Psychiatric disorders are common among people with epilepsy. But a new study, published yesterday in JAMA Neurology, pinpoints suicidal ideation and attempts as unique predictors of a person’s response to antiseizure medications. Among nearly 350 participants in the Human Epilepsy Project, experiencing suicidality — whether or not it was accompanied by a mood or anxiety disorder — significantly increased a person’s risk of developing resistance to antiseizure medications.

Patients were screened for psychiatric disorders and suicidality upon entering the program within months of receiving their epilepsy diagnosis. Those with no psychiatric problems had about a 16% chance of developing treatment resistance in six years of follow-up data. Those with anxiety disorders saw that risk increase to nearly 33%. And those who experienced suicidality without a diagnosed disorder saw the risk jump to 47%.

The study included a small number of participants, and more research is needed. Still, the authors believe that the results could be “a marker of more severe neuropathology.”

hospitals

Is AI upcoding or accurately coding?

Brittany Trang wrote about a new insurer-affiliated report that offers possible evidence that AI coding might be driving up the cost of health care.

The new report focuses on a single code that describes a loss of blood after childbirth big enough to drop hemoglobin levels. Some hospitals started billing more often for that code, even though they didn’t provide more blood transfusions, which is how the condition is often treated. However, some in the hospital industry say post-hemorrhagic anemia after childbirth doesn’t always require a blood transfusion, the code for that condition is often overlooked, and suggest AI is merely catching that oversight.

Read more

infectious disease

Pharma companies are developing fewer antibiotics

The number of antimicrobial drug candidates being developed by large pharma companies plumetted by 35% — from 92 to 60 — over the past five years, according to a new analysis.

The findings highlight a mismatch between business incentives and public health needs.

There’s much less incentive for companies to develop antibiotics, which are usually used for short periods of time, than other types of drugs, like treatments for chronic diseases.

But public health officials continue to raise alarms about the dearth of new antibiotics available. Antimicrobial resistance remains one of the most urgent global health threats, causing more than one million deaths annually.

Read more from STAT’s Ed Silverman.

Why Cadence is high on ACCESS

Cadence will participate in the Medicare ACCESS model when the first cohort launches in July, I report in a new story. Cadence is among the first to say it will participate. Best known for its remote patient monitoring programs offered through health systems, the company will reimagine its services with AI to make it feasible at much lower cost.

The announcement follows much public debate about the merits of the program, which is meant to incentivize technology-enabled care by aligning payment to outcomes instead of to individual services. Some observers were disappointed by the payment amounts Medicare set. In my story, Cadence CEO Chris Altchek tells me about the AI the company has already built and the company’s strategy for safely launching new clinical AI and getting it through the Food and Drug Administration.

Read more here

from AXIOS:

FDA smooths the path for biosimilars

By Peter Sullivan

Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios

The Trump administration is moving to speed up approvals of copycat biologic drugs as a way to lower health costs and boost an underused market. Why it matters: Efforts to elevate biosimilars have been thwarted by unfavorable placement on formularies and doctors’ refusal to switch patients to the look-alike treatments. Now, the FDA is easing some requirements around studies that biosimilar makers conduct to compare the treatments with brand-name products. Driving the news: The FDA on Monday changed rules to allow comparison with products approved outside the United States and to cut down on the need for additional studies comparing to a product licensed in the U.S. While some drug policy experts said the moves are a step in the right direction, they cautioned there’s no guarantee they’ll deliver on the administration’s goals. “It may not lower prices, but it might, which is a good thing,” said Ryan Conrad, a visiting fellow at Brookings and a former economist at the FDA. Insurers and pharmacy benefit managers still may not cover certain biosimilars or may favor their own private-label products, Conrad said. And certain drugs for small patient populations can’t support multiple manufacturers. Between the lines: One of the highest-profile use cases for biosimilars has been AbbVie’s blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug Humira. Biosimilar versions struggled even after the brand-name version lost market exclusivity in 2023, though business has started to pick up. Biosimilars backers said another obstacle was the way AbbVie used “patent thickets” to file overlapping intellectual property claims on the product and delay competitors from getting on the market. What we’re watching: Whether the changes meaningfully boost prospects for big players like Sandoz, Pfizer and Amgen. Juliana Reed, executive director of the Biosimilars Forum, an industry trade group, said the Medicare drug price negotiation program could serve as an incentive for brand-name drug companies to break down barriers to biosimilar competition, since drugs with competitors on the market are exempted. Read the rest Job cuts at federal health agencies Photo illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios. Photo: James Gathany, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Federal agencies involved with biomedical research and public health lost 36,146 employees between September 2024 and December 2025, according to a new analysis. Why it matters: Reductions the administration said were for the sake of efficiency hit the CDC particularly hard, cutting off public communications channels and reducing spending on R&D contracts by 79% from FY24 to FY25, the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service analysis said. By the numbers: The workforce in medical research and public health agencies including NIH, CDC, the Veterans Health Administration and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry declined 7.9% over the period studied. The agencies directed $43.3 billion in project grants in FY25, a 2.9% decrease from the year before. The ripple effect of $12 billion in HHS grant cuts to state health departments also disrupted local services addressing substance abuse, mental health and HIV care in states like Wisconsin and North Carolina, the analysis found. The workforce data was drawn from the Office of Personnel Management. The administration and its allies in Congress have defended overhauling federal health agencies, arguing that federal spending contributed to out-of-control growth in the bureaucracy.