CDC Advisors Support Updated COVID Shots for All
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 13 to 1 in favor of recommending updated, monovalent, XBB-targeting COVID-19 shots for everyone age 6 months and up. Specifically, the language in the recommendation supports the “2023-2024” vaccines as authorized or approved by the FDA — in order to cover the recently green-lighted mRNA shots, […]
CDC Advisors Back Therapeutic to Prevent RSV in Infants
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted unanimously — 10 to 0 — in favor of nirsevimab (Beyfortus) for protecting a wide swath of at-risk infants from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). At a meeting on Thursday, ACIP recommended that all infants younger than 8 months who are born during or approaching their first […]
FDA Advisors Endorse Rexulti for Agitation in Alzheimer’s Dementia
FDA advisors voted in favor of brexpiprazole (Rexulti) for treating agitation associated with Alzheimer’s dementia (AAD), despite increased mortality risk. By a vote of 9-1 on Friday, members of the agency’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC) and the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee (PCNS) said the data presented by the drug’s sponsors, […]
MRI-Targeted Biopsy for Prostate Cancer Reduces Risk of Overdiagnosis
Excluding systematic biopsy in favor of MRI-targeted biopsy in men with elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels reduced the probability of detecting clinically insignificant cancers, but at the risk of missing some clinically significant cancers and delaying their diagnosis, the randomized GÖTEBORG-2 trial from Sweden showed. Among nearly 18,000 participants, 0.6% of men who underwent MRI-targeted […]
How Far Will Texas Ruling Scrapping ACA’s Free Preventive Care Go?
A federal judge in Texas ruled earlier this week in favor of plaintiffs comprising several employers in the state that argued an employer’s insurance should not be required to cover the cost of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), used to reduce HIV transmission, when such a requirement violated the employer’s religious beliefs. The ruling handed down by […]
MedPAC Commissioners Mull Proposals to Change Part B Drug Payment
WASHINGTON — Members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) spoke up Friday in favor of considering new approaches to the way Medicare pays for Part B drugs. “I think we’re going in the right direction,” said commissioner Gary Poulsen, MBA, of Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, Utah. “I think this is an improvement.” […]