Chances are your data was exposed

In case you thought the fallout from the Change Healthcare attack was ending, think again.

“[T]he personal health information and personally identifiable information found in the files ‘could cover a substantial proportion of people in America’,” according to UnitedHealth. But don’t worry, it may not have included full medical histories.

The company is offering two years of credit monitoring and identity theft protection to anyone who has been affected by the breach. (How to apply for that isn’t clear.)

Fun fact: UnitedHealth seems to have paid the hackers a ransom of $22 million.

The liver means timing matters

There are good reasons to consider what time of day to take a drug — sleep issues probably top the list. But now MIT researchers have found that it’s a lot more complicated thanks to enzymes in the liver. Drug metabolism, it seems, is affected by the body’s circadian rhythm.

These circadian variations affect how much of a drug is available and how effectively the body can break it down. For example, they found that enzymes that break down Tylenol and other drugs are more abundant at certain times of day.

What that means is it might be possible to fine-tune the use of drugs to take advantage of this fact, setting dosing times to get the most out of a medication.

Two unexpected vaccines

First: against antibiotic resistance

We hear a lot about antibiotics to treat infections, but not so much about vaccines. That might change. Michigan State chemists have developed a carbohydrate-based vaccine (rather than a typical protein-based one) that targets Staphylococcus aureus — specifically the methicillin-resistant kind, aka MRSA.

So far they’ve tested it in the lab and in animals, and obviously it works or we wouldn’t be writing about it.

Second: against melanoma

British researchers have just begun phase-3 trials of “the world’s first personalised mRNA cancer vaccine for melanoma,” which they are, of course, calling a “game changer.”

The personalized part is what’s important, as each vaccine has to be tailored to the individual.“[A] sample of tumour is removed during the patient’s surgery, followed by DNA sequencing and the use of artificial intelligence. The result is a custom-built anti-cancer jab that is specific to the patient’s tumour.”

I’m not sure what the lead investigator means by this, but it sounds good:

“To be able to sit there and say to your patients that you’re offering them something that’s effectively like the Fat Duck at Bray versus McDonald’s — it’s that level of cordon bleu that’s coming to them … The patients are really excited about them.”

Science at work

After their work on the groundbreaking 2022 paper “Fire is Hot,” researchers at the University of Chicago have a new study — in the journal Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery — with a shocking conclusion: “TikTok Riddled With Misleading Info on Health.”

The team’s next paper: “What Color Is the Sky? A Multi-Modal Investigation of Lower-Atmosphere Chromatic Conditions”.

From stomachache to headache

People who take acid-reflux drugs — proton-pump inhibitors, H2 blockers, or even antacids — apparently have a greater risk of migraines. And if they also take magnesium, the risk is even higher.

That’s what University of Maryland nutritionists discovered after parsing the health data of almost 12,000 people who used some kind of acid reducer.

[T]hey found that people taking proton pump inhibitors were 70% more likely to have migraines than people not taking acid-reducing drugs. Those taking H2 blockers were 40% more likely and those taking antacid supplements were 30% more likely.

They can’t prove cause and effect yet, but the relationship, they say, is definitely clear.

Sour sweetener

One of the newest crop of artificial sweeteners, neotame, just went from “Well, it’s better than aspartame” to “Oh, geez, another one that’s unhealthy.” In the case of neotame, it…

…can cause previously healthy gut bacteria to become diseased and invade the gut wall – potentially leading to health issues including irritable bowel syndrome and sepsis.

Drug spending jumps

Americans — people, insurers, and the government — spent $772.5 billion on drugs in 2023, up a whopping 13.5% from the year before. What changed? GLP-1 agonist weight loss drugs, that’s what.

Spending for semaglutide doubled in 2023, making it the top-selling drug in the nation, replacing autoimmune disease drug adalimumab.

Interesting side note: “Hospitals’ drug spending fell by 1.1%, continuing a steady period of falling expenditures.”

Curious what the 25 most popular drugs are? Becker’s Hospital Review has you covered.

Pharmacy techs: You could win a 15-hour course

The good folks at the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding Foundation are offering $495 grants for 10 pharmacy technicians to attend a 15-hour on-demand online course, “The Ethical, Legal, and Regulatory Foundations of Pharmacy Compounding” out of Virginia Commonwealth University.

If you’re interested in getting into compounding pharmacy, this is a great idea — it gives 15 hours of CE credit, not to mention a great line on your résumé.

The deadline to apply is June 30, 2024 at 11:59pm EST. Here’s the link to do just that. (Got questions, contact the Pharmacy Compounding Foundation at foundation@a4pc.org.