#13 Where will the drug money go? 💰
Also: Digital health unequal access, cough syrup letdowns & sexy resolutions
Happy New Year healthcare enthusiasts. Today’s newsletter is 750 words long, or a 3 minute read.
Think about it 💡
💰 Where will the drug money go? The opioid crisis has resulted in a myriad of governmental actors (whether local, tribal, or federal) suing leading manufacturers. Earlier in November, CVS, Walgreens and Walmart agreed to pay $13.8 billion in a settlement, raising the grand total to more than $54 billion, as tracked by OpioidSettlementTracker.com.
This money stems from thousands of lawsuits (including Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health), each with different spending requirements. Now that retribution is underway, some worry about a rerun of the tobacco deal of the late 1990s, in which less than 3 percent of the $246 billion settlement was allocated to address smoking-related health costs and smoking cessation counseling. Most of it went instead to construct roads, pay court costs and, most infamously, subsidize tobacco growers. Experts are calling for accountability this time around.
🩺 Digital health is not accessible by everyone equally. A new study led by WHO found that digital health technologies are not uniformly available to all communities and areas in Europe. People in poor health - those perhaps needing it the most - are among those who have the most difficulty accessing these tools. Unsurprisingly, these technologies are more common in urban areas, and less so among people from ethnic minorities and those experiencing language barriers. Similarly, people with higher levels of education and economic status, as well as younger people, have a higher use. As always, WHO offers options for concrete action plans to address the problem: building frameworks. Tadaaa.
Women do not receive the mental health care they say they need 😶🌫️
👩 The U.S. (and the rest of the world) keeps struggling with the soaring demand for mental health services, but little is known about how it is distributed by gender, or how women are faring.
📓 A new report finds that while women were more likely than men to report needing mental health services in the past two years, 40% did not pursue treatment and 10% were unsuccessful in their efforts to get help.
🌊 The pandemic, the opioid crisis, and racism have exacerbated women's mental health problems, for which a system with high costs and limited provider availability is not currently well equipped.
📊 As a result, nearly 40% of women who sought any type of care had to wait more than a month for an appointment. Regarding mental health, nearly a quarter of rural women used their last telehealth appointment for mental health related services.
🩺 Issues such as food insecurity, interpersonal violence, discrimination, and fear of being dismissed worsen women's mental health and prevent them from getting the care they say they need.
Neat News 🗞️
🧠 Neuroscientists developed a mood decoder that can measure depression. Neat.
👶 Paris-based Sonio raised €10M to optimize prenatal screening and diagnostics. Super neat.
🧬 Scientists created ‘hairpins’ using artificial DNA to target and kill cancer cells. Ultra neat.
What the hellth? 🔬
🤒 You may have heard that there's a tripledemic going on. Our three holiday bad boys have one glamorous thing in common: coughing. Perhaps you've had to cancel your vacation plans, pretexting the sniffles when in reality you're spewing mucus like a Parasaurolophus. In the cold night, you cling to your cherry flavored cough syrup as if it were the last emerged plank keeping you from sinking into your own ocean of gelled waste. Let go Rose!
💊 Most over-the-counter pills, syrups, and liquids depend on an ingredient called phenylephrine to clear stuffy noses. Although this ingredient has been proven safe, several studies have shown that the medication does not relieve congestion or may not even be better than a placebo. Pharmacy researchers at the University of Florida actually petitioned the FDA in 2015 to remove phenylephrine from the list of approved OTC drugs. Stick to your tea and honey.
Clean Content 🧼
⭐ AI is your next model employee for customer success in healthcare.
🧰 Why you cannot test new digital health tech using old tools.
🔮 Christina Farr asked a bunch of health-tech experts for their not boring '23 predictions.
This is what you came for 🍑
✔️ It's time for New Year's resolutions and with them the annual to-do list plastered on the fridge. You'll be interested to know that among our classic athletic and dietary resolutions are also romantic ones. To that end, 34% of men and 16% of women say they want to have more sex in the new year, placing carnal pleasure above even the pursuit of love (17% and 12%). Plot twist, research also showed that 91% of us will fail in our yearly quest of self-improvement. Maybe next year.
Take care, 🐻❄️.