The Pitt School of Pharmacy is hiring a tenure-track faculty member in outcomes research at the Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor rank. Details and application: cfopitt.taleo.net/careersectio...

implore everyone to delete stock photos of injections at the deltoid tendon insertion. It goes in the deltoid. Not the shoulder joint. Not the humerus.

The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 2w ago

Even though it is too early to know whether the September activity foreshadows a severe flu season or is an unusual surge that could subside, epidemiologists and clinicians are encouraging patients to get their shots sooner instead of waiting. https://wapo.st/4zjzkyp

shoutout to everyone who recommended Apteka in pittsburgh. one of the best meals i have had this year

Pittsburgh is awesome, man. You all have an amazing american city here. I want to come back asap

I haven’t posted in a while, so just letting everyone know things are good here.

Pittsburgh Scanner@pgh-scanner.com · 5mo ago

Larimer. Penn Ave near Bakery Square. Multiple callers indicate that there is a dude riding a motorbike with what appears to be a monkey on their back macing people on the sidewalk.

to those who are focusing on the secondary outcome of self reported time to clinical recovery, remember this is open label. Can’t draw any firm conclusions, as the authors state Also remember EPIC-SR, placebo controlled, did not show a difference in median time to sustained alleviation of symptoms

Breaking into bluesky to say that PANORAMIC data on paxlovid‘s (lack of) efficacy in reducing Covid hospitalizations and death in vaccinated cohort is out The drug’s efficacy in this group was so exaggerated by those who should have known better but had reasons not to www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Breaking into bluesky to say that PANORAMIC data on paxlovid‘s (lack of) efficacy in reducing Covid hospitalizations and death in vaccinated cohort is out The drug’s efficacy in this group was so exaggerated by those who should have known better but had reasons not to www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Oral Nirmatrelvir–Ritonavir for Covid-19 in Higher-Risk Outpatients | NEJM

Nirmatrelvir–ritonavir has been shown to reduce progression to severe illness from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in unvaccinated high-risk outpatients. The effectiven...

nejm.org

this study made me think of @walidgellad.bsky.social www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/dat...

Data suggest Paxlovid doesn't reduce severe COVID in older, vaccinated adults

cidrap.umn.edu

Remember E. coli outbreak linked to onions in McDonald's Quarter Pounders? FDA inspectors found dozens of violations at supplier, like: - ignoring biofilm/debris buildup - not using handwashing sinks - cleaning chemicals getting on food www.cbsnews.com/news/fda-rep...

FDA finds little handwashing, dirty equipment at McDonald's supplier linked to E. coli outbreak

More than a hundred E. coli cases were linked to contaminated onions produced by Taylor Farms used in McDonald's burgers.

cbsnews.com

Truly, one of the best changes to Medicare in decades. If you need a very expensive medicine (or a lot of medicine) and you are on Medicare you now have a hard cap on spending starting on 1/1. That is awesome.

Axios@axios.com · 2y ago

Medicare's $2,000 prescription drug cap will take effect at the start of the new year. The yearly limit on out-of-pocket payments, under the Inflation Reduction Act, is expected to lower millions of seniors' medical costs.

FDA transfers regulatory oversight of medical maggots and leaches from its device center (the organisms previously regulated as medical devices) to biologics center public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2024-31266.p... More on their clinical applications here pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Some news ... I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be joining the Brown School of Public Health as a Professor of Health Services Policy & Practice this upcoming summer, 2025! I'm excited for the move and the opportunity to grow my research in new directions. hspp.sph.brown.edu

I'm looking for a third paper for a Medicaid managed care-focused panel for ASHE. DM me if interested! Please RT, I'm new to the blue skies...

CP3 Associate Director Dr. Katie Suda is learning from past #drugshortages to help mitigate future ones. take a look at her most recent paper comparing US vs Canada. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Differences in Drug Shortages in the US and Canada

This longitudinal cross-sectional study compares how frequently reports of drug-related supply chain issues were associated with drug shortages in the US compared with Canada.

jamanetwork.com

Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing@pittcp3.bsky.social · 2y ago

🆕 in JAMA: study comparing drug shortages in the US & Canada, by team including CP3's @CallawayKim4 @walidgellad & @Sudamonas. They found drug-related supply chain issue reports were 40% less likely to result in meaningful drug shortages in Canada compared with US. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

When prescription drug costs are subjectively set by conflicted intermediates who profit off higher prices and misaligned incentives, the sticker shock isn’t really a shock at all. www.wsj.com/health/healt... @wsj.com

Same Drug, 2,200 Different Prices

Middlemen negotiate widely different prices for prescriptions, depending on your Medicare insurance plan.

wsj.com

🆕from @LilyBessette & CP3's @TimAndersonMD - a third of patients eligible for weight loss 💊would have been excluded from their clinical trials. Read more @JAMAInternalMed jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Generalizability of Clinical Trial Findings of Novel Weight Loss Medications

This cross-sectional study investigates the extent to which individuals meeting label criteria for novel weight loss medications may not have been included in pivotal trials.

jamanetwork.com

Reprising this from my AEI colleague Ben Ippolito on the cost of Medicare coverage for GLP-1s. CMS appears to see writing on wall here: As additional indications are approved, most Medicare recipients will get coverage for other co-morbidities. Also, Semaglutide subject to IRA price controls in 2027

My article in @statnews.bsky.social on GLP-1 compounding: the @fda.gov needs to maintain the integrity of its authorities — and the implementation of the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA). www.statnews.com/2024/11/19/f...

I do hope it sticks this time @katiepalmer.bsky.social! Nice comments from @walidgellad.bsky.social and @scottgottliebmd.bsky.social.

Bluesky is the new destination for X/Twitter’s health and science community. Here's why

#MedTwitter is migrating en masse from X to Bluesky, suddenly making it an essential hub for scientific discourse. Here's why.

statnews.com

ICYMI: Our team previously showed ⬆️prices for indomethacin suppositories. Now, we found wide variation in hospital charges for this drug - charges passed to patients b/c the suppositories are excluded from Medicare Parts B&D. More in JAMA Network Open jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Oral naltrexone is one of main medications doctors can turn to for treating alcohol use disorder FDA now lists it in shortage, with multiple manufacturers citing a "Shortage of an active ingredient" or "Demand increase for the drug" www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/drug...

I’m not posting much here, but I’d like to point out that it is tweets like this that exaggerate study findings. Stat shouldn’t do this. This study design cannot measure impact of COVID on cognition. Rather it compares cognition in those with and without COVID/symptoms with no baseline measure.

STAT@statnews.com · 3y ago

A new study on long Covid looks at how much cognition is impaired in the months after a coronavirus infection and shows that Covid-19’s impact can be measured in the equivalent of IQ points. www.statnews.com/2024/02/28/c...

Prospective PhD students: Applications are now open for the #PittHPM Health Services Research and Policy PhD program! Join #PittPubHealth for info sessions in October (virtual) and November 3 (in-person)

The Department of Health Policy and Management at Pitt is hiring tenure track faculty in policy and health services research. Apply. French fries on salads. https://cfopitt.taleo.net/careersection/pitt_faculty_external/jobdetail.ftl?job=22000867&tz=GMT-04%3A00&tzname=America%2FNew_York

Re-upping this since the health policy contingent is slowly but steadily growing: BlueSky has "feeds," which are sort of like Twitter's lists, but you typically need to use a keyword (or key emoji) to have a post feature in the feed. I created a health policy feed here:

Welcome, @bnrome.bsky.social ! Check out the health policy list and instructions for contributing to that feed. You can pin the feed to easily get back to it.

Original Humira’s list price grew so much that its actual price after rebates to Medicaid was zero. (It will be fascinating to see what happens in Medicare with inflation rebate). #healthpolicy https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2807194

ICER's report on sickle cell disease🧪 is out today! Current evidence suggests that lovo-cel and exa-cel would achieve common thresholds for cost-effectiveness if priced between $1.35M to $2.05M #healthpolicy

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦@helenbranswell.bsky.social · 3y ago

The good news: Therapies for sickle cell disease are expected to to approved later this year. The bad news: High expected price tags will likely put them out of reach of African sickle cell sufferers. https://www.statnews.com/2023/07/12/sickle-cell-gene-therapy-cures-price-africa-access/

“Another hospital attempted to charge a patient a facility fee of up to $350 for a telehealth visit because the doctor was on hospital property.” 🙃 #healthpolicy https://www.statnews.com/2023/07/07/hospital-facility-fees-biden-initiative/

New Biden initiative targets controversial hospital 'facility fees' that often surprise patients

A new Biden administration initiative requires hospitals to “make information about these facility fees publicly available to consumers.”

statnews.com