Weekly Update - Issue 3

Hey, folks! Welcome to Weekly Update, brought to you by STAT’s engagement team, Ryan Fitzgerald and Alexander Bois-Spinelli . We’re sorry we are a day late, but we’re here today and have lots to tell you! Let’s get into it...

“Pharma’s dream”: Telehealth is becoming a marketing gold mine:?

As medicine continues to move online, you’ve probably seen the direct-to-consumer advertising: “Talk to a doctor now.” “You deserve to feel better.”

Pharma marketing mostly remains a roll of the dice: Drugmakers hope their ads will influence a patient’s next doctor’s visit. But now, they aim to improve those odds by building digital front doors to clinics that can prescribe their pills. It’s an empowering pitch for patients but some health policy experts say this emerging business model might prioritize dollars at the cost of poor care. Our colleague Katie Palmer has the details in this story (and our other colleague Hyacinth Empinado has the GIF!)

It wouldn’t be a Weekly Update without a STAT investigation:?

In 2019, Washington state and Louisiana signed high-profile deals with drugmakers to purchase an unlimited supply of hepatitis C medications for a set fee in an idea dubbed the “Netflix model.” Note the GIF. Just last week, the White House held the states up as a model for a forthcoming multibillion-dollar national effort with the same aim to eliminate hepatitis C. The only problem is the states are nowhere near that goal.?

Our colleague Nicholas Florko interviewed more than two dozen experts, including current and formerly incarcerated people, drug industry officials, the intellectual architects of the Washington and Louisiana deals, and a U.S. senator, to bring you the investigation.?

Polio’s back in the news:

Pediatricians and health officials are warning about an uptick in activity of a common virus that in rare cases can cause a polio-like syndrome in young children, Helen Branswell and Andrew Joseph report. It’s an enterovirus known as EV-D68, and it usually causes a common cold, but in some cases children can develop a progressive and serious form of paralysis called acute flaccid myelitis.

Lawmaker calls for investigation into large hospital chain

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) asked the Department of Health and Human Services this week to investigate whether HCA Healthcare, the country’s largest for-profit hospital chain, is improperly admitting emergency department patients to the hospital when they don’t need inpatient care. Rachel Cohrs Zhang , as always, has the exclusive from Washington.?

New treatments for the meth crisis might be around the corner

Thomas Robey, an emergency room doctor in Everett, Wash., has added a new weapon to his limited meth-treatment arsenal: A monoclonal antibody that binds to methamphetamine molecules and helps prevent them from entering the brain.

The new treatment has shown anecdotal promise in a pair of Phase 2 clinical trials being conducted at a handful of emergency rooms across the country, including Everett, a small city roughly 25 miles north of Seattle where the methamphetamine crisis has hit hard. But there’s no medication currently approved to treat meth overdose or aid in long-term recovery. Our Lev Facher has the full story here.?

That’s all we have for you, folks! Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

Join us next Thursday for another edition of Weekly Update.?

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— Ryan and Alexander