Trump offers to assist VA in negotiating new depression treatment’s price

In a meeting at the White House yesterday, President Trump said he believes a new Johnson & Johnson depression drug could help curb the rate of veteran suicides — and even offered to help the VA negotiate access to the treatment, Bloomberg reports. The drug, called esketamine and sold under the brand name Spravato, was approved in March for patients with depression who haven’t been helped by existing treatments. Trump said he had “read really quite a bit” about the treatment and thinks it could lead to an “incredible” drop in veteran suicides, according to Bloomberg. But when the drug was approved, some experts raised concerns about whether there was enough data on its efficacy and how it should be used in the long run. VA Secretary Robert Wilkie, who was also at the White House meeting on opioid abuse, said the agency is aiming to have Spravato available in every VA hospital by the end of the year. 

Top-rated hospitals can lack an array of services

Comparison of services provided at five-star-rated hospitals vs. non-five-star rated hospitals. (Johns Hopkins Medicine)

When it comes to hospitals, a five-star rating may not necessarily signal the best. Or that’s what a new study of nearly 2,800 hospitals finds. Researchers looked at 150 hospitals that had a five-star rating — based partly on a CMS system that uses patient surveys — and found that these hospitals were less likely to provide common medical services, including an emergency department and neurology, than lower-rated hospitals. The finding remained true even when specialty hospitals were excluded. Hospitals that offer more comprehensive services seem to have a tougher time getting five-star ratings, the authors write, which could mean that current rating system may not offer an effective way for patients to compare facilities.

NIH director will say no to ‘manels’ 

Francis Collins will no longer participate in all-male panels, or “manels,” he wrote in a blog post yesterday. “It is not enough to give lip service to equality; leaders must demonstrate their commitment through their actions,” the NIH director said. His announcement comes amid increased scrutiny within the scientific community of the lack of gender parity and the inclusion of women as experts at conferences. Several groups have recently formed to shine a light on women and other minority scientists in an effort to increase the diversity of the research enterprise. Collins said that he will decline speaking invitations for events that do not represent inclusiveness in their agenda, and called on other scientific leaders to do the same.

Inside STAT: GSK partners with CRISPR pioneer Doudna to search for new drugs

Pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline is partnering with CRISPR co-inventor Jennifer Doudna to use the gene-editing technology toward the development of new medicines. The partnership will also involve the creation of a new lab — the Laboratory for Genomic Research — in San Francisco with up to $67 million in funding over the next five years. Doudna will be leading the new effort, but will be joined by Jonathan Weissman, a UCSF researcher whose work involves using CRISPR to understand individual human genes. Read more about the new effort — from its beginnings over dinner at Garibaldi’s in San Francisco to how the lab will be a new model of academic-pharma partnership — from STAT’s Matthew Herper. 

An increase in ‘deaths of despair’ among millennials

A new data brief reports that deaths from drug abuse among millennials has increased by 400% in the past 20 years. The opioid crisis partly explains the increase, but millennials also face other problems, including high living costs. Here’s more on what the report calls “deaths of despair”:

• Drug deaths: The number of deaths among those in their 20s and 30s went up by 108% between 2007 and 2017.

• Alcohol-related deaths: These deaths in those aged 18-34 went up by nearly 70% between 2007 and 2017, and nearly doubled since 1999.

• Suicides: Between 2011 and 2016, suicide was the second leading cause of death among those aged 15-34, and the following year, suicide rates across all ages increased by 4%.

Prevalence of triple-negative breast cancer may depend on birthplace

A new study finds that rates of triple-negative breast cancer among black women may depend on where they were born. This type of breast cancer is usually aggressive and rare, but is twice as common among black women than white women. Looking at data from more than 65,000 black women who were diagnosed with breast cancer between 2010 and 2015, researchers found that compared to women who were born in the U.S., there was an 8% lower prevalence of triple-negative breast cancer among those who were born in West Africa, while the prevalence was 46% lower among women born in East Africa. Although it was unclear what risk factors drove the differences, the similarity in prevalence between U.S.-born and West African-born women suggest that there may be shared genetic risks.