- Center on Health Equity & Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
What We're Reading: Pharma Company Founder Sentenced; Second Confirmed Case of Coronavirus in the US; FDA Approves First Treatment for Rare Cancer
A pharmaceutical company executive is sentenced for his role in the opioid crisis; the CDC confirms the second US case of the Chinese coronavirus; the FDA issues accelerated approval of Tazverik for epithelioid sarcoma.
Insys Therapeutics Founder Sentenced in Opioid Crisis
CDC Confirms Second Case of Chinese Coronavirus
The founder of Insys Therapeutics, John Kapoor, was sentenced to 5 and a half years in prison for his role in fueling the opioid epidemic, NPR reports. This marks the first successful prosecution of a pharmaceutical executive since the crisis began. Insys was found to have aggressively marketed Subsys (fentanyl), a potent opioid painkiller, and orchestrated a conspiracy to bribe doctors into prescribing the painkiller even when patients did not need it. Kapoor was convicted in a bribery and kickback scheme, but his sentence is significantly less than the 15 years federal prosecutors were aiming for.A woman in Chicago was confirmed today by the CDC as having the second case of the Chinese coronavirus, according to The Hill. She recently returned from Wuhan, the epicenter of this recent outbreak, and remains in isolation. An additional 63 cases in 22 states are being monitored for possible coronavirus infection. So far in China, 26 people have died from coronavirus and cases top 800. Travel is severly restricted, and 3 US airports are implementing screening measures: John F. Kennedy International, San Francisco International, and Los Angeles International.
FDA Grants Accelerated Approval to First Treatment for Epithelioid Sarcoma
Tazverik (tazemetostat) is the first approved treatment specifically for patients with epithelioid sarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer that often occurs in young adults, according to an FDA news release. The treatment has been approved for adults and pediatric patients aged 16 or older. Epithelioid sarcoma oly accounts for less than 1% of soft tissue sarcoma, but until now there were no approved treatment s The treatment works by blocking activity of the EZH2 methyltransferase, which may help in stopping cancer cells from growing, according to the release.
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.
Read More
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.
Listen
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.
Listen
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.
Read More
