| Why PCOS is now PMOS, and why it matters for research. |
Happy Friday! Let’s start your weekend off with some good news. US cancer death rates have gone down 35% since 1991, according to new data published Wednesday by the American Association for Cancer Research. Hooray! In today’s edition: ✏️ PCOS PMOS 💍 Gilding the Lilly 💊 3D printing pills —Maia Anderson, Caroline Catherman, Cassie McGrath |
|
direct care A better name  Morning Brew Inc, Photos: Unsplash | PCOS just got a makeover. A multinational coalition of medical societies voted in May to change the name of polycystic ovary syndrome—a condition that affects 1 in 8 women across the globe—to polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS). Experts say the new name is intended to reflect a more accurate picture of what the condition entails, and is expected to increase research funding for the diagnosis and potentially improve patient care. The primary inaccuracy in the former name, PCOS, is that there are actually no cysts in patients with the diagnosis, Melanie Cree, a professor of pediatrics-endocrinology at the University of Colorado Anschutz medical school, told Healthcare Brew. Instead, there are antral follicles, which are half-matured eggs. The follicles are round and filled with fluid, similar to a cyst, but actual ovarian cysts are much larger, she explained. “There are no cysts in PCOS—none,” Cree said. “The name was leading to overdiagnosis in inappropriate patients and underdiagnosis in appropriate patients, and misdiagnosis can lead to patient harm.” For more on why the name change is significant, keep reading.—MA |
|
|
pharma LillyDirect puts a ring on it  Oura | Eli Lilly’s LillyDirect is trying on a new accessory. On Tuesday, the pharmaceutical company’s digital healthcare platform announced a marketing collaboration with Oura, creator of the Oura smart ring. Now, consumers who make a free LillyDirect account can request a free Oura Ring sizing kit. The context. Oura has a similar deal at Target, which offers a $10 Target gift card to customers who purchase a $10 Oura Ring 5 ring sizing kit, and Amazon, which offers a $10 credit toward the purchase of an Oura Ring 5. The sizing kit is also free with an Oura ring purchase. But this collaboration is significant because it’s a step toward a digital health “ecosystem,” Jennifer Mazur, SVP of US LillyDirect and consumer services at Eli Lilly, told Healthcare Brew. Oura has been in talks to collaborate with Lilly, creator of blockbuster GLP-1s Zepbound and Foundayo, since late last year, she added. “It’s really a shared goal between Oura and LillyDirect to enable a healthcare ecosystem, one that [has] digital 24/7 access,” she said. Read more about this growing “ecosystem” here.—CC |
|
|
tech Aprecia-tion  Aprecia Pharmaceuticals | In 2015, the FDA approved Aprecia Pharmaceuticals’s Spritam, the first-ever 3D-printed pill. It was a milestone for drug making, which usually takes place in a manufacturing facility and famously does not involve a printer. Since then, Oxford Performance Materials’s OsteoFab has also received FDA approval, but as a printed implant device to replace bones. Spritam, which is used to treat seizures, stands alone as the only approved 3D-printed ingestible. The medication is made through a process called binder jetting, which adds layers of powder and liquid binder during the printing process until the drug is finished forming. The tablet dissolves quickly in water during consumption. In the 10 years since the FDA approval, the company has been focused on using 3D printing to customize more medications for various drugmakers and help meet reshoring demands. “What we’ve done for the last 10 years or so has been more of a shift back to technology development,” Kyle Smith, Aprecia’s president and COO, told us. Keep reading here.—CM |
|
|
Sponsored By Restorlife Med  | Hormones are complicated. Care shouldn't be. RestorLife offers clinician-led telehealth for hormone care and healthy aging, connecting patients with licensed US providers online. No referrals. No waiting rooms. No taking PTO for appointments. Find your treatment in 30 seconds, and get personalized care built around your needs. |
|
|
vital signs  Francis Scialabba | Today’s top healthcare reads. Stat: $346,000. That’s the annual price of treatment per person for “miracle” cystic fibrosis drug Trikafta. A patent law loophole is making a cheaper generic version available to patients who couldn’t previously afford it. (New York Times) Quote: “The changes appear to be in the right direction but I think it hasn’t been long enough to see a trajectory and know whether we can count on consistency.”—Peter Kolchinsky, managing partner at RA Capital Management, on recent FDA moves that seem to favor biopharma (Axios) Read: After the federal government threatened to pull Medicaid and Medicare funding from hospitals that give gender-affirming care to children, even providers in left-leaning states with shield laws are ending care. (KFF Health News) |
|
|
Friday Quiz What do you know?  Amelia Kinsinger | The week’s biggest HCB stories, now in quiz form. Test yourself on the latest headlines in pharma, hospital operations, patient care, and more in a quick, competitive challenge built for healthcare professionals. Challenge your coworkers and see how your score stacks up! Ace the quiz |
|
|
Jobs  | Real jobs, shared through real communities. CollabWORK brings opportunities directly to Healthcare Brew readers—no mass postings, no clutter, just roles worth seeing. Click here to view the full job board. |
|
|
|
|
