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I hope you can relax this weekend. Here are my favorite 4th of July videos. (It’s noisy.)
Republican lawmaker pushes for greater diversity in clinical trials
Congressional Republicans are working to improve diversity in clinical trials after the Trump administration tightened diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
Diversity in clinical trials was shaken after the administration removed all references to DEI from many agency websites and studies. Two recent reports say pharmaceutical companies are not enrolling enough talent in rural and underserved areas of the country.
The Food and Drug Administration had planned to complete implementation in 2022 of a law that would require drug and medical device manufacturers to submit plans for diversifying clinical trials. The Biden administration drafted the guidance, but the Trump administration later removed it from the FDA’s website. Read more from STAT’s John Wilkerson.
The race to find a cure for Ebola begins
A clinical trial testing two treatments for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola began in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, the WHO announced at a press conference. The trial will test the antiviral drug remdesivir, made by Gilead Sciences and sold under the name Veklury, and a monoclonal antibody called MBP-134, made by MapBio. The two will be tested individually and in combination to find drugs that increase their chances of survival.
Vassi Moorthy, director of the WHO’s research and development blueprint program, acknowledged that it may take some time to answer whether these drugs are effective alone or if they are more effective when given together. “We shouldn’t expect this to be over in a few weeks. It’s going to take months. It could be next year,” he said. Moorthy said there is a significant amount of remdesivir available and perhaps enough MBP-134 to successfully complete clinical trials, but efforts are underway to increase production of MBP-134 in case it proves effective.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has so far confirmed 1,406 cases of Ebola and 438 deaths from the outbreak. — Helen Branswell
Male marathon runners are more likely to ‘hit a wall’
“Pace yourself” is usually difficult advice to follow. But a study of some 900,000 Berlin Marathon runners found that it was particularly difficult for male runners.
The study, published in the journal Nature, found that men were twice as likely as men to experience a catastrophic drop in pace (a drop of 20% or more), a phenomenon known as “hitting the wall.” And while the fastest athletes were less likely to hit a wall overall, elite male runners were six times more likely than female runners.
The authors suggest that there is some physiology behind this – women tend to burn more fat and consume carbohydrates more slowly, but there is not enough data to explain the study results. It’s also possible that men overestimate their competitive abilities and start too early.
This discovery also provides a clue to understanding one of the most interesting facts about running. That is, men are faster than women, but the difference in performance becomes smaller the longer the distance they run. And once race distances exceed the 195-mile mark (you read that right), women tend to outperform men. — Annalisa Merelli
Why is everyone in a bad mental state?
When I asked STAT’s Alex Hogan about this week’s STATus report, he had this to say: “I went to a YouTube convention and it was really weird, but I noticed that people were talking about their mental health, so I’m trying to get to the bottom of it.”
Alex literally went to the bottom of the ball pit for this video, and you’ll want to check it out too.
America 250, America 1
I hope you are receiving this email after a weekend of rest and relaxation. There are two health-related items to consider:
- one big number: The Trump administration set off 851,000 fireworks in Washington on Saturday, breaking a world record set in the Philippines in 2016. Internal National Park Service modeling before the event suggested the show could create “very unhealthy” conditions around the area. (They were partially delayed due to storms and intense heat.) Fireworks, while great to look at, turned out to be a huge health risk. Injuries always spike around the summer holidays, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission last year reported at least 15 firework-related deaths and an estimated 13,000 injuries treated in emergency departments.
- vaccine: If you were alive in 1776, it is hard to overstate how thoroughly disease ravaged colonists, enslaved peoples, and indigenous peoples during that time. Smallpox alone had a mortality rate of 30%! One study estimated that 90% of Continental Army casualties were caused by infectious diseases. After 250 years, the United States still has relatively few pesky pathogens to worry about (despite the resurgence of measles). Congratulations on being born.
what we are reading
- Postpartum or perimenopause? For more women than ever, the answer is both, The Washington Post reported.
- Cases of shingles are on the rise among millennial women. What do you think is the cause? the cut
- Medicare moves to cut 340 billion yen to hospitals, STAT
- What a Brooklyn Distillery Reveals About the Experimental Weight Loss Drug Epidemic, CBS News
