Bayer's removal of contraceptive device Essure praised by activists

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Bayer's removal of contraceptive device Essure praised by activists

It's the end of an era for Amanda Dykeman, one of the many women who has campaigned against the permanent contraceptive device Essure. Bayer, the device's manufacturer, announced last week that they will no longer sell or distribute the device in the U.S. after Dec. 31 this year. The move comes after years of debate — both in court rooms and in the court of public opinion — about the safety of the device.

Essure is a permanent form of birth control approved by the FDA in 2002 for women ages 21-45. It consists of a pair of soft, nickel-titanium coils that providers insert into each of the Fallopian tubes. The coils cause scar tissue to grow around them, thereby blocking the Fallopian tubes so that eggs cannot reach the uterus.

Bayer continues to stand by the safety of the device, and many OBGYNS feel confident about the safety profile of the device based on the research Bayer has conducted. But complaints from women about the device have continued to pile up.

One of the leaders of those women was Dykeman. "I no longer feel like I chose Essure. Essure chose me," she said last week. Read more from Tara Haelle on Forbes.

Regeneron CEO & CSO: The real healthcare problem is bigger than you think

As physician-scientists and biotech leaders, we have grown increasingly concerned about the current dialogue on the biopharma industry, which tends to focus on short-term issues such as drug pricing, at the complete exclusion of much bigger issues that threaten the long-term health of our nation and the very sustainability of our way of life.

In some ways, it's akin to debating the current price of thermostats and air conditioning, while ignoring the potentially apocalyptic long-term impact of climate change. Read more from Len Schleifer and George Yancopoulos in Forbes.

MAKING THE ROUNDS

Facebook has violated the trust of patient groups. Thousands of women who carry mutations in the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 and joined "private" Facebook groups recently learned they were vulnerable to a Chrome plug-in that allowed marketers to discover group members' names and other private health information.

The Right to Try bill was signed into law on May 30, but for it to be realized, a pharmaceutical firm must be willing to provide experimental drugs. Nothing in the legislation makes that step mandatory, and even if offered to patients, many will not have access to medical facilities capable of administering investigational medications.

Anthem, the nation's second-largest health insurer, says its ACA individual business has stabilized enough that the operator of Blue Cross and Blue Plans in 14 states will expand in 2019. The decision is the latest sign health insurance companies are forging ahead with expansions despite attacks on Obamacare by the Trump administration.

Geisinger is at the forefront of an effort to answer a critical question: Would routine genomic testing for cancer and heart risk make economic sense? Health economists have modeled the risks and benefits in various ways, but no data has emerged yet to provide black-and-white answers about whether the benefits justify the costs.

NEWS YOU CAN USE

This month brought a few studies showing the interesting connections between our everyday habits and cognition. Dehydration, digital devices and (potentially) neckties may all sap cognitive bandwidth. The good news is these habits are easily fixed, which points to how responsive to surroundings the human brain can be. The studies assess sugar, stress, sleep and more.

Dehydration: A study found people began making errors during attentional tasks earlier when dehydrated, and the errors became more pronounced the more significant the dehydration. In addition to innocuous initial errors, higher-level capacities like math and logic also fell off when dehydration exceeded 2% of body mass.

Neckties: A study found wearing a necktie can cut off circulation to your brain by about 7%. The team had men don neckties or go without, and then undergo MRI scans to measure cerebral blood flow. Men whose ties were tightened had a significant loss of the blood flow to their brains compared to others.