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There are major unanswered questions. What will we find out about the long-term consequences of these drugs, which are meant to be taken in perpetuity? They also cost more than $1,000 a month per patient. Are potential savings worth the high price?
Federal policymakers will have to weigh these issues and determine whether taxpayers, through federal Medicare and state Medicaid, should cover the cost of these drugs. On an individual level, though, these obesity medicines have already transformed many lives and are on track to improving many more.
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3) The artificial intelligence revolution is making health care safer. I was skeptical when I first started researching this topic, but I quickly found myself agreeing with the head of Google Health that AI in medicine is analogous to the discovery of penicillin in its ability to transform health-care delivery. AI-augmented colonoscopies and mammograms are already reducing the rate of missed cancers, and an AI-powered alert system has decreased the number of deaths in California hospitals.
No doubt, it is crucial to ensure proper safeguards for the technology and to proceed with caution. But lack of rapid progress is unacceptable; we have already seen the power of this tool to make care safer and more accessible around the world.
4) Naloxone is becoming more accessible. After years of advocacy from harm-reduction activists and public health officials, the opioid overdose antidote naloxone, also called Narcan, is finally available over the counter. At a time when nearly 80,000 Americans are dying each year as a result of opioid overdoses, this is a major step that will reduce barriers to this lifesaving drug.
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Unfortunately, there is no easy path to countering the proliferation of fentanyl, an extremely potent opioid that is often mixed with other drugs. People obtaining pills from illicit internet sellers are essentially playing Russian roulette; they don’t know whether what they are taking could be tainted with the powerful narcotic. This is yet another reason naloxone must be priced so that everyone can have it in their medicine cabinets.
5) New mental health therapeutics offer options for difficult-to-treat ailments. This summer, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first-ever oral medication to treat postpartum depression. Zuranolone, a once-a-day pill taken for just two weeks, not only represents a breakthrough therapy for new mothers, but it also reinforces the need to treat mental health concerns like any other medical ailment.
The FDA has also signaled that it might soon approve two psychedelic substances — psilocybin (also referred to as “magic mushrooms”) and MDMA (also known as Ecstasy) — for treatment of severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, respectively. While I worry that people will conflate medical and recreational use, and while I hope that policymakers will do more to restrict the latter, I am enthusiastic about the growing body of evidence that these two drugs are highly effective when administered under carefully controlled medical settings.
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I’d like to end my year-end review on a personal note: As many readers know, I suffered a bad bout of bacterial pneumonia in June. The pneumonia triggered asthma, and between the two, it took me months to resume activities I love, such as swimming and running. Though I am much improved, I am far from being back to “normal.”
This scare taught me a lot and is a continual reminder of how precious our health is — and how much gratitude we owe the scientists, medical providers and public health workers who are trying their best every day to improve medical care.
What are the stories that give you hope? I’d love to hear from you. In the meantime, I wish a Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it!
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As 2023 comes to an end, I want to highlight five hopeful health stories that I’ve had the privilege to report on this year:
1) For the first time, there are vaccines against the respiratory syncytial virus. RSV has traditionally been thought of as a disease affecting children, but as many as 10,000 older adults die from it every year. It’s a major breakthrough to have not one but two approved RSV vaccines for people ages 60 and older. Pregnant women, too, are now able to receive the shot to convey antibodies to their newborns.
The problem is uptake. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that only 17 percent of eligible older adults have received the RSV shot. Logistical barriers as well as vaccine fatigue could be to blame. I hope federal health officials will look at options to combine covid, flu and RSV shots in future winter seasons.
2) Obesity treatments have made incredible strides. More than 4 in 10 adults in the United States have obesity, which is associated with myriad adverse health outcomes. Semaglutide, known by its brand names Wegovy and Ozempic, has produced remarkable outcomes in reducing weight and cutting the risk of subsequent complications of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. A similar drug, tirzepatide, known by brand names Zepbound and Mounjaro, has even more impressive results.
There are major unanswered questions. What will we find out about the long-term consequences of these drugs, which are meant to be taken in perpetuity? They also cost more than $1,000 a month per patient. Are potential savings worth the high price?
Federal policymakers will have to weigh these issues and determine whether taxpayers, through federal Medicare and state Medicaid, should cover the cost of these drugs. On an individual level, though, these obesity medicines have already transformed many lives and are on track to improving many more.
3) The artificial intelligence revolution is making health care safer. I was skeptical when I first started researching this topic, but I quickly found myself agreeing with the head of Google Health that AI in medicine is analogous to the discovery of penicillin in its ability to transform health-care delivery. AI-augmented colonoscopies and mammograms are already reducing the rate of missed cancers, and an AI-powered alert system has decreased the number of deaths in California hospitals.
No doubt, it is crucial to ensure proper safeguards for the technology and to proceed with caution. But lack of rapid progress is unacceptable; we have already seen the power of this tool to make care safer and more accessible around the world.
4) Naloxone is becoming more accessible. After years of advocacy from harm-reduction activists and public health officials, the opioid overdose antidote naloxone, also called Narcan, is finally available over the counter. At a time when nearly 80,000 Americans are dying each year as a result of opioid overdoses, this is a major step that will reduce barriers to this lifesaving drug.
Unfortunately, there is no easy path to countering the proliferation of fentanyl, an extremely potent opioid that is often mixed with other drugs. People obtaining pills from illicit internet sellers are essentially playing Russian roulette; they don’t know whether what they are taking could be tainted with the powerful narcotic. This is yet another reason naloxone must be priced so that everyone can have it in their medicine cabinets.
5) New mental health therapeutics offer options for difficult-to-treat ailments. This summer, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first-ever oral medication to treat postpartum depression. Zuranolone, a once-a-day pill taken for just two weeks, not only represents a breakthrough therapy for new mothers, but it also reinforces the need to treat mental health concerns like any other medical ailment.
The FDA has also signaled that it might soon approve two psychedelic substances — psilocybin (also referred to as “magic mushrooms”) and MDMA (also known as Ecstasy) — for treatment of severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, respectively. While I worry that people will conflate medical and recreational use, and while I hope that policymakers will do more to restrict the latter, I am enthusiastic about the growing body of evidence that these two drugs are highly effective when administered under carefully controlled medical settings.
I’d like to end my year-end review on a personal note: As many readers know, I suffered a bad bout of bacterial pneumonia in June. The pneumonia triggered asthma, and between the two, it took me months to resume activities I love, such as swimming and running. Though I am much improved, I am far from being back to “normal.”
This scare taught me a lot and is a continual reminder of how precious our health is — and how much gratitude we owe the scientists, medical providers and public health workers who are trying their best every day to improve medical care.
What are the stories that give you hope? I’d love to hear from you. In the meantime, I wish a Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it!
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