LAURA H. CYPHERS

This Medical News article discusses a recent clinical trial of a brain-computer interface implanted through the vascular system.
Source: JAMA Online First

This Viewpoint discusses 3 bills introduced recently in Congress that focus on patent eligibility, fraud, and quality and that have major implications for clinical medicine and pharmaceutical development.
Source: JAMA Online First

This Viewpoint discusses the CRISPR patent ruling, an ongoing patent dispute, and the implications for research and medical innovation.
Source: JAMA Online First

The COVID-19 pandemic caught society unprepared. The lack of therapeutic agents for coronaviruses led to a scramble to investigate approved medications for repurposing against SARS-CoV-2. Successes were achieved with immunomodulatory agents for the inflammatory disease processes of COVID-19, but the antiviral search has been less productive. One of the more interesting therapeutic candidates investigated is fluvoxamine.
Source: JAMA Online First

This randomized, placebo-controlled platform trial compares the use of low-dose fluvoxamine (50 mg twice daily) for 10 days compared with placebo in outpatients with mild to moderate COVID-19.
Source: JAMA Online First

This Medical News article discusses whether swabbing both the nose and the throat might improve the sensitivity of rapid antigen COVID-19 tests.
Source: JAMA Online First

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review of new medical devices attempts to balance access to new and useful technology alongside determinations of “reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness.” Most reviewed devices receive clearance for marketing through the 510(k) pathway, the guiding principle of which is establishing substantial equivalence between a new device under consideration and a similar predicate device that has previously been authorized for market. This standard was developed both to eliminate undue burden for device manufacturers bringing medium-risk devices to market and to acknowledge practical resource limitations of the FDA, which evaluates approximately 30 devices a year in the more thorough premarket approval process but clears about 3000 devices annually via the 510(k) pathway.
Source: JAMA Online First

This Viewpoint provides a brief history of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), describes the ways in which PBMs have acquired influence in the prescription drug distribution system, and suggests possible scenarios surrounding the June 2022 decision by the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation into PBM business practices.
Source: JAMA Online First

This Viewpoint discusses how some pulse oximeters can provide incorrect oxygen saturation data for dark-skinned patients compared with light-skinned patients, describes the reasons that biased oximeters remained in use, and highlights why a rule recently proposed by the US Department of Health and Human Services may bring about needed change in the use of pulse oximetry for patients with dark skin.
Source: JAMA Online First

This study evaluates the adoption of clinician billing for patient portal messages as e-visits, prompted by significant increases in patient messaging after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: JAMA Online First