Monkeying around
The most important news in healthcare: Tuesday, June 30.
Good morning. Today, we’re covering the big news out of the Supreme Court and a new technology that’s being used to help monkeys (and maybe, someday, people) with heart disease.
In a close ruling, the Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana abortion law
The pulse:
The Supreme Court has struck down a controversial Louisiana law that would have left the state with a single abortion clinic.
How did the vote go?
The ruling was 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts (usually a conservative voice in the court) joining the four liberals in deeming the law unconstitutional.
What was the law in question?
This law would have required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges (authorization to admit and treat patients) at nearby hospitals. Four years ago, the Supremes struck down a similar law in Texas.
What are the arguments for and against?
Supporters of the law state it’s for the health and safety of women receiving abortions in the case of complications. Critics of the law say it’s a thinly veiled attempt to restrict abortion access, as such admitting privileges are notoriously difficult to obtain and medically unnecessary – less than a quarter of one percent (0.23%) of abortions result in complications that would require hospital admission.
Why is this law getting everyone so worked up?
The law would more than triple the average distance women in Louisiana would have to travel to receive an abortion and would disproportionately affect low-income women of color. Perhaps even more importantly, if passed, it could set a precedent for other states to follow suit. Chief Justice Roberts wrote:
The Louisiana law imposes a burden on access to abortion just as severe as that imposed by the Texas law, for the same reasons. Therefore, Louisiana's law cannot stand under our precedents.
Bottom line it for me.
The Supremes love their precedents, and striking down two restrictive abortion laws in four years certainly sets a powerful one.
Source: docwiresnews.com
CRISPR technology treats genetic cause of heart disease in monkeys
The pulse:
On Saturday, Verve Therapeutics announced that their gene-editing technology, CRISPR, reduced levels of heart-disease-causing “bad” cholesterol and triglycerides in monkeys by more than 60%.
What’s CRISPR, and how does it work?
CRISPR is one of the shiniest, newest, tools in the scientists’ arsenal against genetic diseases. The form of CRISPR studied in these monkeys uses a piece of RNA to guide it to tiny segments of mutated genes that may be causing disease, and another piece of RNA to replace the mutated genes with normal, healthy genes. CRISPR has to be really precise to work: it’s often looking for a single set of 23 unhealthy “base-pairs” in the gene amongst a total of 3.25 billion base-pairs.
How was CRISPR used to help treat heart disease in these monkeys?
Both monkeys and people have two genes that, when broken, lead to elevated chances of heart disease. Broken copies of these genes, called PCSK9 and ANGPTL3, occur frequently in humans (it’s estimated, for example, than 1 in 50 people have a broken PCSK9 gene) and can have significant impacts on health, increasing the risk of coronary artery disease and heart attack by more than 30%.
How well did it work?
Fourteen monkeys received CRISPR treatment to fix these genes. After two weeks, their levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides and dropped by 60% and 65%, respectively.
Bottom line it for me.
As much as salads and pilates can help, a lot of heart disease is genetically driven -- but that opens the door to new-fangled treatment approaches like CRISPR.
Rapidfire:
Gilead has priced remdesivir, an antiviral that has shown modest efficacy in treating COVID-19, at about $3,120 for a full course. It’s considered pretty cheap, and has raised the question why low drug pricing is the exception, rather than rule.
States all over the country, from New Jersey to Arizona, are now pausing re-opening plans as COVID-19 infection rates climb within the US.
A new scientific journal has been created specifically for the purpose of vetting COVID-19 research. The journal is a direct response to critics who have stated that COVID-19 research has moved at times too quickly without proper review and controls.
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