Surgery for certain bad heart valves may soon become a thing of the past. New studies suggest it’s OK and often better to have a new valve placed through a tube into an artery instead. The results are expected to quickly transform treatment of a problem that affects millions of people — a stiff or… Read More »

Emergency rooms that aren’t attached to hospitals have been popping up around the US, especially in the suburbs of cities like Houston and Austin. The centers can offer a more convenient alternative to long wait times in a hospital’s emergency department, or waiting for a visit with your regular doctor. The centers can also be… Read More »

States across the U.S. have taken on high drug prices with new laws, proposals and Medicaid rules, many of them unpopular with the pharma industry. Not so in Louisiana, where a “Netflix” payment model for hepatitis C drugs has top players eager to participate. AbbVie, Gilead Sciences subsidiary Asegua Therapeutics and Merck & Co. submitted bids for the state’s… Read More »

Even when women have health insurance, high deductibles may delay them from having breast cancer diagnosed and treated, researchers say. In a study of more than 3 million U.S. women with health insurance, the researchers found that those in plans with high deductibles waited several months more for a breast cancer diagnosis or treatment, versus… Read More »

Could a blood test help more lung cancer patients get drugs that are targeted to the genetic weaknesses of their tumors? Yes, according to summary results of a 282-patient clinical trial being made available Wednesday. The result is a boon for Guardant Health, the San Francisco-based startup that sells the test, Guardant360, which is a… Read More »

An experimental gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) developed by Novartis AG would be worth up to $900,000, according to an independent U.S. nonprofit organization that reviews the value of drugs and medical treatments. The Boston-based Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) made the determination using a commonly cited cost-effectiveness threshold that values… Read More »

Cervical cancer could potentially be eliminated as a major public health threat in the majority of the world by the end of this century, a new study says. According to the researchers, more widespread use of the human papillomavirus (HPV)vaccine, combined with increased cervical cancer screenings, could prevent millions of cases of the disease worldwide…. Read More »

Drug makers and federal regulators dropped the ball in tracking the use of a potentially deadly fast-acting form of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, putting thousands of patients at risk of a fatal overdose, a new study claims. Transmucosal Immediate-Release Fentanyl (TIRF) drugs are approved for use in cancer patients who’ve developed tolerance against the around-the-clock… Read More »

The way doctors typically approach kidney cancer treatment could be evolving. Two separate studies published Saturday in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that renal cell cancer patients had significantly better outcomes when their treatment combined the targeted therapy drug axitinib, or Inlyta, with an immunotherapy — one study used pembrolizumab, or Keytruda, and… Read More »

Dive Brief: Under a proposal released Friday, Medicare would cover CAR-T cell therapies through a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) pathway known as Coverage with Evidence Development. The proposal holds a mix of provisions, including that patients must be monitored for at least two years post-treatment. Hospitals administering CAR-T therapy, whether through inpatient or outpatient… Read More »