Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FDA Approves Medical-Grade Maggots For Debridement Therapy
The FDA cleared medical-grade Australian sheep blowfly (Lucilia cuprina) larvae in what maker Cuprina Holdings believes marks the first debridement product to use this particular species. Dubbed Medifly Maggots, the product is indicated for removing dead or infected tissue from non-healing necrotic skin and soft tissue wounds -- such as pressure or neuropathic foot ulcers -- and non-healing traumatic or post-surgical wounds. (Ingram, 6/15)
Despite the promise of freeing people with HIV from taking daily pills, uptake of long-acting injectable antiretroviral therapy (LA-ART) among older Americans remains limited, according to a study published late last week in JAMA Network Open. Researchers found that just 3% of Medicare beneficiaries with HIV were using the injectable treatment in 2023, two years after the Food and Drug Administration approved the sustained viral suppression regimen. The findings also revealed geographic and racial disparities in who received the therapy, mirroring longstanding disparities in access to HIV care. (Bergeson, 6/15)
Replacing two high-dose chemotherapy courses with blinatumomab (Blincyto) significantly improved event-free survival (EFS) in pediatric patients with newly diagnosed high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), an interim analysis from a phase III trial showed. (Bassett, 6/15)
Recent Covid vaccination appears to have broad cardioprotective effects, according to a new study, which found reduced risk of events like heart attacks and stroke, hospitalization, and death in people who had received the vaccine. (Chen, 6/15)
Older adults at higher risk for dementia were less likely to have a dementia diagnosis if they received a herpes zoster (shingles) shot, a cohort study using target trial emulation showed. (George, 6/15)
