Harvard Medical School, and his team studied trends in the use of both glucose-lowering and weight-lowering medications, comparing outcomes between adults with and without type 2 diabetes.
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ACOs’ Focus on Rooting Out Fraud Aligns With CMS Vision Under Oz
April 23rd 2025Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are increasingly playing the role of data sleuths as they identify and report trends of anomalous billing in hopes of salvaging their shared savings. This mission dovetails with that of CMS, which under the new administration plans to prioritize rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse.
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