CAIRO — Four Greek rescue workers dispatched to Libya following devastating flooding in the eastern city of Derna were killed in a road collision Sunday, Libya’s health minister said.
Some 11,300 people died when two dams collapsed during Mediterranean storm Daniel last week sending a wall of water gushing through the city, according to the Red Crescent aid group. A further 10,000 people are missing, and presumed dead.
Rescue workers from Greece, Turkey, Egypt and other countries have flocked to the decimated port city to offer help.
On Sunday, a bus carrying 19 Greek rescue workers collided with a vehicle carrying five Libyan nationals on the road between the cities of Benghazi and Derna, health minister Othman Abduljaleel said at a news conference. Three Libyans in the oncoming vehicle were also killed.
Seven of the surviving Greek rescue workers were in critical condition, the minister said.
In a parallel statement, the Greek Foreign Ministry acknowledged the crash but said only three of its nationals had died while two others were missing. The Associated Press was not immediately able to reconcile the conflicting reports.
The disaster has brought some rare unity to oil-rich Libya, which has been divided between rival governments in the country’s east and west that are backed by various militia forces and international patrons. Residents from the nearby cities of Benghazi and Tobruk have offered to put up the displaced, while volunteers have helped hunt for survivors buried beneath the rubble.
But the opposing governments have struggled to respond to the crisis. Their recovery efforts have been hampered by confusion, difficulty getting aid to the hardest-hit areas, and the destruction of Derna’s infrastructure, including several bridges.
More than 3,283 bodies were buried as of Sunday, Abduljaleel said, many in mass graves outside Derna, while others were transferred to nearby towns and cities.
On Saturday, Libya’s general prosecutor, al-Sediq al-Sour, opened an investigation into the collapse of the two dams, built in the 1970s, as well as the allocation of maintenance funds. Derna’s mayor, Abdel-Moneim al-Gaithi, was suspended pending an investigation into the disaster.
Authorities and aid groups have voiced concern about the spread of waterborne diseases and shifting of explosive ordnance from Libya’s recent conflicts.
Haider al-Saeih, head of Libya’s center for combating diseases, said in televised comments Saturday that at least 150 people had suffered from diarrhea after drinking contaminated water in Derna.
To prevent disease outbreak, Abduljaleel said his ministry had began “vaccinations against diseases that usually occur after disasters such as this one.”
Here we go again: COVID-19 hospital admissions have inched upward in the United States since early July in a small-scale echo of the three previous summers.
With an updated vaccine still months away, this summer bump in new hospitalizations might be concerning, but the number of patients is far lower than before. A look at what we know:
HOW BAD IS THE SPIKE?
For the week ending July 29, COVID-19 hospital admissions were at 9,056. That’s an increase of about 12% from the previous week.
But it’s a far cry from past peaks, like the 44,000 weekly hospital admissions in early January, the nearly 45,000 in late July 2022, or the 150,000 admissions during the omicron surge of January 2022.
“It is ticking up a little bit, but it’s not something that we need to raise any alarm bells over,” said Dr. David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
It’s likely that infections are rising too, but the data is scant. Federal authorities ended the public health emergency in May, so the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and many states no longer track the number of positive test results.
WHAT ABOUT DEATHS?
Since early June, about 500 to 600 people have died each week. The number of deaths appears to be stable this summer, although past increases in deaths have lagged behind hospitalizations.
HOW ARE WE TRACKING THE VIRUS?
The amount of the COVID-19 virus in sewage water has been rising since late June across the nation. In the coming weeks, health officials say they’ll keep a close eye on wastewater levels as people return from summer travel and students go back to school.
Higher levels of COVID-19 in wastewater concentrations are being found in the Northeast and South, said Cristin Young, an epidemiologist at Biobot Analytics, the CDC’s wastewater surveillance contractor.
“It’s important to remember right now the concentrations are still fairly low,” Young said, adding it’s about 2.5 times lower than last summer.
And while one version of omicron — EG.5 — is appearing more frequently, no particular variant of the virus is dominant. The variant has been dubbed “eris” but it’s an unofficial nickname and scientists aren’t using it.
“There are a couple that we’re watching, but we’re not seeing anything like delta or omicron,” Young said, referencing variants that fueled previous surges.
And mutations in the virus don’t necessarily make it more dangerous.
“Just because we have a new subvariant doesn’t mean that we are destined to have an increase in bad outcomes,” Dowdy said.
WHEN IS THE NEW VACCINE COMING?
This fall, officials expect to see updated COVID-19 vaccines that contain one version of the omicron strain, called XBB.1.5. It’s an important change from today’s combination shots, which mix the original coronavirus strain with last year’s most common omicron variants.
It’s not clear exactly when people can start rolling up their sleeves for what officials hope is an annual fall COVID-19 shot. Pfizer, Moderna and smaller manufacturer Novavax all are brewing doses of the XBB update but the Food and Drug Administration will have to sign off on each, and the CDC must then issue recommendations for their use.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, the new CDC director, said she expects people will get their COVID-19 shots where they get their flu shots — at pharmacies and at work — rather than at dedicated locations that were set up early in the pandemic as part of the emergency response.
“This is going to be our first fall and winter season coming out of the public health emergency, and I think we are all recognizing that we are living with COVID, flu, and RSV,” Cohen told The Associated Press last week. “But the good news is we have more tools than ever before.”
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AP Medical Writers Lauran Neergaard and Mike Stobbe contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
CAIRO — Sudan’s escalating conflict has driven more than 4 million people from their homes, including over 884,000 who have fled to neighboring countries, a U.N. official said Tuesday.
The fighting has also triggered outbreaks of disease and an increase in malnutrition, according to William Spindler, a spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency. From mid-May to mid-July, the UNHCR recorded over 300 deaths from measles and malnutrition, mainly among children under 5, Spindler said, speaking to reporters in Geneva.
His remarks came as clashes between the Sudanese army and its rival paramilitary force intensify in the eastern part of the capital, Khartoum, and the nearby city of Omdurman.
Sudan was plunged into chaos in April when simmering tensions between the military, led by Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open fighting in Khartoum and elsewhere.
“Chronic shortages in health staff, as well as attacks on personnel as reported by the World Health Organization, have significantly compromised the quality of health care across the country,” Spindler said.
On Tuesday, Nabil Abdallah, the military’s main spokesman, said army forces killed and injured hundreds of RSF fighters in ongoing operations in Omdurman. The RSF did not acknowledge those casualties and instead said its fighters had killed scores of army soldiers in street battles there. The Associated Press could not verify either claim.
The rival forces had ordered civilians to evacuate Omdurman’s riverside district of Abu Zouf due to the intensifying fighting, according to Sudan’s Resistance Committees, a pro-democracy network.
Omdurman’s Al-Nou Hospital — where many of the wounded are being treated — is short on surgeons, blood supplies and oxygen tanks, the Sudan Doctors Union said Tuesday.
In June, the government said more than 3,000 people had been killed in Sudan’s conflict so far but has not released any data since then. Activists and doctors say the real death toll is likely far higher.
The fighting has reduced Khartoum to an urban battlefield where many residents live without water and electricity. In the western region of Darfur, the fighting has morphed into ethnic violence with RSF and allied Arab militia targeting African ethnic group communities.
Amnesty International has accused both sides of committing war crimes and the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor announced last month an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the latest fighting in Darfur.
With Sudan’s rainy season underway, Spindler said the UNHCR expects an uptick in cholera and malaria in the coming months. Last fall, flooding killed scores of people across the country.
A Florida family accused of selling a toxic industrial bleach as a fake COVID-19 cure through their online church is on trial this week in Miami
MIAMI — A Florida family accused of selling a toxic industrial bleach as a fake COVID-19 cure through their online church is on trial this week in Miami.
Mark Grenon, 65, and his sons, 37-year-old Jonathan, 35-year-old Joseph and 29-year-old Jordan, are all charged with conspiring to defraud the United States and deliver misbranded drugs, according to court records.
The Grenons are representing themselves but declined to make opening statements as the trial began Monday, the Miami Herald reported. They have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors called the Grenons “con men” and “snake-oil salesmen” and said the Bradenton family’s Genesis II Church of Health and Healing sold $1 million worth of their so-called Miracle Mineral Solution. In videos, it was pitched as a purported cure for 95% of known diseases, including COVID-19, Alzheimer’s, autism, brain cancer, HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis, prosecutors said.
What the Grenons were selling was actually chlorine dioxide, officials said. When ingested, the solution becomes a bleach that is typically used for such things as treating textiles, industrial water, pulp and paper, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Authorities said it is the same as drinking bleach and can be fatal.
A Miami federal judge ordered the church to stop selling the substance in 2020, but that was ignored.
Jonathan and Jordan Grenon were arrested in Bradenton, just south of the Tampa Bay area. Mark and Joseph Grenon fled to Colombia, where they were arrested and extradited back to the U.S.
TERRA CEIA ISLAND, Fla. — The Florida Department of Health has issued a statewide mosquito-borne illness advisory after four locally contracted cases of malaria were reported along the Gulf Coast south of Tampa.
On Monday, a health alert issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also noted that another case has been detected in Texas, marking the first time there has been a local spread of malaria in the United States in 20 years.
The four residents in Sarasota County received treatment and have recovered, according to the state’s Department of Health advisory. Malaria, caused by a parasite that spreads through bites from Anopheles mosquitoes, causes fever, chills, sweats, nausea and vomiting, and headaches. It is not spread person to person.
It’s the threat of the mosquito-borne illness that concerns Kathleen Gibson-Dee, who lives on Terra Ceia Island, which is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Sarasota County.
Even though no malaria cases have been reported in Manatee County, where Terra Ceia is located, Gibson-Dee said that she’s now routinely using bug repellent while working in her garden.
“I don’t go out without it,” she told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “And we don’t go out in the evening because you can see clouds and clouds of bugs now. They may not all be mosquitoes, but there’s certainly mosquitos out there.”
Another resident, Tom Lyons, says news of the malaria cases “makes me take mosquito protection a little more seriously.”
The mosquito population thrives in Terra Ceia because “it’s an island surrounded by a lot of shallow water and mangroves, and ideal places for mosquitoes,” Lyons said.
Officials in Manatee County have ramped up efforts to control the mosquito population.
Chris Lesser, director of the Manatee County mosquito control district, said they’re primarily using helicopters to combat the mosquito population because they cover between 15,000 and 20,000 acres (6070 to 8082 hectares) in one night. A truck can only cover around 1,000 acres (404 hectares) a night, he said.
“We really want to focus on killing the adult mosquito before they have the opportunity to feed on one person that may be infected with malaria and then transmit that disease to a second person,” Lesser said.
He said the time frame for when a mosquito can become infected to when it can transmit the disease to a person is about 14 days.
“So we’re trying to get in there about once every seven to 10 days and really knock down the mosquito population. And that process will continue until the public health alert that we’re currently under is lifted,” Lesser said.
“It’s a curtain,” he continued. “We’re trying to keep the malaria mosquitos from coming into our county through our southern border by using aggressive mosquito control activities.”
Officials in Sarasota County area also using similar tactics to control mosquitos, the county’s health department said in an advisory.
The initial malaria advisory was issued in Sarasota County after the first case was reported in late May. That was followed by a second case, and then two more, said Jae Williams, the press secretary for the Florida Department of Health.
“As soon as it crossed over from one to two confirmed cases, it progressed to an alert,” Williams said, comparing it to the system of issuing a hurricane watch versus a hurricane warning — when a storm is imminent.
“Listen, the conditions are favorable,” Williams continued. “It’s not just some rogue one mosquito. People need to be paying attention.”
Williams said health officials are being proactive.
“We know we are going into the Fourth of July holiday. We know the summer’s only getting hotter and wetter over the next couple of months,” Williams said. “So we just wanted to give Floridians a big kind of heads up, put the whole state on notice.”
About 2,000 U.S. cases of malaria are diagnosed each year — the vast majority in travelers coming from countries where malaria commonly spreads.
Since 1992, there have been 11 outbreaks involving malaria from mosquitoes in the U.S. The last one occurred in 2003 in Palm Beach County, Florida, where eight cases were reported.
A panel of independent advisors to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended Thursday that the antibody nirsevimab be approved for use to protect infants from respiratory syncytial virus, the leading cause of hospitalization among newborns.
If the FDA approves nirsevimab, the antibody would become the first medical intervention available in the U.S. that can protect all infants from RSV. The FDA, which is not obligated to follow the recommendation of its advisory panel, is expected to make a final decision on nirsevimab in the third quarter of this year.
Nirsevimab is a monoclonal antibody made by AstraZeneca. The medication would be marketed by Sanofi.
The advisory panel voted 21-0 to recommend its approval.
RSV kills nearly 100 babies in the United States every year.
Infants hospitalized with RSV often require oxygen support, intravenous fluids and are sometimes placed on a ventilator to support their breathing.
The virus is a major public health threat. A surge in RSV infections last year overwhelmed children’s hospitals leading to calls for the Biden administration to declare a public health emergency in response.
RSV circulates at the same time as the flu and Covid-19, which puts added pressure on hospitals.
There is another monoclonal antibody used against RSV called palivizumab. But this antibody is only for preterm infants and those with lung and congenital heart conditions that are high risk of severe disease. Palivizumab also has to be administered monthly.
Nirsevimab, by contrast, would also be administered to healthy infants, who make up a majority of the hospitalizations. It is also given as a single dose, which would make administration easier.
Nirsevimab is not considered a vaccine because it is a monoclonal antibody.
It is unclear whether the federal Vaccines for Children program will provide nirsevimab for uninsured and underinsured children for free because the antibody is regulated as a drug.
Nirsevimab is already approved in Canada, Europe and the United Kingdom.
Nirsevimab was up to 75% effective at preventing lower respiratory tract infections that required medical attention and 78% effective at preventing hospitalizations, according a review by the FDA.
A more conservative estimate by FDA put the antibody’s effectiveness at about 48% against lower respiratory tract infections that required medical attention. This estimate assumed patients with missing data on their health outcomes had lower respiratory tract infections that required medical attention.
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Nirsevimab is administered as a single injection with the dose depending on the infant’s weight. Infants that weigh less than 5 kilograms would receive a 50 mg injection for their first RSV season, and those weighing 5 kilograms or greater would receive a 100 mg injection.
Children less than two years old who remain at risk for severe RSV in their second season would receive a single 200 mg injection of nirsevimab.
The FDA did not identify any safety concerns in its review of nirsevimab.
Other monoclonal antibodies have been associated with serious allergic reactions, skin rashes and other hypersensitivity reactions.
The FDA did not find any cases of serious allergic reactions in the nirsevimab trials and cases of skin rash and hypersensitivity reactions were low in infants who received the antibody. But Dr. Melissa Baylor, an FDA official, said cases of these side effects will likely occur if nirsevimab is approved.
Twelve infants who received nirsevimab in the trials died. None of these deaths were related to the antibody, according to the FDA’s review.
Four died from cardiac disease, two died from gastroenteritis, two died from unknown causes but were likely cases sudden infant death syndrome, one died from a tumor, one died from Covid, one died from a skull fracture, and one died of pneumonia.
“Most deaths were due to an underlying disease,” Baylor said. “none of the deaths appeared to be related to nirsevimab.”
There is very close attention to safety due to historical failures in the development of RSV vaccines. Scientists first tried to develop a vaccine in the 1960s with an inactivated virus, but that shot actually made disease from RSV worse in some children when they received their first natural infection, resulting in the death of two infants.
Manish Shroff, head of patient safety at AstraZeneca, said the company will keep a close eye on the safety of nirsevimab through a large global monitoring system: “Safety is of utmost importance,” he said.
Baylor said there are also unanswered questions about how nirsevimab would interact with vaccines in development that confer protective antibodies to the fetus by administering the shot to the mother.
It’s unclear if giving nirsevimab to infants whose mothers received such RSV vaccines would provide additional protection or create potential safety issues,” Baylor said.
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas’ Democratic governor on Friday vetoed Republican legislation that would have provided a financial boost to anti-abortion pregnancy centers and prevented officials fighting outbreaks of contagious diseases from prohibiting public gatherings or ordering infected people to isolate themselves.
The two measures were part of a wave of conservative policies passeb by GOP-controlled state legislatures this year, including ones in Kansas rolling back transgender rights and establishing new restrictions on abortion providers. But Gov. Laura Kelly’s two vetoes will stand because lawmakers have adjourned for the year, barring any attempt at overriding them.
The anti-abortion measure would have granted up to $10 million a year in new state income tax credits to donors to the more than 50 centers across the state that provide free counseling, classes, supplies and other services to pregnant people and new parents to discourage abortions. Lawmakers included it in a wide-ranging tax bill that also included an expansion of existing tax credits for adoption expenses and purchases from businesses that employ disabled workers. Kelly vetoed the entire bill.
Republican lawmakers pursued anti-abortion measures this year despite a decisive statewide vote in August 2022 affirming abortion rights. Abortion opponents argued that the vote didn’t preclude “reasonable” restrictions and other measures, while Democrats argued that GOP legislators were breaking faith with voters.
Kelly supports abortion rights and narrowly won reelection last year. Last month she vetoed $2 million in the next state budget for direct aid to the centers, but the Legislature overrode that action.
In vetoing the direct aid, Kelly called the centers “largely unregulated” and added in her message to lawmakers, “This is not an evidence-based approach or even an effective method for preventing unplanned pregnancies.”
Abortion opponents argued that providing financial aid to their centers would help make sure that people facing unplanned pregnancies have good alternatives if they’re unsure about getting abortions.
Even if lawmakers still had a chance to override Kelly’s veto, they didn’t pass the tax bill initially with the two-thirds majorities required.
The other bill Kelly vetoed was part of an ongoing backlash from conservative lawmakers against how she, other state officials and local officials attempted to check the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. They were particularly critical of orders closing schools and businesses during the pandemic’s first months and restrictions on businesses’ operations and mask mandates later.
But Republicans split over the measure because some feared it went too far in curbing state and local officials’ powers during outbreaks.
It would have stripped local officials of their authority to prohibit public gatherings and repealed a requirement that local law enforcement officers enforce orders from public health officials. Those officials also would have lost their authority to order quarantines for infected people.
The head of the state health department, appointed by the governor, would have lost the power to issue orders and impose new health rules to prevent the spread of disease or to order people to get tested or seek treatment for infectious diseases.
The bill also reflected vaccine opponents’ influence with conservative Republican lawmakers.
It would have prevented the head of the state health department from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for children entering school or day care — something Kelly’s administration has said it doesn’t plan to do. State and local officials also would not have been able to cite a person’s lack of vaccination as a reason for recommending that they isolate themselves.
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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks during a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, December 20, 2021.
Denis Balibouse | Reuters
The spread of Covid-19 is no longer a global public health emergency, the World Health Organization declared Friday.
“For more than a year, the pandemic has been on a downward trend with population immunity increasing from vaccination and infection, mortality decreasing, and the pressure on health systems easing,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference in Geneva.
“This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before Covid-19,” Tedros said. “It is therefore with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency.”
Nearly 7 million people have died from the virus worldwide since the WHO first declared the emergency on Jan. 30, 2020, according to the U.N. organization’s official data. Tedros said the true death toll is at least 20 million.
The WHO’s decision comes as the U.S. is set to end its national public health emergency on Thursday.
Tedros said there is still a risk that a new variant could emerge and cause another surge in cases. He warned national governments against dismantling the systems they have built to fight the virus.
“This virus is here to stay. It’s still killing and it’s still changing,” he said.
But the WHO chief said the time has come for countries to transition from an emergency response to managing Covid like other infectious diseases.
Covid was first observed in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, when several patients began to experience pneumonia symptoms with unknown cause.
Covid moved rapidly around the globe in early 2020 leading to an unprecedented shutdown of international travel and border closures as countries unsuccessfully tried to prevent the spread of the virus.
Covid devastated the elderly and other vulnerable populations and ravaged hospitals that didn’t have the bed capacity or supplies to manage the sudden surge of suffering and death.
Many national governments shut down public life in a desperate effort to stop the death, leading to a severe economic downturn and social disruption, the long-term consequences of which likely won’t be fully understood for years to come.
“Covid-19 has been so much more than health crisis,” Tedros said. “It has caused severe economic upheaval, erasing trillions from GDP, disrupting travel and trade, shattering businesses and plunging millions into poverty,” he said.
“It has caused severe social upheaval with borders closed, movement restricted, schools shut and millions of people experiencing loneliness, isolation, anxiety and depression,” Tedros said.
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China has faced fierce criticism for not alerting the world earlier, an allegation Beijing denies. Critics have also accused the WHO of relying too much on information from Beijing at the outset of the pandemic.
More than three years later, the origins of the virus are still a hotly contested mystery. Scientists, government officials and the general public continue to debate whether Covid spilled over to humans from an infected animal, or leaked from a lab in China.
The U.S. intelligence community is divided in its assessment of Covid’s origins.
The U.S. government, allied nations and the WHO have criticized the Chinese government for not providing transparent access to data that could help determine how the pandemic started.
Travelers wearing protective masks receive nasal swabs from nurses at a COVID-19 test site inside Terminal B at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020.
Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Biden administration will end its Covid-19 vaccine mandates for federal employees, contractors and international air travelers next week.
The White House said in a statement Monday that those vaccine requirements will end on May 11, the same day the Covid public health emergency expires.
“While vaccination remains one of the most important tools in advancing the health and safety of employees and promoting the efficiency of workplaces, we are now in a different phase of our response when these measures are no longer necessary,” the White House said.
Although Covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths have declined dramatically this year, the virus is still killing more than 1,000 people per week.
The Health and Human Services Department also will start phasing out its vaccine mandate for health-care facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid, the White House said. In addition, it will end vaccination requirements for Head Start programs.
And the Department of Homeland Security will lift vaccination requirements for people entering the U.S via its land borders with Canada and Mexico, according to the Biden administration. U.S. citizens, nationals and permanent residents were never subject to those requirements.
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HHS and DHS will provide more details on the end of these vaccine requirements in the coming days, the White House said.
The Biden administration implemented the vaccine requirements for health workers, federal employees, contractors, and international air travelers as part of its drive to boost lackluster vaccination rates and slow the spread of the virus as the delta variant surged in late 2021 followed by omicron in the winter of 2022.
The mandates faced fierce opposition and lawsuits from critics who decried the requirements as government overreach, while the White House stressed they were essential to protect public health.
Seniors with early Alzheimer’s disease will face major hurdles to get treated even if promising new drugs roll out more broadly in the coming years, putting them at risk of developing more severe disease as they wait months or perhaps years for a diagnosis.
The U.S. health-care system is not currently prepared to meet the needs of an aging population in which a growing number of people will need to undergo evaluation forAlzheimer’s, according to neurologists, health policy experts and the companies developing the drugs.
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There are not enough dementia specialists or the needed testing capacity in the U.S. to diagnose everyone who may benefit from a new treatment like Eisai and Biogen‘s Leqembi. After patients are diagnosed, the capacity may not exist — at least initially — to provide the twice monthly intravenous infusions for everyone who is eligible.
Researchers estimate that the wait time from the initial evaluation to the confirmatory diagnostic tests to the infusions could range anywhere from a year and a half to four years or longer. Those months are critical for people with Alzheimer’s.
“The whole process from that time of the family physician conversation to the point of infusion, I worry how long it will take and the complexities of the patient navigating through all of that to successfully get to the end,” Anne White, president of neuroscience at Eli Lilly, which is developing its own Alzheimer’s treatment, told CNBC.
There are promising innovations in development, such as blood tests and injections that patients would take at home, which could make it significantly easier to get diagnosed and treated in the future.
White also said Lilly is confident that more doctors will get into the field and help to alleviate capacity issues, as awareness grows that medicines are entering the market to treat Alzheimer’s.
But time spent waiting robs early patients of their memory and ability to live independently. Alzheimer’s gets worse with time, and as patients deteriorate into more advanced stages of the disease, they no longer benefit from treatments like Leqembi that are designed to slow cognitive decline early.
More than 2,000 seniors transition from mild to moderate dementia from the disease a day, according to estimates from the Alzheimer’s Association. At that stage, they become ineligible for Leqembi.
The central challenge is that a large and rapidly growing group of people have early memory loss and other thinking problems known as mild cognitive impairment. This condition is often, though not always, a sign of early Alzheimer’s disease.
An estimated 13 million people in the U.S. had mild cognitive impairment last year, according to a study published in the Alzheimer’s and Dementia Journal. As the U.S. population ages, the number of people with this condition is expected to reach 21 million by 2060, the study projected.
The U.S. health-care system will deal with major logistical challenges in diagnosing the growing population of people with early Alzheimer’s — even before patients face potential issues with accessing treatment.
“There’s a very large population of undiagnosed cognitive impairments that need to be evaluated in order to determine if people are eligible for treatment,” said Jodi Liu, an expert on health policy at the Rand Corporation.
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Access to drugs like Leqembi is severely restricted because Medicare for nowwill only cover the $26,500-per-year treatment for people participating in clinical trials. Medicare has promised to provide broader coverage if Leqembi receives full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, which Eisai expects to happen in July.
Eisai has estimated that 100,000 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed and eligible for Leqembi by the third year of the treatment’s rollout. The sum is a fraction of the total population that could benefit.
Those patients could have other options if new treatments emerge from trials with positive marks.
Eli Lilly will publish clinical trial data on its antibody infusion donanemab in the second quarter of this year. If the data is positive, the company will ask the FDA to approve the drug.
Eisai’s U.S. CEO Ivan Cheung and Lilly’s White said during the companies’ respective earnings calls in February that they are focused on working with the U.S. health system to address the challenges of rolling out of Alzheimer’s treatments.
“The primary goal right now during this launch phase […] is really get the market ready in terms of the diagnostic pathway, the infusion capacity, the education on how to monitor for this therapy, get all the hospitals and clinics ready,” Cheung said.
Long lines are expected at the offices of geriatricians, neurologists and radiologists as millions of people with mild cognitive impairment undergo evaluation to diagnose whether they have Alzheimer’s disease.
Demand for geriatricians — doctors who are experts in diseases that affect the elderly — is expected to outstrip the number of specialists available in the field through at least 2035, according to projections from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.
The American Academy of Neurology told Medicare in a February letter that increased demand for Alzheimer’s treatments will put substantial pressure on neurologists, who will need additional resources. The federal data predicts a substantial shortage of these specialists in rural areas through at least 2035.
“You just look at the neurologists, look at geriatricians — there are fewer and fewer geriatricians per person in the U.S.,” Rand’s Liu said. “It’s just a few number of specialists to do this kind of work.”
White said Lilly has heard stories of patients waiting six to 12 months to see a neurologist or other doctors who treat dementia due to current capacity issues.
The number of radiologists — who also play a role in diagnosing the disease — is expected to decline in the U.S. through 2035 even as demand increases, the data shows.
In a study published in 2017, Liu and other Rand researchers estimated an initial wait of 18 months for patients to get evaluated by a dementia specialist, tested to confirm a diagnosis, and then treated in the first year that an Alzheimer’s antibody treatment becomes available. The wait would decrease to 1.3 months by 2030 as the patient backlog is cleared, they estimated at the time.
But more recent research found that the wait would actually increase as demand created by an aging U.S. population outstrips the supply of specialists.
Patients seeking a first specialist visit could face an initial wait of 20 months, according to a study by researchers at the University of Southern California published in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia in 2021. The delay could increase to about four years as early as 2028 and grow longer through 2050, the study found.
The journal is published by the Alzheimer’s Association.
Both studies are based on assumptions made before Leqembi received expedited approval from the FDA in January. Actual wait times could differ from the studies’ projections.
Two types of tests can diagnosis Alzheimer’s disease: PET scans and spinal taps. PET scans are accurate and safe diagnostic tools, but they are also cumbersome and expensive, said Dr. David Russell, a neurologist.
Patients are injected with a tracer that makes brain abnormalities visible to the machine that does the imaging. Tracers have to be made for each patient and used on the same day.
“We don’t have the infrastructure to roll out PET scanning on a major scale,” said Russell, director of clinical research at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders in New Haven, Connecticut. He is the principal investigator on the clinical trials of Leqembi and donanemab at the institute.
Medicare coverage of PET scans for Alzheimer’s patients is also limited right now. The insurance program for seniors will only cover one scan per lifetime, and only when the patient is participating in a clinical trail approved by the federal Centers for for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“That’s concerning because people may actually test negative at one point but then obviously as they age, they may need to get tested again,” White said.
Early Alzheimer’s disease can also be diagnosed with a spinal tap, in which fluid around the spinal cord is extracted with a catheter and tested. While there’s plenty of capacity to do spinal taps, this option isn’t attractive to many patients due to unfounded fears that it’s painful and dangerous, Russell said.
Though “there’s a lot of resistance” to the procedure, it is well tolerated and safe, he noted.
“There are certainly areas that don’t have a PET scanner, rural areas, so people would need to travel to a health center that has a PET scanner,” Liu said.
In a large, sparsely populated rural state like New Mexico, many patients would have to drive three to five hours to get a PET scan in a city such as Albuquerque, said Dr. Gary Rosenberg, a neurologist and director of the New Mexico Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.
“It’s not California or the East Coast where everything’s very compressed and people can travel and get to a center pretty easily and go through these kinds of treatments,” Rosenberg said.
The state has an estimated population of 43,000 people with dementia, and there are very few neurologists outside of the Albuquerque area, Rosenberg said. The New Mexico Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center in Albuquerque is one of only three such facilities funded by the federal National Institute of Aging in a vast region stretching west from Texas to Arizona.
To do a PET scan, a tracer has to be made for each patient off-site in Phoenix, flown on a private plane to Albuquerque and used within hours because the tracers have a short shelf life, according to Rosenberg. The whole process costs more than $12,000 per patient, he added.
“It’s logistically going to be very challenging,” Rosenberg said.
After spending months or possibly years waiting to get diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s, patients would then be eligible for intravenous infusions of Leqembi. But the U.S. doesn’t currently have the capacity to give infusions twice monthly for everyone who likely has the disease, Russell said.
“Having an IV infusion every two weeks would sort of ration people to availability and that’s a problem,” Russell said.
The University of New Mexico Hospital is already maxed out with demand for infusion therapies for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune diseases, and could have a “problem” adding new capacity, said Rosenberg.
Intravenous infusions of monoclonal antibodies like Leqembi aren’t difficult to administer, Russell said.
The infrastructure to offer infusions should expand rapidly once industry sees there’s demand for treatments like Leqembi. But the process of building out capacity could still take a couple years, Russell said. He believes big players like CVS will provide infusions for Alzheimer’s disease on a major scale if they see there’s a large and stable market.
“In one sense, capitalism works, and if it looks like that’s going to be the future, I think infusion centers will explode onto the scene,” the neurologist said.
Eisai and Biogen hope to move early Alzheimer’s patients to a single monthly dose of Leqembi after they’ve completed their initial course of twice monthly infusions, which could help alleviate some of the capacity issues with infusions over time. They plan to ask the FDA to approve this plan in early 2024.
Eli Lilly’s Alzheimer’s candidate antibody treatment donanemab is a single monthly dose, potentially making the logistics of administration easier if the drug gets approved. Dr. Dan Skovronsky, Lilly’s chief medical officer, told analysts during the company’s first-quarter earnings call that he expects many patients will be able to stop taking donanemab at 12 months.
Though the projected wait times to get diagnosed and treated are sobering, innovations on the horizon promise to significantly improve access to Alzheimer’s drugs over time.
Blood tests for Alzheimer’s are in development and some are already on the market. Primary-care doctors could administer the tests, which would ease the burden on patients, especially those in rural communities where the closest PET scan machine is hours away.
These tests detect proteins in the blood associated with Alzheimer’s. They promise to help diagnose the disease before people display cognitive symptoms, potentially giving patients the chance to get treated before they suffer irreparable brain damage, according to the National Institutes of Health.
At least three blood tests made by C2N Diagnostics, Quest Diagnostics and Qaunterix are currently on the market. But they are used to evaluate people who are already presenting symptoms and aren’t available on the mass scale needed for the expected increase in Alzheimer’s patients.
C2N’s PrecivityAD test costs $1,250 and is not covered by insurance — though the company has a financial assistance program. Quest Diagnostics’ AD-Detect test costs $650. Quest’s test is covered by some insurance plans but not Medicare at the moment. The company also has a financial assistance program. Quanterix wouldn’t disclose the price of its test, which insurance does not cover.
Right now, these are not stand-alone tests that can definitively diagnose Alzheimer’s. But the tests could help identify the patients who likely have the disease, which would narrow the population that needs further evaluation and reduce wait times for dementia specialists or confirmatory PET scans.
A study in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia estimated that a cognitive test combined with a blood test could slash wait times for dementia specialists from 50 months down to 12 months.
Eisai believes that inexpensive blood tests could completely replace PET scans and spinal taps by the fourth year of Leqembi’s rollout. The quicker diagnosiscould increase the number of people eligible for treatment.
Rosenberg said widespread availability of blood tests will allow mobile clinics to go into rural communities and identify who has markers associated with Alzheimer’s. This would allow patients in remote towns avoid the hours-long drive to cities with PET scan machines, Rosenberg said.
“It’s a game changer,” the neurologist said.
Lilly is developing at least two blood tests. The company is already using one test in clinical trials and hopes to commercialize it sometime this year. It is developing a second test through a collaboration with Roche. White said it is reasonable to expect that in a few years blood tests could replace more burdensome PET scans.
Biogen and Eisai are also developing an injectable form of Leqembi which patients could administer themselves with an autoinjector similar to insulin pens, saving the trip to a site that provides intravenous infusions. They plan to ask the FDA to approve these so-called subcutaneous injections in early 2024.
Eli Lilly is also conducting clinical trials on an antibody treatment called remternetug as a self-administered injection. But the promise of injections that can be administered at home could make companies reluctant to invest in building out intravenous infusion capacity, Russell said.
In the future, Alzheimer’s diagnosis and treatment could be folded into routine checkups with a family doctor, Russell said. When people turn 50 and head in to get a colonoscopy or a cholesterol check, the doctor could also run a blood test for Alzheimer’s.
If the test comes back positive, the doctor could then schedule patients for an MRI and get them started on an autoinjector treatment, Russell said.
“That’s going to be the way that we’re looking at it in the not too distant future,” he said.
Pills of Misoprostol, used to terminate early pregnancies, are displayed in a pharmacy in Provo, Utah, May 12, 2022.
George Frey | Reuters
New York and California are stockpiling massive quantities of an alternative abortion medication in case a federal judge’s order suspending the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the main drug mifepristone goes into effect later this week.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday ordered the state health department to immediately start purchasing 150,000 doses of misoprostol, a five-year supply of the pill. Hochul’s announcement comes a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom said California has secured 2 million pills of misoprostol.
Medication abortions are the most common way to terminate a pregnancy the U.S. Patients typically use a two drug-regimen in which mifepristone is taken first, followed by misoprostol. The second pill is used as a standalone abortion medication in parts of the world.
Misoprostol is FDA approved to treat gastric ulcers, so it will remain on the market if U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s order suspending mifepristone takes effect at 12 a.m. central time on Saturday.
“One judge in Amarillo, Texas thinks he knows better than thousands of doctors and scientists and experts. And not to mention the countless women who’ve used this medication safely for decades,” Hochul said during a press conference with Planned Parenthood’s New York chapter Tuesday.
“This isn’t just an attack on abortion, it’s an attack on democracy. Courts have never before revoked a science backed decision made by the FDA,” the governor said.
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Hochul said she is working with New York’s legislature to require private insurers to cover misoprostol when it is prescribed off-label for abortions.
The World Health Organization and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend misoprostol as a standalone abortion medication when the two-drug regimen is not available. But misoprostol is not as effective when it is used on its own, according to obstetricians and gynecologists.
The FDA has approved the two-drug abortion regimen through the 10th week of pregnancy. Mifepristone stops the pregnancy from developing further by blocking a hormone called progesterone. Misoprostol induces contractions that empty the uterus.
Patients take 200 milligrams of mifepristone by mouth on day one, and then take 800 micrograms of misoprostol in the cheek pouch 24 to 48 hours later, according to the FDA’s label.
BEIJING — Chinese health officials defended their search for the source of the COVID-19 virus and lashed out Saturday at the World Health Organization after its leader said Beijing should have shared genetic information earlier.
The WHO comments were “offensive and disrespectful,” said the director of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shen Hongbing. He accused the WHO of “attempting to smear China” and said it should avoid helping others “politicize COVID-19.”
The global health body’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said March 17 that newly disclosed genetic material gathered in Wuhan in central China, where the first cases were detected in late 2019, “should have been shared three years ago.”
“As a responsible country and as scientists, we have always actively shared research results with scientists from around the world,” Shen said at a news conference.
The origins of COVID-19 are still debated and the focus of bitter political dispute.
Many scientists believe it jumped from animals to humans at a market in Wuhan, but the city also is home to laboratories including China’s top facility for collecting viruses. That prompted suggestions COVID-19 might have leaked from one.
The ruling Communist Party has tried to deflect criticism of its handling of the outbreak by spreading uncertainty about its origins.
Officials have repeated anti-U.S. conspiracy theories that the virus was created by Washington and smuggled into China. The government also says the virus might have entered China on mail or food shipments, though scientists abroad see no evidence to support that.
Chinese officials suppressed information about the Wuhan outbreak in 2019 and punished a doctor who warned others about the new disease. The ruling party reversed course in early 2020 and shut down access to major cities and most international travel to contain the disease.
The genetic material cited by the WHO’s Tedros was uploaded recently to a global database but collected in 2020 at a Wuhan market where wildlife was sold.
The samples show DNA from raccoon dogs mingled with the virus, scientists say. They say that adds evidence to the hypothesis COVID-19 came from animals, not a lab, but doesn’t resolve the question of where it started. They say the virus also might have spread to raccoon dogs from humans.
The information was removed by Chinese officials from the database after foreign scientists asked the CDC about it, but it had been copied by a French expert and shared with researchers outside China.
A CDC researcher, Zhou Lei, who worked in Wuhan, said Chinese scientists “shared all the data we had” and “adhered to principles of openness, objectivity and transparency.”
Shen said scientists investigated the possibility of a laboratory leak and “fully shared our research and data without any concealment or reservation.”
Shen said the source of COVID-19 had yet to be found, but he noted it took years to identify the AIDS virus and its origin still is unclear.
“Some forces and figures who instigate and participate in politicizing the traceability issue and attempting to smear China should not assume that the vision of the scientific community around the world will be blinded by their clumsy manipulation,” Shen said.
Today is Saturday, March 11, the 70th day of 2023. There are 295 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history:
On March 11, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis.
On this date:
In 1862, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln removed Gen. George B. McClellan as general-in-chief of the Union armies, leaving him in command of the Army of the Potomac, a post McClellan also ended up losing.
In 1918, what were believed to be the first confirmed U.S. cases of a deadly global flu pandemic were reported among U.S. Army soldiers stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas; 46 soldiers would die. (The worldwide outbreak of influenza claimed an estimated 20 to 40 million lives.)
In 1942, as Japanese forces continued to advance in the Pacific during World War II, U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia, where he vowed on March 20, “I shall return” — a promise he kept more than 2 1/2 years later.
In 1954, the U.S. Army charged that Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., and his subcommittee’s chief counsel, Roy Cohn, had exerted pressure to obtain favored treatment for Pvt. G. David Schine, a former consultant to the subcommittee. (The confrontation culminated in the famous Senate Army-McCarthy hearings.)
In 1985, Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed the late Konstantin U. Chernenko as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.
In 1997, rock star Paul McCartney was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
In 2002, two columns of light soared skyward from Ground Zero in New York as a temporary memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks six months earlier.
In 2004, ten bombs exploded in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people in an attack linked to al-Qaida-inspired militants.
In 2006, former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic (sloh-BOH’-dahn mee-LOH’-shuh-vich) was found dead of a heart attack in his prison cell in the Netherlands, abruptly ending his four-year U.N. war crimes trial; he was 64.
In 2010, a federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld the use of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency.
In 2011, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan’s northeastern coast, killing nearly 20,000 people and severely damaging the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station.
In 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced in New York to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual abuse.
Ten years ago: Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D) was convicted of a raft of crimes, including racketeering conspiracy (he was later sentenced to 28 years in prison). North Korea said it was no longer bound by the 1953 armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War, following days of increased tensions over its latest nuclear test. (A U.N. spokesman said that North Korea could not unilaterally dissolve the armistice.)
Five years ago: The White House pledged to help states pay for firearms training for teachers, and renewed its call for an improved background check system, as part of a new plan to prevent school shootings like the one that left 17 people dead at a Florida high school four weeks earlier; the plan did not include a push to boost the minimum age for purchasing assault weapons to 21. Lawmakers in China abolished presidential term limits that had been in place for more than 35 years, opening up the possibility of Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng) holding power for life.
One year ago: Russia widened its offensive in Ukraine, striking airfields in the west and a major industrial city in the east, while the huge armored column that had been stalled for over a week outside Kyiv went on the move again. A grand jury declined to indict Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson following a police investigation sparked by lawsuits filed by 22 women who accused him of harassment and sexual assault. Officials said actor and singer Jussie Smollett began a 150-day jail sentence for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack that he staged himself.
Today’s birthdays: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is 92. Former ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson is 89. Musician Flaco Jimenez (FLAH’-koh hee-MEH’-nez) is 84. Actor Tricia O’Neil is 78. Actor Mark Metcalf is 77. Rock singer-musician Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge) is 76. Singer Bobby McFerrin is 73. Movie director Jerry Zucker is 73. Singer Cheryl Lynn is 72. Actor Susan Richardson is 71. Recording executive Jimmy Iovine (eye-VEEN’) is 70. Singer Nina Hagen is 68. Country singer Jimmy Fortune (The Statler Brothers) is 68. Actor Elias Koteas (ee-LY’-uhs koh-TAY’-uhs) is 62. Actor-director Peter Berg is 61. Singer Mary Gauthier (GOH’-shay) is 61. Actor Jeffrey Nordling is 61. Actor Alex Kingston is 60. Actor Wallace Langham is 58. Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., is 58. Actor John Barrowman is 56. Singer Lisa Loeb is 55. Neo-soul musician Al Gamble (St. Paul & the Broken Bones) is 54. Singer Pete Droge is 54. Actor Terrence Howard is 54. Rock musician Rami Jaffee is 54. Actor Johnny Knoxville is 52. Rock singer-musicians Benji and Joel Madden (Good Charlotte; The Madden Brothers) are 44. Actor David Anders is 42. Singer LeToya Luckett is 42. Actor Thora Birch is 41. TV personality Melissa Rycroft is 40. Actor Rob Brown is 39. Actor Jodie Comer is 30.
WASHINGTON — The House voted unanimously Friday to declassify U.S. intelligence information about the origins of COVID-19, a sweeping show of bipartisan support near the third anniversary of the start of the deadly pandemic.
The 419-0 vote was final congressional approval of the bill, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk. It’s unclear whether the president will sign the measure into law, and the White House said the matter was under review.
“We’re taking a look at the bill,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Debate in the House was brief and to the point: Americans have questions about how the deadly virus started and what can be done to prevent future outbreaks.
“The American public deserves answers to every aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
That includes, he said, “how this virus was created and, specifically, whether it was a natural occurrence or was the result of a lab-related event.”
The order to declassify focused on intelligence related to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, citing “potential links” between the research that was done there and the outbreak of COVID-19, which the World Health Organization declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020.
U.S. intelligence agencies are divided over whether a lab leak or a spillover from animals is the likely source of the deadly virus.
Experts say the true origin of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 1 million Americans, may not be known for many years — if ever.
“Transparency is a cornerstone of our democracy,” said Rep. Jim Himes, of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, during the debate.
Led by Republicans, the focus on the virus origins comes as the House launched a select committee with a hearing earlier in the week delving into theories about how the pandemic started.
It offers a rare moment of bipartisanship despite the often heated rhetoric about the origins of the coronavirus and the questions about the response to the virus by U.S. health officials, including former top health adviser Anthony Fauci.
The legislation from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., was already approved by the Senate.
Hawley urged Biden to sign the bill into law. “The American people deserve to know the truth,” he said in a statement.
If signed into law, the measure would require within 90 days the declassification of “any and all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of the Coronavirus Disease.”
That includes information about research and other activities at the lab and whether any researchers grew ill.
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Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
Medicare will not provide broader coverage of the Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi until it receives more evidence that the treatment is reasonable and necessary, according to the federal agency that runs the program for seniors.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rejected a request from the Alzheimer’s Association for unrestricted coverage of antibody treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration that target brain plaque associated with the devastating disease.
“After careful review of the request and supporting documentation, we are making this decision because, as of the date of this letter, there is not yet evidence meeting the criteria for reconsideration,” CMS said in a statement on Wednesday.
The FDA cleared Leqembi on an expedited basis in January after clinical trial results showed that the treatment slowed cognitive decline by 27% in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease. The drug also carries risks of brain swelling and bleeding.
Leqembi was developed by the Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai and its partner Biogen. When drugs like Leqembi are approved on expedited basis, Medicare will only cover them for patients who are participating in clinical trials.
“As defined in statute, to provide coverage nationally, CMS is required to examine whether a medication is reasonable and necessary,” the agency said in its statement. “This standard differs from the criteria used by the FDA to assess whether medications are safe and effective.”
Eisai, which completed its phase three trial, has priced Leqembi at $26,500 per year. Due to the drug’s high price and Medicare’s coverage restrictions, seniors are unable to access the treatment.
“CMS’ role is to provide health care coverage. Their role is not to stand between a patient and a doctor when deciding what FDA-approved treatments are appropriate. Their role is not to single out people living with Alzheimer’s and decide that their lives, their independence and their memories are not necessary,” said the association’s president Joanne Pike.
The letter the Alzheimer’s Association sent to CMS in December calling for unrestricted coverage was signed by more than 200 researchers and experts. The American Academy of Neurology has also told CMS that its experts reviewed Eisai’s clinical trial and concluded that the study was well designed and Leqembi provides a clinical benefit.
The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that 2,000 people ages 65 and older progress from mild dementia to a more advanced stage of the disease per day, which would make them ineligible for Leqembi.
CMS said it would provide broader coverage of Leqembi on the same day should the FDA fully approve the treatment. Eisai U.S. CEO Ivan Cheung told CNBC last week that the company expects to receive full FDA approval this summer.
But even with full approval, Medicare’s policy is to cover Alzheimer’s treatments for patients who agree to participate in research studies that collect real-world data. While coverage would be broader, such studies need to be set up and health-care providers have to agree to participate. This would likely still limit the number of people who can access the drug.
But Cheung told CNBC that Medicare could agree to even broader coverage, possibly with no restrictions, if CMS determines that there’s a high level of evidence supporting the treatment.
“With a high level of evidence … the restrictions should be very limited, or maybe even no restrictions and that is Eisai’s position,” Cheung said. “We believe Medicare beneficiaries should have unimpeded access, broad and simple access to Leqembi because the data fulfill those criteria.”
Members of Congress, including 20 senators and more than 70 House members, have called on CMS to change its policy and offer broader coverage of Alzheimer’s antibody treatments. People living in rural and underserved communities face a disadvantage because the institutions that host clinical trials are usually in bigger cities.
“Patients, families, and caregivers living in rural and underserved areas should have the same opportunity for access to treatment,” the House lawmakers told Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “It is an enormous physical and financial burden for Medicare beneficiaries to spend countless hours traveling to limited research institutions that host the trials.”
Medicare adopted the coverage restrictions after controversy over the Alzheimer’s antibody treatment Aduhelm, which was also developed by Eisai and Biogen. The FDA approved that treatment over the objections of its independent advisors, who said the data did not demonstrate a benefit for patients. Three advisors resigned over the FDA decision, and a congressional investigation found irregularities in the approval process.
Join CNBC’s Healthy Returns on March 29th, where we’ll convene a virtual gathering of CEOs, scientists, investors and innovators in the health care space to reflect on the progress made today to reinvent the future of medicine. Plus, we’ll have an exclusive rundown of the best investment opportunities in biopharma, health-tech and managed care. Learn more and register today: http://bit.ly/3DUNbRo
OMAHA, Neb. — The ongoing bird flu outbreak has cost the government roughly $661 million and added to consumers’ pain at the grocery store after more than 58 million birds were slaughtered to limit the spread of the virus.
In addition to the cost of the government response that the USDA tallied up and rising prices for eggs, chicken and turkey, farmers who raise those animals have easily lost more than $1 billion, said an agricultural economist, though no one has calculated the total cost to the industry yet.
The bad news is that with the outbreak entering its second year and the spring migratory season looming, there is no end in sight. And there is little farmers can do beyond the steps they have already taken to try to keep the virus out.
Unlike past years, the virus that causes highly pathogenic avian influenza found a way to survive through the heat of last summer, leading to a rise in cases reported in the fall.
The outbreak is already more widespread than the last major bird flu outbreak in 2015, but it hasn’t proven as costly yet partly because the government and industry applied lessons learned eight years ago.
“The past year has been devastating for the turkey industry as we experience, unequivocally, the worst HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) outbreak in the industry’s history,” National Turkey Federation spokeswoman Shelby Newman said.
In the current outbreak, 58.4 million birds have been slaughtered on more than 300 commercial farms in 47 states. That is because any time the virus is detected, the entire flock on that farm — which can number in the millions — must be killed to limit the spread of the disease. Only Hawaii, Louisiana and West Virginia have yet to report a case of bird flu. Iowa — the nation’s biggest egg producer — leads the nation with nearly 16 million birds slaughtered.
In 2015, about 50 million chickens and turkeys were slaughtered on more than 200 farms in 15 states.
That previous outbreak remains the most expensive animal health disaster in U.S. history. The federal government spent nearly $1 billion to deal with infected birds, clean up barns and compensate farmers. It cost the industry roughly $3 billion as farmers incurred additional costs and lost money when they didn’t have any birds on their farms.
This bills continue to pile up this year as cases spread, and that includes the cost to consumers.
Egg prices shot up to $4.82 a dozen in January from $1.93 a year earlier, according to the latest government figures. That spike prompted calls for a price-gouging investigation although the industry maintains that the combination of bird flu and significantly higher feed, fuel and labor costs is what’s driving prices so high.
The price for a pound of chicken breast was $4.32 in January. That’s down slightly from last fall when the price peaked at $4.75, but it is up significantly from the year before when chicken breasts were selling for $3.73 per pound.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t track retail turkey prices the same way as part of its inflation data, but the Agriculture Department says the wholesale price of turkey went from $1.29 per pound last January just before the bird flu outbreak began to $1.72 per pound last month.
The number of birds slaughtered peaked last spring at almost 21 million in March, leaving farmers leery of what they must face in the months ahead. University of Georgia virus researcher David Stallknecht said there is some hope that this spring might not be quite as bad because turkeys and chickens may have developed some immunity to the virus.
The key problem with bird flu is that the highly contagious virus is spread easily by wild birds through their droppings and nasal discharges. Despite the best efforts of farmers, it is hard to keep the virus out.
Farmers have gone to great lengths by requiring workers to shower and change clothes before entering barns, sanitizing trucks that enter a farm and investing in separate sets of tools for every barn. Some farms have even upgraded barn ventilation and installed laser systems to discourage wild birds from congregating.
“We recommend all producers redouble their efforts to protect their birds through good biosecurity practices,” said Lyndsay Cole, a spokeswoman for the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that’s leading the government’s response.
Farmers began following those steps after the 2015 outbreak, and this outbreak has only reinforced the need to tighten biosecurity.
“America’s egg farmers continue to double-down on biosecurity protocols to protect our flocks and maintain a stable egg supply. We are grateful that there has been little to no farm-to-farm spread in this current outbreak,” said Oscar Garrison, senior vice president of food safety and regulatory affairs at the United Egg Producers trade group.
Poultry and egg producers, partnering with the government, are parsing this outbreak for new lessons in keeping birds healthy.
“That’s really the key – early detection. It’s kind of like a forest fire – the earlier you detect it, the easier it is to contain and eradicate,” National Chicken Council spokesman Tom Super said.
Officials say bird flu doesn’t represent a significant threat to human health. Human cases are extremely rare and none of the infected birds are allowed into the nation’s food supply. And properly cooking poultry to 165 degrees Fahrenheit will kill any viruses.
There has only been one human case of bird flu confirmed during this outbreak and that was a man who had been helping slaughter and remove infected birds from a Colorado farm. He recovered from the illness after a few days.
NEW YORK — A recent bird flu outbreak at a mink farm has reignited worries about the virus spreading more broadly to people.
Scientists have been keeping tabs on this bird flu virus since the 1950s, though it wasn’t deemed a threat to people until a 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong among visitors to live poultry markets.
As bird flu hits more and varied animals, like at the mink farm, the fear is that the virus could evolve to spread more easily between people, and potentially trigger a pandemic.
Scientist say another kind of bird flu was likely behind the devastating 1918-1919 flu pandemic, and avian viruses played roles in other flu pandemics in 1957, 1968, and 2009.
Still, the risk to the general public now is low, says Dr. Tim Uyeki of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A look at the bird flu virus and why it is getting renewed attention:
WHAT IS BIRD FLU?
Some flu viruses mainly affect people, but some others chiefly occur in animals. For example, there are flus that occur in dogs, plus pig — or swine — flu viruses. And then there are avian viruses that spread naturally in wild aquatic birds like ducks and geese, and then to chickens and other domesticated poultry.
The bird flu virus drawing attention today — Type A H5N1 — was first identified in 1959, by investigators looking into a flu outbreak in chickens in Scotland. Like other viruses, it has evolved over time, spawning newer versions of itself.
By 2007, the virus was found in more than 60 countries. In the U.S., it has recently been detected in wild birds in every state, as well as in commercial poultry operations or backyard flocks in 47 states. Since the beginning of last year, tens of millions of chickens have died of the virus or been killed to stop outbreaks from spreading, one of the reasons cited for soaring egg prices.
HOW OFTEN DO PEOPLE GET BIRD FLU?
The Hong Kong outbreak in 1997 was the first time this bird flu was blamed for severe human illness. Out of 18 people infected, six died. To contain the outbreak, the Hong Kong government closed live poultry markets, killed all the birds in the markets, and stopped bringing in chickens from southern China. It worked, for a while.
Symptoms are the similar to that of other flus, including cough, body aches and fever. Some people don’t have noticeable symptoms, but some develop severe. life-threatening pneumonia.
Globally, nearly 870 human infections and 457 deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization in 20 countries. But the pace has slowed and there have been about 170 infections and 50 deaths in the last seven years. In the vast majority of cases, the infected people got it directly from infected birds.
The first and only U.S. case occurred just last April. A prison inmate in a work program picked it up while killing infected birds at a poultry farm in Montrose County, Colorado, in the western part of the state. His only symptom was fatigue and he recovered.
CAN IT SPREAD BETWEEN PEOPLE?
In some instances, investigators concluded that the bird flu virus apparently did spread from one person to another. That happened in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, China and Pakistan, most recently in 2007.
In each cluster, it spread within families from a sick person in the home. Scientists do not believe it can spread easily through casual contact, as seasonal flu can. But viruses mutate and change. Scientists worry about the ever-increasing number of opportunities for bird flu to mix with other flu viruses in infected people or animals and mutate, making it easier to spread to people.
It wouldn’t take much for that to happen “and then we would be in a really tough situation,” said Dr. Luis Ostrosky, chief of infectious diseases and epidemiology at University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
The CDC’s Uyeki said the most worried he’s been about H5N1 was during the earlier clusters. That kind of human-to-human spread does not appear to be happening right now, he said.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE MINK FARM?
Recent concern among public health experts has been fueled, in part, by detection of infections in a variety of mammals. The growing list includes foxes, raccoons, skunks, bears and even marine mammals like seals and porpoises. Officials in Peru said three sea lions found dead in November tested positive for, and the recent deaths of hundreds of others may be due to bird flu.
Then last month, a European medical journal reported on a bird flu outbreak in October at a mink farm in Spain with nearly 52,000 animals, where the illness spread like wildfire.
The mink were fed poultry, and wild birds in the region had been found to have bird flu. But researchers said that however it started, they believe the virus then spread from mink to mink — a worrisome scenario. No workers were infected, though they wore masks as part of COVID-19 precautions.
Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health, said the outbreak virus is being watched for mutations that could make it more easily transmitted to people, and potentially between people.
“That’s the real worry,” said Nuzzo.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The Food and Drug Administration’s independent advisors on Wednesday unanimously recommended over-the-counter use of the nasal spray Narcan to reverse opioid overdoses, which would significantly expand access to the life-saving treatment.
Emergent BioSolutions‘ Narcan is the most commonly sold treatment for opioid overdoses. The FDA is expected to make a decision by March 29 on whether to allow people to buy the four milligram nasal spray without a prescription. The agency is not required to accept its advisors recommendation, though it typically does so.
Emergent BioSolutions said Narcan would be available for the over-the-counter market by late summer if the FDA approves it next month. The company has not yet disclosed how much it would cost.
“We have been working on distribution plans with key stakeholders like retailers and government leaders,” said Matt Hartwig, a spokesperson for the company.
Most states have already issued blanket prescriptions that allow pharmacies to distribute Narcan, generically known as naloxone, without the patient having to present a script. But FDA approval of Narcan for over-the-counter use would allow more people to acquire the treatment more easily in more places.
“If naloxone becomes a nonprescription product, it may be sold in many venues previously unavailable to consumers, including vending machines, convenience stores, supermarkets and big box stores, just like other nonprescription products,” Jody Green, an official at the FDA’s nonprescription drug division, told the advisory committee Wednesday.
Since 1999, more than 564,000 people have died from opioids in the U.S. in three waves — first from prescription opioids, then from heroin and most recently from fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Opioid overdose deaths spiked 17% during the pandemic from about 69,000 in 2020 to nearly 81,000 in 2021.
The Trump administration first declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency in 2017. The Biden administration has renewed the emergency declaration every 90 days since the president took office.
“Each day 187 people will die — this is absolutely tragic as we think of not only the individuals themselves, but the families, the communities, the workplaces. This has profound human impact and we are all impacted from this,” Manish Vyas, senior vice president of regulatory affairs at Narcan maker Emergent BioSolutions, told the committee.
Scott Hadland, head of adolescent medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, said the widespread infiltration of fentanyl into the nation’s drug supply has increased the risk of overdoses. Many people who are exposed to fentanyl take counterfeit pills that they thought were prescribed but actually contain the highly potent and often deadly opioid, Hadland said.
“And increasingly there are secondhand exposures that are also rising,” Hadland, who participated in Emergent BioSolutions’ presentation, told the committee. “We’re seeing rising overdose deaths among toddlers who are coming across fentanyl in public settings or fentanyl that may be elsewhere in the home.”
Hadland said he tells parents to to keep Narcan at their home in case of an emergency. He compared it to a fire extinguisher that families should have for safety reasons but hopefully will never have to use.
“Unfortunately for most young people, families and community members all across this country, current avenues of access are challenging,” Hadland said.
Dr. Bobby Mukkamala of the American Medical Association said Narcan should be as easy to obtain as Tylenol to treat a headache or a decongestant for a stuffy nose. The life-saving nasal spray should be just as common in public places as AED devices that are used to treat people suffering from heart attacks.
Jessica Hulsey, executive director of the Addiction Policy Forum, told the committee during a public comment section that Narcan needs to be priced affordably at no more than $20 per dose if it’s sold over the counter. Narcan is packaged as single doses and it can take multiple doses to reverse an overdose from highly potent fentanyl.
Narcan displaces opioids that bind to receptor sites in a person’s nervous system. By displacing and blocking opioids, the nasal spray prevents fatal overdoses by reversing respiratory depression, said Gay Owens, head of global medical affairs at Emergent BioSolutions.
But Narcan has to be administered as soon as an overdose is suspected, which is why it’s crucial to make sure the instructions for using the nasal spray are simple, the FDA’s Green said.
In a study sponsored by Emergent BioSolutions, more than 90% of 71 participants understood over-the-counter label directions and used the Narcan device correctly during a simulated overdose emergency using mannequins. The participants included people with varying levels of literacy, and both adults and adolescents.
But some participants were confused by the five-step instructions because they were split across the side and back panels of the carton, said said , senior pharmacist at the FDA division that monitors errors in administering medicine. This confusion could result in delayed administration or errors in using the Narcan device correctly when time is of the essence, according to Shah.
These instances occurred despite the fact that the participants were allowed as much time as needed to familiarize themselves with the Narcan instructions, which may not be the case in a real-world overdose emergency, according to Shah.
“Therefore, the data collected does not capture this highest-risk use scenario,” said Shah.
The FDA has proposed that Emergent BioSolutions place all five instructions in sequential order on the back panel of the carton and also include instructions in the device blister pack. The company presented a mockup at the advisory meeting, but the FDA said it has not evaluated it yet.
NEW YORK — Humanitarian groups working in southern Turkey and northwest Syria warn that Monday’s earthquake will have a “long tail” — a wide range of needs that will require donations for months, or even years, after the rescue and recovery missions end.
Among the worst in recent history, the 7.8 magnitude earthquake has killed at least 23,200 in the region and left tens of thousands more homeless, with thousands taking refuge in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centers. Humanitarian access to northern Syria is complicated by the civil war, while sending funds can be blocked or slowed by U.S. sanctions, despite an exemption for relief efforts. The political environment in Turkey also poses challenges.
The first shipment of earthquake-related aid crossed from Turkey into Syria’s rebel-held enclave on Friday, a painful delay caused by damage and debris but also a U.N. policy that allows only for the use of a single crossing.
However, some aid groups were already in place because of the country’s 12-year civil war. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) had 500 staff, two of whom were among those killed, stationed in northern Syria, where they’ve helped meet medical needs amid the conflict.
“We were able to do a massive distribution of food and blankets to more than 500 families,” from one of their warehouses in the immediate aftermath of the quake, said Avril Benoît, executive director for MSF USA. Her organization keeps emergency supplies on hand in the case of major disasters.
“There’s a long tail to an emergency like this, both for the injured from the earthquake, but also for chronic disease management, making sure they have access to their medications,” Benoît said.
People will die without access to medications to control chronic illnesses such as hypertension and diabetes, she said, adding that the earthquake will also take a mental toll.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said they had 5,200 volunteers mobilized on both sides of the border, with the Turkish operation being more robust and better-equipped because of its longstanding program to support Syrian refugees.
The IFRC’s Syrian chapter works in areas controlled by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. and European countries. In the past year, little humanitarian aid has arrived from Damascus to the opposition-held north, which has suffered an outbreak of cholera and COVID-19 amid desperate living conditions for many.
The Syrian government said Friday that it would allow aid to reach all parts of the country, including the northern enclave, portions of which are controlled by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an insurgent group with ties to al-Qaida, as well as groups backed by Turkey and U.S.-backed Kurdish groups.
The Syrian American Medical Society, which also provides significant medical services in northern Syria, has called for the opening of additional border crossings and has commissioned a legal analysis that argues the United Nations has the authority to use other crossings.
“We think that the U.N. does not really need a Security Council resolution to proceed with this lifesaving medical relief,” said Dr. Basel Termanini, the medical society’s board chair.
Both MSF and SAMS said their supplies in the region are much depleted and need new shipments to continue to help.
However, delivering supplies is difficult. There are major obstacles to moving machinery to places in Syria where it’s needed to remove rubble. Fuel shortages also constrain the supply of electricity, said Xavier Castellanos, undersecretary general for operations coordination of the IFRC.
He called the situation in the region “the great storm,” with all the conditions reducing the amount of support to below the level that it should be.
Castellanos, speaking from Geneva on Thursday, said the IFRC has received “soft” pledges from governments and a very small number of pledges from companies so far. The group will look to individual giving to make up for the shortfall because those funds can be used wherever they are needed most.
The group has launched an appeal of 200 million Swiss Francs ($217 million) for responses in both countries and the national chapters of the IFRC are also collecting donations. He estimated the IFRC has received 7 million Swiss Francs ($7.6 million) so far in the early response to their appeals.
As of Thursday, MSF had $5.1 million come in from online donations along with a 10 million euros ($10.7 million) donation from the IKEA Foundation. SAMS had raised almost $2 million between a Facebook fundraiser and another on GiveSmart as of Friday.
The humanitarian organization Direct Relief immediately granted $100,000 to both SAMS and AKUT, a Turkish search and rescue team, and announced Friday that it was increasing its commitment to $3 million because of the strong support coming from donors from more than 70 countries. The Santa Barbara, California-based organization has shipped 42 pallets of supplies that it says will arrive by Sunday.
Thomas Tighe, who leads Direct Relief, said his team has opened discussions with health care companies to source the medications and supplies that are mostly likely to be needed based on the limited information available and in coordination with other groups.
“If you rush in too fast with the wrong quantities or the wrong material, you clog up the already compromised distribution channels, which then compounds the problem,” Tighe said.
Amazon has pledged $600,000 to humanitarian organizations, including AKUT and Red Crescent of Türkiye, in addition to supplying emergency supplies for cold weather, the company said in an online post. The founder of yogurt giant Chobani, Hamdi Ulukaya, a native of Turkey, pledged $1 million to the Turkish Philanthropy Funds and promised to match another $1 million in donations.
The IFRC already is planning its recovery efforts over 12 months, with reoccurring assessments to define the scope. Trauma response and sanitation issues are among the top priorities.
Some Syrians in the affected area have already been displaced many times by the war as well as separated from their families with little support. Many now have lost whatever shelter they had acquired.
“Over 12 years, you can imagine the loss of hope that one would have,” said Benoît, of MSF, which also provides psychological first aid and will train people to provide it if there are not enough counselors.
“It’s essentially to help the person in a culturally appropriate way, whatever is resonant for them,” she said. “To get through the day. To to be able to function, to be able to feed their children.”
___
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
NEW YORK — Humanitarian groups working in southern Turkey and northwest Syria warn that Monday’s earthquake will have a “long tail” — a wide range of needs that will require donations for months, or even years, after the rescue and recovery missions end.
Among the worst in recent history, the 7.8 magnitude earthquake has killed at least 23,200 in the region and left tens of thousands more homeless, with thousands taking refuge in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centers. Humanitarian access to northern Syria is complicated by the civil war, while sending funds can be blocked or slowed by U.S. sanctions, despite an exemption for relief efforts. The political environment in Turkey also poses challenges.
The first shipment of earthquake-related aid crossed from Turkey into Syria’s rebel-held enclave on Friday, a painful delay caused by damage and debris but also a U.N. policy that allows only for the use of a single crossing.
However, some aid groups were already in place because of the country’s 12-year civil war. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) had 500 staff, two of whom were among those killed, stationed in northern Syria, where they’ve helped meet medical needs amid the conflict.
“We were able to do a massive distribution of food and blankets to more than 500 families,” from one of their warehouses in the immediate aftermath of the quake, said Avril Benoît, executive director for MSF USA. Her organization keeps emergency supplies on hand in the case of major disasters.
“There’s a long tail to an emergency like this, both for the injured from the earthquake, but also for chronic disease management, making sure they have access to their medications,” Benoît said.
People will die without access to medications to control chronic illnesses such as hypertension and diabetes, she said, adding that the earthquake will also take a mental toll.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said they had 5,200 volunteers mobilized on both sides of the border, with the Turkish operation being more robust and better-equipped because of its longstanding program to support Syrian refugees.
The IFRC’s Syrian chapter works in areas controlled by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. and European countries. In the past year, little humanitarian aid has arrived from Damascus to the opposition-held north, which has suffered an outbreak of cholera and COVID-19 amid desperate living conditions for many.
The Syrian government said Friday that it would allow aid to reach all parts of the country, including the northern enclave, portions of which are controlled by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an insurgent group with ties to al-Qaida, as well as groups backed by Turkey and U.S.-backed Kurdish groups.
The Syrian American Medical Society, which also provides significant medical services in northern Syria, has called for the opening of additional border crossings and has commissioned a legal analysis that argues the United Nations has the authority to use other crossings.
“We think that the U.N. does not really need a Security Council resolution to proceed with this lifesaving medical relief,” said Dr. Basel Termanini, the medical society’s board chair.
Both MSF and SAMS said their supplies in the region are much depleted and need new shipments to continue to help.
However, delivering supplies is difficult. There are major obstacles to moving machinery to places in Syria where it’s needed to remove rubble. Fuel shortages also constrain the supply of electricity, said Xavier Castellanos, undersecretary general for operations coordination of the IFRC.
He called the situation in the region “the great storm,” with all the conditions reducing the amount of support to below the level that it should be.
Castellanos, speaking from Geneva on Thursday, said the IFRC has received “soft” pledges from governments and a very small number of pledges from companies so far. The group will look to individual giving to make up for the shortfall because those funds can be used wherever they are needed most.
The group has launched an appeal of 200 million Swiss Francs ($217 million) for responses in both countries and the national chapters of the IFRC are also collecting donations. He estimated the IFRC has received 7 million Swiss Francs ($7.6 million) so far in the early response to their appeals.
As of Thursday, MSF had $5.1 million come in from online donations along with a 10 million euros ($10.7 million) donation from the IKEA Foundation. SAMS had raised almost $2 million between a Facebook fundraiser and another on GiveSmart as of Friday.
The humanitarian organization Direct Relief immediately granted $100,000 to both SAMS and AKUT, a Turkish search and rescue team, and announced Friday that it was increasing its commitment to $3 million because of the strong support coming from donors from more than 70 countries. The Santa Barbara, California-based organization has shipped 42 pallets of supplies that it says will arrive by Sunday.
Thomas Tighe, who leads Direct Relief, said his team has opened discussions with health care companies to source the medications and supplies that are mostly likely to be needed based on the limited information available and in coordination with other groups.
“If you rush in too fast with the wrong quantities or the wrong material, you clog up the already compromised distribution channels, which then compounds the problem,” Tighe said.
Amazon has pledged $600,000 to humanitarian organizations, including AKUT and Red Crescent of Türkiye, in addition to supplying emergency supplies for cold weather, the company said in an online post. The founder of yogurt giant Chobani, Hamdi Ulukaya, a native of Turkey, pledged $1 million to the Turkish Philanthropy Funds and promised to match another $1 million in donations.
The IFRC already is planning its recovery efforts over 12 months, with reoccurring assessments to define the scope. Trauma response and sanitation issues are among the top priorities.
Some Syrians in the affected area have already been displaced many times by the war as well as separated from their families with little support. Many now have lost whatever shelter they had acquired.
“Over 12 years, you can imagine the loss of hope that one would have,” said Benoît, of MSF, which also provides psychological first aid and will train people to provide it if there are not enough counselors.
“It’s essentially to help the person in a culturally appropriate way, whatever is resonant for them,” she said. “To get through the day. To to be able to function, to be able to feed their children.”
___
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
