Free our genes

 The Genome Defense Inside the Epic Legal Battle to Determine Who Owns Your DNA

Further reading

Outline of this great book on gene patents:

PART I: BUILDING THE CASE

Chapter 1   Who Can We Sue?

Chapter 2   The World in the Helix

Chapter 3   The Gene Queen

Chapter 4   Mr. Lincoln’s Boat

Chapter 5   The ACLU Way

Chapter 6   Product of Nature

Chapter 7   On the Hill

Chapter 8   Speaking of Patents

Chapter 9   The Power of Pink

Chapter 10 We’ve Got You Covered

Chapter 11 BART

Chapter 12 Patents and Plaintiffs

Chapter 13 Pulling the Trigger

PART II: LITIGATION

Chapter 14 The Big Guns

Chapter 15 SDNY

Chapter 16 Chicken and Egg

Chapter 17 We’re from the Government

Chapter 18 Splitting the Baby

Chapter 19 The Patent Court

Chapter 20 Magic Microscope

Chapter 21 Last Man Standing

PART III: HIGHEST COURT IN THE LAND

Chapter 22 Déjà Vu All Over Again

Chapter 23 Air Force 1

Chapter 24 With Friends like These

Chapter 25 Oyez, Oyez, Oyez!

Chapter 26 9–0

Chapter 27 Aftermath

Appendix: The (Legal) Meaning of Myriad

Principal Characters

A Note about Sources

Bibliography

Cancer Economics

 Regulatory and Economic Aspects in Oncology

Topics:

Cost of Cancer: Healthcare Expenditures and Economic Impact

Oncology from an HTA and Health Economic Perspective

Heterogeneous Recommendations for Oncology Products Among Different HTA Systems: A Comparative Assessment

Patient-Reported Outcomes in Oncology, Beyond Randomized Controlled Trials

Patient-Reported Outcomes in Health Economic Decision-Making: A Changing Landscape in Oncology

Approaches to Capturing Value in Oncology

Orphan Drugs in Oncology

Recent Developments in Health Economic Modelling of Cancer Therapies

Drug Pricing and Value in Oncology

Regulatory and Evidence Requirements and the Changing Landscape in Regulation for Marketing Authorisation

Prioritization not Rationing in Cancer Care

Vaccine makers (3)

 Longshot. The Inside Story of the Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine

Pharma, Big Pharma (6)

 Sickening. How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It

Building people-centred health systems

Health for the People, by the People. Building People-centred Health Systems

An OECD book, highly recommended.

Country health profile

Stop misuse of antibiotics

 Antimicrobial Resistance in the EU/EEA: A One Health Response

Misuse of antibiotics is among the main drivers underpinning the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Resistance to last-line antibiotics also compromises the effectiveness of life saving medical interventions such as intensive care, cancer treatment and organ transplantation. 

Overall consumption of antibiotics in humans in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) decreased by 23% between 2011 and 2020, especially during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (between 2019 and 2020, the mean total consumption of antibiotics dropped by almost 18%). However, relative use of broad-spectrum antibiotics has increased and significant variability across countries suggests that reductions are still possible.

Efforts to reduce unnecessary use of antibiotics in food-producing animals have resulted in a 43% decrease in use between 2011 and 2020 in 25 countries with consistent reporting.

Despite reductions in antibiotic consumption in both humans and food-producing animals, AMR in bacteria from humans in the EU/EEA has increased for many antibiotic-bacterium combinations since 2011. Particularly worrisome is the rise in resistance to critically important antibiotics used to treat common healthcare-associated infections. 

While recent trends have been encouraging, resistance to commonly used antibiotics in bacteria from food-producing animals remains high (>20% to 50%) or very high (>50% to 70%), and there is significant regional variation across the EU/EEA region. 

 

Health information systems

 Towards an Integrated Health Information System in the Netherlands

Public health genomics

 From public health genomics to precision public health: a 20-year journey

Public health genomics focuses on effective and responsible translation of genomic science into population health benefits. We discuss the relationship of the field to the core public health functions and essential services, review its evidentiary foundation, and provide examples of current US public health priorities and applications

 

 

Adolf Mas exhibition at KBR

Value based health care (2)

 Evaluación de resultados en salud: valor y sostenibilidad para el Sistema Nacional de Salud

Capítulo I. Evaluación de resultados en términos de salud: por qué, ¿cómo, cuándo y para qué?

Capítulo II. Resultados comunicados por los clínicos

Capítulo III. Resultados percibidos por los pacientes

Capítulo IV. Resultados en salud percibidos y comunicados por los observadores: ¿qué son y cómo se miden?

Capítulo V. ¿Cómo incorporar las medidas de resultados en salud a la evaluación económica?

Capítulo VI. Principales técnicas estadísticas y parámetros para medir resultados en salud

Capítulo VII. Metodología disponible para obtener resultados en salud en el mundo real

Capítulo VIII. Resultados en salud a evaluar en diferentes patologías: enfermedades infecciosas

Capítulo IX. Resultados en salud en la infección por VIH

Capítulo X. Resultados en salud en pacientes con hepatitis C crónica

Capítulo XI. Resultados en salud en reumatología

Capítulo XII. Resultados en salud en dermatología

Capítulo XIII. Resultados en salud en aparato digestivo: enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal e intestino irritable

Capítulo XIV. Resultados en salud en esclerosis múltiple

Capítulo XV. Beneficio clínico en oncología: una compleja pregunta

Capítulo XVI. Evaluación de resultados en salud: hematología

Capítulo XVII. Resultados en salud: patología cardiovascular

Capítulo XVIII. Resultados en salud a evaluar en enfermedades raras

Capítulo XIX. Investigación de resultados en salud en niños y adolescentes

Behavioral pandemics

 Human Behaviour in Pandemics. Social and Psychological Determinants in a Global Health Crisis

The long and bumpy road to CRISPR (4)

 The Genome Odyssey. Medical Mysteries and the Incredible Quest to Solve Them

Digital health futures

 The Lancet and Financial Times Commission on governing health futures 2030: growing up in a digital world

The governance of digital technologies in health and health care must be driven by public purpose, not private profit. Its primary goals should be to address the power asymmetries reinforced by digital transformations, increase public trust in the digital health ecosystem, and ensure that the opportunities offered by digital technologies and data are harnessed in support of the missions of public health and UHC. To achieve these goals, we propose four action areas that we consider game-changers for shaping health futures in a digital world.

First, we suggest that decision makers, health professionals, and researchers consider—and address— digital technologies as increasingly important determinants of health. Second, we emphasise the need to build a governance architecture that creates trust in digital health by enfranchising patients and vulnerable groups, ensuring health and digital rights, and regulating powerful players in the digital health ecosystem. Third, we call for a new approach to the collection and use of health data based on the concept of data solidarity, with the aim of simultaneously protecting individual rights, promoting the public good potential of such data, and building a culture of data justice and equity. Finally, we urge decision makers to invest in the enablers of digitally transformed health systems, a task that will require strong country ownership of digital health strategies and clear investment roadmaps that help prioritise those technologies that are most needed at different levels of digital health maturity.

 Neus Martin, Galeria Barnadas

Physician culture

 Uncaring. HOW THE CULTURE OF MEDICINE KILLS DOCTORS & PATIENTS

The former CEO of Kaiser Permanente Medical Group shines a light on the unseen and often toxic culture of medicine (US and non-US).

Uncaring tells the story of a profession that is both triumphant and dangerously flawed, filled with people who aspire to help others, yet who sometimes act coldly, callously, and indifferently toward the pain of others. This book takes you inside the doctor’s world, revealing unique insights about their training, their daily practices, and the culture they share. It is a book about people striving for perfection and about the impossibility of achieving it. It sheds light on the norms, rules, and expectations of doctors, and shows how culture shapes their thoughts and beliefs. It deciphers their evolving language, symbols, and codes. It highlights what brings doctors together and what isolates them from their colleagues and patients. Finally, this book examines the elements of physician culture that need to be corrected, the ones that should be preserved, and how to accomplish both.

The exploration begins by diving into the meaning and relevance of “culture,” an abstract concept with myriad definitions and applications. Part One, “Diagnosing Physician Culture,” takes you behind medicine’s protective curtain. There you’ll be introduced to the rituals, icons, and beliefs physicians share.

Part Two, “The Physician’s Pain,” explores the complex interplay between the healthcare system and physician culture, showing how both have contributed to a burnout crisis that is now wreaking havoc on US doctors.

Part Three, “Helping or Harming Patients?,” focuses on the impact physician culture has on patients and the ways it contributes to the deterioration of our nation’s overall health.

Having detailed the reasons doctors feel overwhelmed, fatigued, and in perpetual conflict with the world around them, Part Four, “The Social Ladder,” looks at how changes in society are ratcheting up the discomfort physicians experience. Like the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back, each new societal influence seems, on the surface, relatively insignificant and completely manageable. But together, these changing norms are proving too much for physicians to handle.

Part Five, “The Evolution of Physician Culture,” offers patients, doctors, business leaders, and elected officials a difficult but necessary choice—one they will need to make in a world now socially, economically, and politically ravaged by the coronavirus. As the nation’s “new normal” takes shape, all the options involving the future of American medicine will be painful and risky. This section outlines those choices and the path toward making US healthcare, once again, the best in the world. Through the process, physician culture has an opportunity to change for the better.

By the end of this book, having observed physician culture under the proverbial microscope, you will be able to see in fine detail what has long remained invisible. You’ll better understand the doctors who provide your medical care and how you can protect yourself from their cultural shortcomings. Some of the stories in this book will inspire you and generate a deeper appreciation for the role doctors play in your life. Others will sadden you, opening your eyes to the many ways that physician culture compromises your health, harms our economy, and holds our country back.

Economics of pandemics (4)

 The Economics of Pandemics. Exploring Globally Shared Experiences

Topics:

The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Globally Shared Experience: An Introduction

Pandemic Economics: Essential Features and Outstanding Questions

Pandemic Analysis I: Global Governance for a Global Pandemic?

Pandemic Analysis II: Governmental Actions During the Pandemic—Lockdown or No Lockdown?

Pandemic Analysis III: The Great Reset, People’s Uprisings, and Other Radical Change Proposals

Pandemic Analysis IV: Is the COVID-19 Pandemic a Doomsday Scenario for Climate Change?

Pandemic Analysis V: The Science and Economics of a Vaccine for Ending the Pandemic

The Economics of Pandemics as a Globally Shared Experience: A Theory

Some Yet Unresolved Questions and Mysteries About the COVID-19 Pandemic