News from Friday, February 7, 2025
Articles
New ACP Migraine Guidelines Show No Advantage for Pricy, Newer Medications
(2/6, Chelsie Derman, HCPLive) reports “[The American College of Physicians] recommends cost-effective monotherapy for episodic migraine prevention, favoring beta-blockers, valproate, venlafaxine, or amitriptyline over expensive newer medications. If initial treatments fail, CGRP antagonists or monoclonal antibodies are suggested, followed by topiramate, emphasizing adherence due to gradual improvement.” Full
Cassidy: Upcoming Bill Will Realign 340B Program To Mitigate Misuse
(2/6, Gabrielle Wanneh and Dorothy Mills-Gregg, Inside Health Policy) reports “Reforming the 340B drug discount program is among the top priorities for Senate health committee chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who said he plans to soon introduce long-awaited legislation aimed at maintaining the program’s mission while stemming safety net hospitals’ misuse of drug discounts. He said the reforms are also needed to prevent drug prices from rising.” Subscription Required
Press Releases
UM School of Medicine Surgeon-Scientists to Co-Lead Large International Clinical Trial to Determine Most Effective Treatment for Common Hip Fracture in Older Adults
(2/7, University of Maryland School of Medicine Press Release) “...A new $10.8 million multicenter clinical trial co-led by Gerard Slobogean, MD, MPH, an Associate Professor of Orthopaedics and Director of Clinical Research in the Department of Orthopaedics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), will determine if hip replacement surgery, also known as hip arthroplasty, produces better outcomes for patients ages 60 and older than simpler ‘internal fixation’ that has been performed for decades.” Full
NICE Announces Proposals to Transform its Healthtech Programme to Drive More Technology into the NHS
(2/7, NICE Press Release) “...In the biggest shake-up of NICE's HealthTech programme to date, the plans enable more products to be evaluated and remove the requirement for medical devices to be cost saving for them to be recommended for use in the NHS. Instead, independent committees will assess all technologies based on cost-effectiveness and so will balance the cost of the technology with the benefits it brings to patients and the service, which may include savings or efficiencies.” Full
Journals
A Bias-Corrected Bayesian Nonparametric Model for Combining Studies With Varying Quality in Meta-Analysis
Pablo Emilio Verde, Gary L Rosner
February 2025, Biometrical Journal
Comparative Effectiveness of First-Line Pembrolizumab vs. Chemotherapy in aNSCLC: A Norwegian Population-Based Cohort Study
Simon Boge Brant, et al.
February 6, 2025, Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Continuous Outcome Estimation in N-of-1 Trials for Accelerated Decision-Making
Victoria Defelippe, et al.
February 6, 2025, medRxiv
Real-World Data of Dacomitinib as First-Line Treatment for Patients with EGFR-Mutant Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer
Ji Eun Shin, et al.
February 7, 2025, Scientific Reports