FDA Approves Altuviiio ([Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant), Fc-VWF-XTEN Fusion Protein-ehtl]) Once-Weekly VIII Therapy for Hemophilia A Paris and Stockholm – February 23, 2023 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Altuviiio™ [Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant), Fc-VWF-XTEN Fusion Protein-ehtl], previously referred to as efanesoctocog alfa, a first-in-class, high-sustained factor VIII replacement therapy. Altuviiio is indicated […]
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California Explores Private Insurance for Immigrants Lacking Legal Status. But Is It Affordable?
A doctor found cysts in Lilia Becerril’s right breast five years ago, but the 51-year-old lacks health insurance. She said she can’t afford the imaging to find out if they’re cancerous. Becerril earns about $52,000 a year at a nonprofit in California’s Central Valley, putting her and her husband, Armando, at more than double the […]
Community Resurrects Colorado Birth Center Closed by Private Equity Firm
When a private equity firm closed Seasons Midwifery and Birth Center in Thornton, Colorado, in October, the state lost one of its few non-hospital birthing centers and 53 families with pregnancy due dates in November and December were left scrambling to find providers. But then staffers and community advocacy groups stepped in to fill the […]
Montana Pharmacists May Get More Power to Prescribe
Mark Buck, a physician and pharmacist in Helena, Montana, said he’s been seeing more patients turn to urgent care clinics when they run out of medication. Their doctors have retired, moved away, or left the field because they burned out during the covid-19 pandemic, leaving the patients with few options to renew their prescriptions, he […]
Part I: The State of the Abortion Debate 50 Years After ‘Roe’
The Host The abortion debate has changed dramatically in the seven months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and its nationwide right to abortion. Nearly half the states have banned or restricted the procedure, even though the public, at the ballot box, continues to show support for abortion rights. In this special two-part […]
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Midterm Shake-Up
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on Acast. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. The predicted Republican “red wave” was a no-show in this week’s midterm elections, but the margins in both the U.S. House and Senate are so small that […]
Pharma-Funded FDA Gets Drugs Out Faster, But Some Work Only ‘Marginally’ and Most Are Pricey
Dr. Steven-Huy Han, a UCLA liver specialist, has prescribed Ocaliva to a handful of patients, although he’s not sure it helps. As advertised, the drug is lowering levels of an enzyme called alkaline phosphatase in their blood, and that should be a sign of healing for their autoimmune disease, called primary biliary cholangitis. But “no […]
Everything You Need to Know About Paxlovid — Especially, Should You Take It?
When President Joe Biden tested positive for covid-19 on July 21, his physician recommended he take the antiviral drug Paxlovid. The drug significantly reduces the likelihood of hospitalization or death for someone at high risk of developing severe covid. Biden started the five-day course that day, according to the White House, and within six days […]
As Big Pharma Loses Interest in New Antibiotics, Infections Are Only Growing Stronger
Forget covid-19, monkeypox, and other viruses for the moment and consider another threat troubling infectious disease specialists: common urinary tract infections, or UTIs, that lead to emergency room visits and even hospitalizations because of the failure of oral antibiotics. There’s no Operation Warp Speed charging to rescue us from the germs that cause these infections, […]
A Travel Nurse Leaves Fears of Hospital Drug Tampering Across Three States
Health officials in at least three states are investigating a travel nurse suspected of tampering with and potentially contaminating vials and syringes of opioid painkillers in two hospitals, then returning the vials to medication cabinets where they could be unknowingly given to patients. One hundred patients who may have been exposed to contaminated syringes last […]