Dmitriy
@dmitriy.bsky.social
Researcher at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), an independent nonprofit that analyzes the cost-effectiveness of drugs Creator of Demography feed: https://tinyurl.com/bskydemo
🧪Cytisinicline reduces symptoms of nicotine craving and withdrawal. If approved in June 2026, it will be the first new approved pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation in 20 years.
FDA Accepts New Drug Application for Cytisinicline for Smoking Cessation
Achieve Life Sciences gains FDA acceptance for cytisinicline, a promising new drug for smoking cessation, showing significant abstinence rates in trials.
psychiatrictimes.com
🧪Once a Death Sentence, This Heart Condition Is Finally Treatable A quiet revolution in care is helping patients with cardiac amyloidosis, a form of heart failure that long stumped doctors. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/w...
Once a Death Sentence, This Heart Condition Is Finally Treatable
nytimes.com
Some uplifting 🧪news from the latest Cure SMA annual report: The mortality rate of SMA in 2024 has dropped nearly 80% since 2014. Why? Newborn screening = earlier treatment & 3 FDA-approved therapies. ICER is currently reviewing a fourth therapy: icer.org/assessment/s...
So pleased to be able to join Mike DiStefano and Wija Oortwijn to discuss #HTA activities in the context of serious affordability challenges. You should join us too!
🧪This morning, ICER announces a new review of 4 spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) therapies. With widespread US newborn screening & improved patient longevity, we're eager to assess progress in this rapidly advancing field since our 2019 report. #healthpolicy Draft scope below: icer.org/wp-content/u...
icer.org
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review has identified 5 drugs with price increases not supported by new clinical evidence: Biktarvy Darzalex Entresto Cabometyx Xeljanz www.managedhealthcareexecutive.com/view/icer-id...
ICER Identifies 5 Drugs with Unsupported Price Increases
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review has identified five drugs — Biktarvy, Darzalex, Entresto, Cabometyx, and Xeljanz — with prices increases that are not supported by new clinical evidence,...
managedhealthcareexecutive.com
🧪 Less than a month after four towering dams on the Klamath River were demolished, hundreds of salmon made it into waters they have been cut off from for decades to spawn in cool creeks
Salmon return to lay eggs in historic habitat after largest dam removal project in US history
Less than a month after four towering dams on the Klamath River were demolished, hundreds of salmon made it into waters they have been cut off from for decades to spawn in cool creeks.
buff.ly
🧪A second drug for transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy just got approved a week early. At $225K/year, it's more accessible than Pfizer's $268K Vyndaqel but still far exceeds ICER's recommended $13.6K-$39K range. Big news for the 50,000+ patients in US, but pricing debate continues.
BridgeBio wins FDA approval for heart disease drug
The FDA approved a new medicine from BridgeBio for patients with ATTR-CM, a progressive heart disease
statnews.com
🧪A survey of 879 U.S. healthcare professionals found: Popular media (69.5%psilocybin, 61.8% MDMA) and academic literature (65.6%, 47.9%) were respondents’ main current sources of knowledge Only 5.5% answered all 3 knowledge check questions correctly for psilocybin compared to just 1.1% for MDMA.
Knowledge, attitudes, and concerns about psilocybin and MDMA as novel therapies among U.S. healthcare professionals - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Knowledge, attitudes, and concerns about psilocybin and MDMA as novel therapies among U.S. healthcare professionals
nature.com
🧪 People with MS often stop taking disease-modifying therapy as they transition from relapsing-remitting MS to secondary progressive MS. This study shows that people who stop stop therapy have higher hospitalization rates and more visits to the emergency room.
The Takeaway From Study of Midlife MS Patients: Don't Stop Disease-Modifying Therapy
People with multiple sclerosis (MS) often stop taking disease-modifying therapy as they transition from relapsing-remitting MS to secondary progressive MS. This study shows that people who stop stop…
buff.ly
🧪Today is the 20 year anniversary of Google Scholar! To celebrate the occasion, its two founders put together some fun facts related to the tool. blog.google/outreach-ini...
20 things you didn’t know about Google Scholar
Google Scholar celebrates two decades of breaking down barriers to academic research and making it accessible to everyone, everywhere.
blog.google
🧪 Experts found the Texas DFW area to be the third most dangerous for migrating birds. To help, the Lights Out team convinced downtown businesses to dim their lights, reducing confusion for birds. By Oct. 31, bird deaths dropped to 42, down from 110 last fall.
This city's businesses 'went dark' to reduce bird deaths — and it worked
A hotspot for bird migration, this region has now found success in reducing avian deaths, simply by turning off the lights.
buff.ly
🧪In 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington, destroying everything nearby. Gophers helped restore the soil by spreading microbes. Their digging resulted in 40,000 new plants in six years, leading to a thriving forest today.
Gophers were given one day to revive Mount St. Helens — and their impact on its ecosystem has lasted decades
By unearthing microbes and fungi, these rodents helped save an ecosystem almost decimated by the eruption of Mount St. Helens.
buff.ly
🧪 Washington state's voters upheld the Climate Commitment Act, a cap-and-trade law, by rejecting a repeal. This law has raised over $2 billion for clean transportation, clean energy, and climate adaptation efforts, with 62% voting to maintain it.
An attempt to repeal Washington's landmark climate law failed massively
"Every state legislator can now look to Washington and say, ‘This is a winning issue,’” Governor Jay Inslee told Grist.
buff.ly
🧪 Breakthrough brings hope: 3 patients who were losing their sight can see again, thanks to innovative stem cell transplants. Vision improvements lasted over a year, with no severe side effects.
World-first stem-cell treatment restores vision in people
The treatment, given to four people with damaged corneas, seems safe but needs to be tested in larger trials.
buff.ly
🧪Now that the Twitter exodus is in full force, I thought I'd create a curated list of researchers, journalists, and organizations working to strengthen scientific integrity and expose misconduct. Please reach out for any additions/removals from the pack! go.bsky.app/LC81roH
🧪 Rwanda contained Marburg outbreak with 22.7% fatality - far lower than typical 90%. Key: high-quality healthcare, rapid tracing/testing, experimental treatments, infection control. Rwanda also increased life expectancy by 20 years, from 47.5 in 2000 to 67.5 in 2021.
An 'unprecedented' good news story about a deadly viral outbreak
The death rate for Marburg virus can be as high as 90%. There are no approved vaccines and treatments. So how did Rwanda achieve what one doctor calls an "unprecedented" success in controlling its…
buff.ly
🧪 Millets are making a comeback in India after declining in the 1960s. They are drought-resistant, nutritious, and help reduce emissions and water use compared to other crops. The Indian gov is promoting cultivation/consumption to address climate change and food security.
Millets Are Making a Comeback in India
These hardy, drought-resistant and nutritious grains disappeared from fields in the 1960s. Now, the country is working to revive them.
buff.ly
🧪Female doctors had 2-3x higher survival rates for heart patients vs male docs. Up to 32K lives could be saved if male docs learned to treat women better. Cardiologist Marianne Legato and patient advocate Carolyn Thomas are working to fix this disparity. buff.ly/4g7FVm3
The Slow, Powerful Work of Bridging the Women's Health Gap
Women are still underrepresented in medical research. But thanks to trailblazers like cardiologist Marianne Legato and patient advocate Carolyn Thomas, that's starting to change.
reasonstobecheerful.world
🧪Antonia, a cloned black-footed ferret at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, has produced two healthy offspring that will help build genetic diversity in their recovering population www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...
A Cloned Ferret Has Given Birth for the First Time in History, Marking a Win for Her Endangered Species
Antonia, a cloned black-footed ferret at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, has produced two healthy offspring that will help build genetic diversity in their recoverin...
smithsonianmag.com
The Eviction Lab at Princeton is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Assistant. Apply here: puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/app... #AcademicSky🧪
🧪A new drug for schizophrenia was approved today! KarXT was reviewed by ICER earlier this year: icer.org/wp-content/u...
Dmitriy@dmitriy.bsky.social · 3y ago🧪 About 2.8 million Americans suffer from schizophrenia (~24 million worldwide), with large portion of non-responders to available therapies. KarXT offers a new mechanism of action (acts on acetylcholine vs dopamine) and has fewer side effects.
A new study adds to a growing body of evidence that Parkinson’s disease, long believed to have its origins in the brain, may begin in the gut.
Parkinson’s may begin in the gut, study says, adding to growing evidence
Mucosal damage — an erosion, break or sore in the mucous lining of the GI tract — was associated with a 76 percent greater risk of developing Parkinson’s.
washingtonpost.com
🧪Congressional leaders unveil $275M bipartisan bill to boost menopause research, training & awareness. Led by Sen. Patty Murray & backed by Halle Berry, the bill funds NIH grants, public campaign, clinician training & diagnosis/treatment for midlife women's health issues.
Senators, Halle Berry unveil $275 million bill to boost menopause care
Many physicians say they receive little training about menopause, which all women experience around mid-life.
washingtonpost.com
🧪New dual-insecticide nets deployed through The Global Fund project prevented an estimated 13 million malaria cases and 24,600 deaths in sub-Saharan Africa by addressing growing mosquito resistance. 56 million next-gen nets reached people in 17 countries.
New Nets Prevent 13 Million Malaria Cases in Sub-Saharan Africa
The New Nets Project, an initiative funded by Unitaid and the Global Fund and led by the Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC), piloted the use of dual-insecticide in malaria-endemic countries b...
theglobalfund.org
🧪Médecins Sans Frontières has released details of their spending on a major clinical trial for a drug-resistant TB treatment, and they are calling for greater transparency in clinical trial costs to expose the true costs of medical innovation.
Cost of developing new drugs may be far lower than industry claims, trial reveals
Exclusive: MSF calls for transparency after its bill for a trial of TB treatment came to a fraction of the billions claimed by pharmaceutical companies
theguardian.com
🧪Indigenous territories tend to have lower deforestation rates and higher forest regrowth when indigenous peoples have secure land rights. Research shows forests are often healthier under indigenous stewardship.
Want to restore a forest? Give it back to Indigenous peoples who call it home
These women are fighting to take back their land.
theverge.com
🧪NIST researchers developed a technique using a smartphone compass to measure tiny concentrations of biomarkers like glucose, enabling potential at-home diagnosis of diseases and detection of environmental toxins through low-cost magnetized hydrogels.
NIST Researchers Use Cellphone Compass to Measure Tiny Concentrations of Compounds Important for Human Health
Nearly every modern cellphone has a built-in compass, or magnetometer, that detects the direction of Earth’s magnetic field, providing critical information f
nist.gov
🧪The Gates Foundation will require grant holders to publish research as preprints from 2024. It will also stop paying article-processing charges, moving away from the open access model where publishers charge fees to make articles freely available online.
Will the Gates Foundation’s preprint-centric policy help open access?
Revised policy says grant recipients must share manuscripts as preprints — and removes support for article-processing charges. Revised policy says grant recipients must share manuscripts as preprints ...
nature.com
🧪Amylyx Pharma to withdraw its only ALS drug Relyvrio from US/Canada markets after late-stage trial fails to confirm earlier reported benefit. Company also cutting 70% of workforce and advancing other pipeline programs. #ALS #biopharma
Amylyx Pharma to remove ALS drug from US, Canada markets
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals will withdraw its amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) drug - its only product in the market - from the U.S. and Canada after the treatment failed in a key late-stage trial.
reuters.com