Are vaccine lotteries worth the money?

This research evaluates the effects of the twelve statewide vaccine lottery schemes that were announced as of June 7, 2021 on state vaccination rates. We construct a dataset that matches information on the timing and location of these lotteries with daily, county-level data from the U.S.

Deconstructing Racism, Hierarchy, and Power in Medical Education: Guiding Principles on Inclusive Curriculum Design.

In the context of current U.S. racial justice movements, analysis of racism in medicine within medical education is a critical task for all institutions.

Antibiotic resistance in the patient with cancer: Escalating challenges and paths forward.

Infection is the second leading cause of death in patients with cancer. Loss of efficacy in antibiotics due to antibiotic resistance in bacteria is an urgent threat against the continuing success of cancer therapy. In this review, the authors focus on recent updates on the impact of antibiotic resistance in the cancer setting, particularly on the ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp.

Paying Americans to take the vaccine-would it help or backfire?

This research investigates the extent to which financial incentives (conditional cash transfers) would induce Americans to opt for vaccination against coronavirus disease of 2019. We performed a randomized survey experiment with a representative sample of 1000 American adults in December 2020. Respondents were asked whether they would opt for vaccination under one of three incentive conditions ($1000, $1500, or $2000 financial incentive) or a no-incentive condition.

Patient Access in 14 High-Income Countries to New Antibacterials Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency, Japanese Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, or Health Canada, 2010-2020.

Background: Inaccessibility of medicines in low- and middle-income countries is a frequent challenge. Yet it is typically assumed that high-income countries have complete access to the full arsenal of medicines. This study tests this assumption for new antibacterials, which are saved as a last resort in order to prevent the development of resistance, resulting in insufficient revenues to offset costs.

The impact of infections on reimbursement in 92 US hospitals, 2015-2018.

Background: The diagnosis-related group (DRG) is a payment system introduced to standardize healthcare costs. However, reimbursement for treatment of infections does not always cover costs.

Methods: We used 2015-2018 data from 92 US hospitals in the Becton Dickinson Insights Research Database to compare the financial burden of hospital admissions within non-infection DRGs for patients with a bacterial infection (INF+) versus those without an infection (INF-).

Designing Policy Solutions to Build a Healthier Rural America.

Disparities exist in the health, livelihood, and opportunities for the 46-60 million people living in America's rural communities. Rural communities across the United States need a new energy and focus concentrated around health and health care that allows for the designing capturing, and spreading of existing and new innovations. This paper aims to provide a framework for policy solutions to build a healthier rural America describing both the current state of rural health policy and the policies and practices in states that could be used as a national model for positive change.

Divergence and Convergence of Royalty Determinations between Compulsory Licensing under the TRIPS Agreement and Ongoing Royalties as an Equitable Remedy.

Patent rights are recognized as a property asset with an attendant right to exclude. However, recent policy developments highlight that the right to exclude is not inviolable. This paper explores two rapidly evolving exceptions to patent exclusivity, both of which take the form of compulsory licenses.

Designing development programs for non-traditional antibacterial agents.

In the face of rising rates of antibacterial resistance, many responses are being pursued in parallel, including 'non-traditional' antibacterial agents (agents that are not small-molecule drugs and/or do not act by directly targeting bacterial components necessary for bacterial growth). In this Perspective, we argue that the distinction between traditional and non-traditional agents has only limited relevance for regulatory purposes. Rather, most agents in both categories can and should be developed using standard measures of clinical efficacy demonstrated with non-inferiority or superiority trial designs according to existing regulatory frameworks.

Exclusive Drug Labeling Rights as a New Incentive for Contribution to a Communal Biomarker Resource.

Biomarkers are an important tool in modern drug development. The FDA has posited that increased use of biomarkers in clinical trials can accelerate pharmaceutical industry productivity, ushering new drugs to market. Accordingly, the FDA has created two pathways for evaluation of biomarker utility.