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Millions more people across the U.S. now may get COVID-19 booster vaccine doses after leaders of theU.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)and theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)authorized mix-and-match vaccines and provided long-awaited guidance to people who received Moderna and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccines.

Research shows that COVID-19 vaccines are remarkably effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths, but the effectiveness of vaccines wanes over time. Booster doses two months after a J & J vaccine or six months or longer after two initial doses of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines can jumpstart vaccine efficacy, bringing it back up to remarkably protective levels of about 95%.

Who should get booster shots?

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the CDC, on Thursday night endorsed the guidance that medical experts at both the CDC and FDA had recommended. The new rules pave the way for J & J recipients to finally get booster doses. And, Americans are free to make their own choices about mixing and matching they types of vaccines that they receive. If those who got the single-dose J & J vaccine now want to pump up their immunities with an mRNA dose from Moderna or Pfizer, they are free to do so. Similarly, people who received doses of Moderna or Pfizer for their initial two doses may also get a different brand for their booster dose. They can do whats most convenient and easiest for them.

Heres the newest guidance:

For individuals who received a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the following groups are eligible for a booster shot at 6 months or more after their initial series:

For the nearly 15 million people who received a J & J COVID-19 vaccine, booster shots are also recommended for those who are 18 and older and who were vaccinated two or more months ago.

Health experts agree that the best way to end the pandemic as soon as possible is for all eligible unvaccinated people to get their first doses of vaccines as soon as possible.(Learn more about getting COVID-19 vaccines and booster doses.)

But, broad availability of COVID-19 booster shots will help drive down infections,

These recommendations are another example of our fundamental commitment to protect as many people as possible from COVID-19. The evidence shows that all three COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the United States are safe as demonstrated by the over 400 million vaccine doses already given. And, they are all highly effective in reducing the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even in the midst of the widely circulating Delta variant, Walensky said in a statement October 21, hours after a CDC advisory panel unanimously endorsed new booster recommendations.

AddedDr. Michelle Barron, senior medical director of infection prevention at UCHealth:

We know booster shots play an important role in the fight against COVID-19, and were still in the midst of a pandemic.Vaccine efficacy may diminish over time with the potential risk for increased susceptibility to breakthrough infections.

COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in Colorado remain very high, prompting Barron and others to urge people to get initial vaccines immediately and booster doses as soon as people are eligible. Coloradans should continue to be very cautious and wear masks in crowded indoor spaces.

Now that booster shots have been formally authorized for millions of other Americans, were providing answers to your key questions on COVID-19 booster shots.

A booster shot is an additional dose of a vaccine after a person has received an earlier dose (or two in the case of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines). An extra dose boosts your immune system, sparking better protection against an illness.

Its normal for some vaccines to wane or become slightly less effective over time. Research both by the COVID-19 vaccine makers and independent scientists is showing that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are waning several months after recipients get their first doses. Also, the delta variant is extremely contagious and it has caused hundreds of thousands of new infections. Because of new infections and waning effectiveness of some COVID-19 vaccines, FDA and CDC experts are recommending booster doses for many people.

The new guidance focuses on getting boosters for older people as quickly as possible because they are most vulnerable to severe disease from a COVID-19 infection. But, anyone who is 18 and older and lives and works in a high-risk environment also can opt to get a booster dose.

If you received a J & J vaccine, you should get a booster shot two months or longer after your vaccine. If you received Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, you should get a third dose at least six months after you received your first vaccine doses.

Yes. Research shows that half a dose of Moderna works well as a booster dose. So, the Moderna booster doses will now be 50 micrograms compared with 100-microgram initial doses.

No. People who receive Pfizer or J & J will continue receiving the same doses that they previously did.

A third shot is now the standard initial dose for immunocompromised people. These are people who have specific conditions that make it hard for them to build up antibodies to fight infections.

Immunocompromised people should get a third shot about one month after their first two doses of mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna.

Booster shots, on the other hand, are for everyone else. Healthy vaccinated people should wait two months after a J & J vaccines or six months or longer after their second dose of Moderna or Pfizer to get a booster vaccine dose.

No. To streamline booster doses, people can self-attest that they qualify for a booster dose. Also, no one needs a doctors order to get initial doses of COVID-19 vaccines. They are free and easy to find through hospitals, doctors offices, pharmacies, and at some mass vaccination clinics.Learn more about vaccine locations in Colorado.

Booster doses are free, just like the initial COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Its safe to get flu and COVID-19 vaccines or booster shots at the same time. But, some vaccine clinics only offer COVID-19 vaccines. You may need to schedule a flu shot separately. Please check with your doctor.

Health experts are encouraging people to get both COVID-19 vaccines and flu shots as soon as possible since we may have an early flu season andthe U.S. might face a twindemic of infectious diseases this fall and winter.

Yes. Research likethis new study in the New England Journal of Medicineis showing that both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are highly effective and very safe. Its also common for some vaccines to diminish in their effectiveness over time. The Pfizer vaccine seems to be waning (or becoming somewhat less effective) more quickly than the Moderna vaccine.

According to new data from the CDC, vaccine effectiveness in preventing hospitalizations for COVID-19 was highest for people who received Moderna vaccines 93% compared with efficacy rates of 88% for people who had received Pfizer vaccines and 71% for those who had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

About 15 million people in the U.S. received J & J vaccines, far fewer those who have received Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. J & J recipients should get a second vaccine two or more months after they got their J & J vaccine. People who received J & J may stick with that brand or they can opt to get a single dose of a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.

Yes. CDC health experts say that vaccines are plentiful. So, supply is not a problem. Get your initial vaccines as soon as possible and feel free to get a booster dose if you are eligible.

Both theModernaand thePfizervaccines which account for more than 95% of U.S. vaccinations so far remain highly effective for at least six months after people receive their second dose. The efficacy data is based on studies of how clinical trial participants have fared over time. The efficacy has declined slightly over the summer and fall, both because of the delta variant and the waning effect.

People who are getting boosters can go with their personal presence. If you received Pfizer or Moderna and you want to stick with your original brand, you may do so. But, if you want to bump up your immunities with a different type or brand of vaccine, you are welcome to do so. ANational Institutes of Health study that included a small number of peoplefound that mixing and matching vaccine types helped increase immunities to the virus that causes COVID-19.

So farside effects for boosters are similar to those that people experienced when they got their first two doses.

Individuals may experience a sore arm, headache, muscle aches, a low-grade fever or feel tired. These side effects typically last fewer than three days. Experts from Pfizer told FDA and CDC officials during recent testimony that many people receiving booster doses have experienced fewer side effects after third doses than they did with their second dose.

Young, fully-vaccinated, healthy people probably dont need booster doses because the vaccines are working very well to protect them from severe infections, hospitalizations and death from COVID-19, according to CDC experts.

Because the vaccines are holding up so well for young, healthy people, some infectious disease experts were hesitant to recommend booster doses for all adults.

In addition, in very rare cases, young men who have been vaccinated have experienced heart issues known as myocarditis. Due to this very rare vaccine side effect, some younger men, ages 18 to 30, may decide to skip booster doses.

Yes. Israel has led the way. In Israel, older adults began getting booster doses in the early summer and now, anyone who is 12 or older can get a booster dose. Other countries like the United Kingdom and Germany also are offering booster doses.

Yes, there are antibody tests. But, doctors do not recommend antibody testing outside of clinical trials. The best way to stay healthy is to get your primary COVID-19 vaccines as soon as possible, then to get a booster dose if you qualify or fall into one of the recommended groups.

Yes.Studies like this oneare finding that vaccines are even more protective than natural antibodies. And, people can get COVID-19 after having previously had it. So, its best to get fully vaccinated.

No. Researchers are finding that antibodies from vaccines team up with natural memory cells in our bodies. These are known as B and T cells. CDC researchers estimate that antibodies play a majority role in fighting COVID-19 infections, but B and T cells are also crucial.

Erin Emery is a co-author of this article.

Editors Note: During the pandemic, the Colorado Times Recorder will occasionally post articles, like this one, fromUCHealth Today,which is published by UCHeatlh, the hospital associated with the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Our goal is to provide as many people as possible with accurate information about the virus and related topics.

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Everything You Need To Know About COVID Booster Shots - Colorado Times Recorder

Personalized medicine is a fantastic opportunity to take a "one size fits all" approach to diagnostics and drug therapy and prevention and turn it into an individualized approach. We all are similar, of course, but we are also different. And the idea that medicine would be applied in a fashion that ignores those differences can't be any more correct than going to the shoe store and buying any old pair of shoes without checking the size. Genomics is playing a big role in the emergence of personalized medicine, 'cause it gives us a window in a very specific molecular way into those differences between us and allows the opportunity for making individual predictions about disease risk that can help somebody choose a prevention plan that is right for them. It also allows the possibility in some instances of picking the right drug at the right dose for the right person instead of the "one size fits all" approach to drug therapy. And ultimately it will be hard to see how any kind of medicine will not be affected by this as we learn more and more about the individual, and as many of us find our complete genomes being sequenced and placed into our medical records to empower that kind of personalized approach. Lots of work to do here, but maybe the biggest revolution in medicine in a very long time.

Follow this link:
Personalized Medicine - Genome.gov

What is precision medicine?

Precision medicine is a way health care providers can offer and plan specificcare for their patients, based on the person's genes (or the genes in their cancer cells). It's sometimes called personalized medicine or personalized care. Precision medicine looks at how a specific gene change (gene mutation) might affect a person's risk of getting a certain cancer or, if they already have cancer, how their genes (or genes in their cancer cells) might affect treatment.

The approach uses information from genetic tests to help doctors put together a plan for care that usually involves very specific recommendations. In some cases, precision medicine can help make a more accurate diagnosis and improve treatment. In other cases, it can help people make decisions about healthy habits, earlier screening tests, and other steps towards prevention if they are at risk for a particular cancer.

Your health care providers might not use the exact words "precision medicine" or "personalized medicine." Instead they might talk to you about genetic, genomic, DNA, or molecular testing. Or they might talk about looking for biomarkers or getting a genetic profile. These are ways doctors and other health care providers might use a precision medicine approach when they are planning your care.

Precision medicine is based on knowing the effects of certain gene mutations (changes). When thinking about precision medicine, it can be helpful to understand what gene mutations are and how they can affect a person's risk for cancer or treatment for a cancer.

Each cell in a person's body has DNA, which contains our genes. Genes are the instructions your cells use to make proteins needed to keep your body working normally.

When cells divide to make new cells, the genes inside those cells are copied. A gene change happens when there's a mistake in the copying process. Sometimes these changes come from a parent (inherited gene changes). But they can also happen sometime later in life (acquired gene changes). Some gene changes can be harmful, while others may not cause any problems.

All cancers are caused by a genetic change or mutation of some kind. Cancer cells are mutated versions of normal cells, meaning something changed in a normal cell to make it turn into a cancer cell. Experts agree that it takes more than one gene mutation in a cell for cancer to happen.

While we don't yet know all the genes and mutations that could be involved in the development of cancer, there are some we know about and can test for. Depending on the type of mutation, an abnormal gene change might make a person more likely to develop a certain cancer. Or, if they already have cancer, the abnormal gene might mean that the cancer may not respond well to a certain type of treatment or drug. In some people with cancer, a specific gene mutation might mean that their prognosis (outcome) is better or worse than someone with the same cancer who does not have that gene change.

For example, when a person is diagnosed with cancer, they often get the same treatment as other people with that type of cancer. Sometimes a specific drug is used to treat a cancer with a certain abnormal gene. But gene changes might be different from one person to another, even if they have the same type of cancer. Because of this, each of those people might have a different response to the same drug. For certain cancer types, doctors can test for gene changes that can tell them if a person might respond better to one drug than another.

You can learn more in Genetics and Cancer.

Precision medicine is being used for certain cancers to help know what tests and treatment are best. Doctors might use precision medicine to help them:

Sometimes precision medicine is used for people with certain cancers or who are at higher risk for developing certain cancers. For example, a person might realize cancer runs in their family, or their doctor might notice a pattern of cancer in their family. In these cases, the patient might meet with a certified genetic counselor and consider having genetic testing. The testing can show if they have a gene change or mutation that puts them at a higher risk for certain types of cancer. If so, the doctor might recommend screening and other tests (often at a younger age than usual) to help find cancer early, and prescribe medicines or suggest healthy habits that might help lower cancer risk.

For people with a cancer diagnosis, their tumor might be tested for certain types of gene changes or proteins made from those gene changes.This testing can provide information about how their cancer grows and spreads. These tests might be called biomarker tests, chromosome tests, gene tests, or biochemical tests. It might be done using a blood or saliva sample, biopsy tissue, or body fluids. If the test is done using a biopsy sample (from a tumor), it'sdone in a special lab and might be called by different names, such as DNA mutational analysis, genomic testing, proteomics, biomarker testing, tumor profiling, cytogenetics, next generation sequencing, or molecular testing.

In some cancers, the gene testing done on a tumor can affect treatment choices. This is because certain gene changes can affect how a tumor responds to certain treatments. And some tumors have gene changes that are different from other tumors of the same type. For example, not every melanoma skin cancer will have the exact same gene mutations.This means these tumors might not respond to a treatment the same way. The goal is to give a treatment that can target a gene mutation, without causing too many side effects, and to avoidgivingtreatments that might not work. You can read more about 2 types of treatment often used in precision medicine: targeted therapy and immunotherapy.

You can also learn more in How Genes Can Help in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer.

It's important to understand that precision medicine is not used for every cancer. However, the hope is that one day, treatments will be customized to the specific gene changes in each persons cancer. Much research is being done in this area.

Some of the more common cancers where precision medicine is being used to help with treatment decisions include:

If a treatment is available to target a gene mutation that's common in your type of cancer, you (or your tumor) will likely be tested for it. You might need to ask your doctor some questions to know if testing was done. People with the types of cancer listed above are usually tested for certain gene changes when they are diagnosed, or shortly after. Some cancers are also tested if they get worse or come back.

Access to the latest precision medicine research might be limited. A lot still needs to be learned about how precision medicine can be used in cancer. Researchers are trying to fill those gaps, both in labs and in clinical trials.

Many clinical trials are done with patients who have specific types and stages of cancer. But to be part of a precision medicine clinical trial, a person must have a certain genetic change that can be targeted by amedicine that's being tested. And precision medicine clinical trials are often available only at larger cancer centers. This means sometimes the chances to be part of a clinical trials can be limited.

Even when precision medicine is available outside of a clinical trial, it might not always be used as well as it could be. For example:

It's important to ask questions and know all options that are available to you.

Experts believe precision medicine could help lower health care costs in some ways. This is because precision medicine can help guide doctors in choosing the right tests, which can then help them choose the treatments that will work best and hopefully have the fewestside effects. This means a patient might avoid getting treatments that are not likely to work well, along with unnecessary side effects.

But precision medicine can also increase some costs. For example:

If you don't have cancer, but are concerned about your cancer risk because of a family history or other reason, here are some questions you might want to ask your doctor:

You can learn more in Understanding Genetic Testing for Cancer.

If you have cancer, especially one of the cancers listed above in "Types of cancer precision medicine is used for," here are some questions you might want to ask your doctor:

You can learn more about what questions to ask in Understanding Your Options and Making Treatment Decisions.

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Precision or Personalized Medicine | Precision Medicine ...

SEATTLE, Oct. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Precision medicine sometimes referred to as "holistic medicine" is a highly specialized way to tailor personalized medicine to specific individuals, taking into consideration differences in genetics, histories, and environments. The aim of precision medicine is to only target the appropriate treatments to the appropriate patients at the appropriate time with the best possible outcomes. It is used to make medical interventions more efficient and less harmful to patients. In practice, precision medicine often involves working with and coordinating other health care teams, including primary care providers, specialists, surgeons, clinicians, nurses, and other doctors, all of whom work together to provide the most effective care. Precision medicine includes diagnostic tests, which are used to detect genetic variations that may affect a person's responses to medication or disease. These tests determine whether the patient's genetic or environmental factors are interfering with the effectiveness of the drugs, devices, or procedures being used in the treatment. The accuracy of such tests has improved a lot over the past few years.

The global precision medicine market is estimated to account for114,891.8Mn in terms of value by the end of 2028.

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Market Drivers:

Growing development of Big Data analysis and expansion of the IT sector is propelling growth of the precision medicine. Big data analysis and IT easily analyze, crunch, and store the necessary data which enable the physician to provide precision medicine. Key players are investing heavily in precision medicine. For instance, in August 2019, BioCity, the life science incubator and business announced an investment in precision medicine biotech, Kinomica Ltd., via the Innovate UK Precision Medicine Investment Accelerator.

An increasing number of R&D programs for enhancing precision medicine is fostering growth of the market. For instance, in October 2021, Amgen and Neumora Therapeutics, Inc. a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering precision medicines for brain diseases, announced a strategic partnership to advance neuroscience discovery, development, and commercialization. The companies have partnered on programs by applying Neumora's proprietary precision neuroscience platform to insights generated by Amgen's deCODE genetics and human data research capabilities.

Market Opportunities

Key players are adopting various strategies to accelerate the development of the precision market across developing regions. This is expected to provide room for potential growth opportunities for the market. For instance, in August 2021, Clinical trial organization (CRO) Precision for Medicine has partnered with Trialbee, a patient selection, and selection firm to address the complexities of clinical development. According to this partnership, they will use Trialbee's analytical features and Precision for Medicine's wide range.

Development of bioinformatics by key players to support the research of precision medicine is projected to offer lucrative growth opportunities. For instance, in June 2021, Indivumed GmbH announced the launch of nRavelTM, a unique AI discovery platform for oncology and precision medicine. The platform combines IndivuType's deep multi-omics data with elaborate disease models, high-powered automated Machine Learning tools, and a comprehensive suite of advanced analytics tools.

Market Trends

Precision medicine has gained lots of popularity in the treatment of cancer due to its positive result. Thus, the increasing prevalence of cancer is expected to uplift the growth of the market. According to the World Health Organization, cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020. The economic impact of cancer is significant and increasing. The total annual economic cost of cancer in 2010 was estimated at US$ 1.16 trillion.

Growing need for personalized medicine will favor positively impact the growth of precision medicine. According to the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, the most common conditions using personalized medicine today are diabetes (45%), common cancers (38%), and neurological diseases (33%). These numbers are all set to increase significantly in the near future.

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Competitive Landscape:

Major players operating in the precision medicine market are Intomics, Nanostring Technologies, Inc., Ferrer Incode, Tepnel Pharma Services, Pfizer, Inc., Novartis AG, Merck & Co., Inc., Qiagen N.V., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., and Quest Diagnostics.

Market segmentation:

Global Precision Medicine Market, By Technology:

Global Precision Medicine Market, By Application:

By Geography:

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Coherent Market Insightsis a global market intelligence and consulting organization focused on assisting our plethora of clients achieve transformational growth by helping them make critical business decisions. We are headquartered in India, having sales office at global financial capital in the U.S. and sales consultants in United Kingdom and Japan. Our client base includes players from across various business verticals in over 57 countries worldwide.

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Precision Medicine Market to reach US$ 114,891 Mn by end of 2028, Says Coherent Market Insights - PRNewswire

Significant technological advances over the past decade have changed the way we live, work and interact with each other.

Yet, many of these developments either happened behind closed doors in research laboratories and private companies or became so quickly ingrained in our daily lives that they often went unnoticed.

Every year, experts convened by the World Economic Forum and Scientific American make predictions about the emerging technologies expected to have major social, economic, and environmental impacts worldwide.

While some of these technologies have been catapulted into public consciousness and are fully integrated into our lives, others have been slower to gain momentum.

In the run-up to the 10th Anniversary edition of the Top 10 Emerging Technologies Report, launching 16 November, we take a look at some of the technologies from the past nine reports and ask: did the technology change the world, or did it fail to fulfil its potential? How is it impacting lives today, and where is it headed?

Given the poor success rates of treatments for things like cancer and depression, medical professionals have been trying to tailor treatments to individual patients for some time.

A decade on, there is renewed cause for optimism, says Dr. Elizabeth ODay, CEO and Founder of Olaris, Inc: In the next 5 to 10 years, we will be able to get the right drug to the right patient at the right time at the right dose and optimize all of these parameters.

We spend billions of dollars every year on drugs or treatments that dont work. Personalized medicine stands to correct this. Not only are we going to improve [patient] outcomes, but we can cut costs on drugs and treatments that arent going to benefit an individual.

But for personalized medicine to benefit everyone, scientists trying to figure out which treatments work best for which patients will require data from as diverse a group as possible.

We need all ethnicities, all geographies, people from all socioeconomic backgrounds to be involved in this process, or risk increasing health disparities, and thats not the future of medicine that we want to create.

Genomic vaccines vaccines made from DNA or RNA that encode desired proteins have been in development for many years but saw unexpected success in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

The technology was on our list of Top 10 emerging technologies in 2017, and three years later, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna created the worlds first mRNA vaccines to tackle the worlds biggest health threat.

Equitable distribution of vaccines is a global challenge, but in future, access to genomic vaccine technology could be democratized, believes Prof. Robin Shattock, Chair of Mucosal Infection and Immunity at Imperial College London.

I think well see many governments around the world wanting to establish their own manufacturing capacity and because you dont need a large manufacturing facility, it could move to a situation where there are many regional manufacturing centres that have the hardware and what becomes distributed is the software the genetic code for the next pandemic pathogen or the next chronic target.

Im hoping it will revolutionize a lot of what we do. Its not a magic bullet, it wont replace all other types of vaccines, but it will have an important role to play in public health.

In 2019, we identified that droid friends and robot assistants would increasingly become part of everyday life, looking after the elderly and educating children - and the pandemic has accelerated this trend due to the need to maintain a social distance.

But theres still a little way to go. As robotics become more integrated into peoples lives, they will need to be designed to detect, interpret, and respond to human behaviour, according to Henny Admoni, A. Nico Habermann Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon Universitys Robotics Institute.

In our consciousness as a society, weve been thinking about social robots for a very long time, but the reality is that most of the robots that are out in the world right now are much more physical robots that tend to be isolated from humans.

The World Economic Forum was the first to draw the worlds attention to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the current period of unprecedented change driven by rapid technological advances. Policies, norms and regulations have not been able to keep up with the pace of innovation, creating a growing need to fill this gap.

The Forum established the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network in 2017 to ensure that new and emerging technologies will helpnot harmhumanity in the future. Headquartered in San Francisco, the network launched centres in China, India and Japan in 2018 and is rapidly establishing locally-run Affiliate Centres in many countries around the world.

The global network is working closely with partners from government, business, academia and civil society to co-design and pilot agile frameworks for governing new and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous vehicles, blockchain, data policy, digital trade, drones, internet of things (IoT), precision medicine and environmental innovations.

Learn more about the groundbreaking work that the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network is doing to prepare us for the future.

Want to help us shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution? Contact us to find out how you can become a member or partner.

A social robot is not a replacement for social interaction, but becomes a medium through which communities can engage and people can interact.

Its really important as we build robots into our lives that we consider the ethical implications of robotics, who has access to these different technologies and what these technologies are perpetuating in terms of the social norms that are already embedded in society.

Written by

Greta Keenan, Programme Specialist, Science and Society, World Economic Forum

Kate Whiting, Senior Writer, Formative Content

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Excerpt from:
The biggest emerging technologies of the past 10 years - World Economic Forum

October 20, 2021

By Tiffany Lohwater UC Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley and the UC San Francisco on Oct. 20 jointly launched a new, one-of-a-kind program in computational precision health, a significant step toward advancing this new field and, ultimately, improving the quality and equity of health care.

The partnership positions the two world-renowned universities at the forefront in creating a new field at the intersection of medicine, statistics and computation. By creating a joint faculty group between UC Berkeley and UCSF, the two universities will simultaneously advance computing and data science with biomedicine and health, enabling solutions that would not have been imagined by either discipline alone.

Learn more about the computational precision health program.

Visit the site

The research of the joint faculty will enable new and more personalized techniques for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of disease. Working together, the two universities will develop new methods for data-driven clinical care, early detection and intervention, new ways to predict outcomes, and new targeted treatments which are both more effective and have fewer side effects. This ground-breaking faculty and educational program will transcend traditional boundaries among institutions, disciplines and scholarly communities to transform the future of health and health care.

The program will train the next generation of researchers to design, build and test innovations such as machine learning, digital health and clinical decision support systems within real-world clinical and public health settings to ensure that solutions meet real-world needs. Recognizing that algorithms are currently being created that too often exacerbate rather than mitigate racial and other biases, the program will ensure that equity, fairness, accountability and transparency will be hallmarks of all of its educational and research activities.A PhD degree program is anticipated by 2023 that will be jointly conferred by UC Berkeley and UCSF, leveraging the institutions research strengths: computer science and statistics at Berkeley, health care and health sciences at UCSF, and population and public health sciences at both campuses.

A gift of $50 million has been provided to UCSF and Berkeley by an anonymous donor to support the international search and hiring of four new faculty members in the next year and initiate development of the graduate program. The two institutions have committed to collectively secure an additional $100 million in funding from other sources such as philanthropy, federal grants and industry partnerships.

The joint program is being led by co-directors from both campuses who have expertise in medicine, public health and data science: Ida Sim MD, PhD, professor of medicine at UCSF and Maya Petersen MD, PhD, associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at Berkeley.

Maya Petersen, MD, PhD. Photo by UC Berkeley

The current evidence-based approach in medicine has led to health interventions and treatments that work on average for selected and often non-representative patients, said Sim, a primary care physician and informatics researcher. Many patients and patient populations face risks to their health from the use of data that are incomplete, data systems and infrastructure that are not well connected, and inherent bias in how data are collected and analyzed.

We can work to address these issues by equipping our students to understand the underlying contexts of equitable health care while simultaneously developing computational solutions to help instead of harm, she said.

Petersen and Sim believe that advanced data analytics and digital infrastructures are needed to allow next-generation computational health solutions to learn from every patient intervention and enable every patient to benefit from the latest data and evidence on successful health interventions. This vision can only be achieved, they say, if the underlying computational and analytic tools are conceived, tested and validated for the health care needs of diverse individuals and communities.

For an example of why this is needed, just look at the COVID-19 response in the U.S. and globally, said Petersen, who developed mathematical models for San Francisco and Bay Area communities that helped predict cases and hospitalizations during the pandemic. Theres so much more we can do to deliver on our promise and improve our healthcare and public health systems. We must serve the needs of populations and communities as well as individuals, and work to address existing systemic inequities in health.

Through this program, we aim to create a pipeline of diverse leaders committed to this goal, including those communities most impacted by existing health inequities. Embedded in all core courses in our curriculum will be a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion asking who are solutions built for, and who are solutions built by human-centered design, and the consideration of the ethical implications and societal impacts of this work, Petersen said.

Shared administration of the program by Berkeleys Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society and UCSFs Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, along with the involvement of 39 faculty in multiple schools and departments at both UC campuses, will help facilitate additional education and research collaborations in computational precision health.

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Innovative Joint Program in Computational Precision Health at UC Berkeley and UCSF Aims to Improve Quality and Equity of Health Care - UCSF News...

The long-awaited FDA guidelines for the Over-the-Counter (OTC) Hearing Aid Law were finally released last week. The move by the FDA will break a 50-year stronghold that a handful of players have had on the hearing aid market and on the pocketbooks of the millions of Americans who need relief from hearing loss but have not been able to afford their exorbitant prices.

FDA guidelines for the Over-the-Counter (OTC) Hearing Aid Law were released.

Proponents of the new law including the administrations of Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden claim the bill will help democratize competition and incentivize a wider range of innovative solutions for the 48 million Americans suffering from mild-to-moderate hearing loss. In addition, the OTC ruling includes guidelines for Personal Sound Amplification Devices (PSAPs), which are non-medical and open to a broad interpretation with far-reaching commercial applications.

Considered to be the third most common physical condition after arthritis and heart disease, untreated hearing loss has been linked to anxiety, depression, social isolation, reduced mobility, falls, dementia, and lower quality of life and relationships. It is also an issue facing more than just the elderly populations. Hearing loss also affects millions of people under the age of 35, as well as kids who go untested and consequently struggle with learning.

The Real Game-Changer

The real game-changer, however, will be at the intersection of wellness, fitness, and consumer audio products. The regulatory shift, when combined with exponential advancements in sound and wellness tech, will help fuel the Hearables Revolution and what is estimated to become a 93 billion dollar Hearables (in-ear audio devices) market by 2026. The long-term impact will be on the Amplified Future: the full integration of audio as a key component of personalized and precision medicine.

Amplified Future

Sound Health: Hearing Aids vs Hearables

Until now, the hearing aid industry has set the medical standards shaping consumer concerns around hearing loss. Hearing aids also represent a growing high-ticket reimbursable market thats worth $1.6B in the US, and slightly more in China.

The Big 5 hearing aid companies, however, only serve 14% of people suffering from hearing loss in the US. They have done little to address the social stigma, help younger and uninsured populations, or keep costs down. That leaves the majority of the population unserved: those dealing with mild to moderate hearing loss who dont require medical-grade hearing aids or implants.

Hearables Projected Market

Both OTC Hearing Aids and Hearables have an opportunity to fill a large part of that market gap while providing products that deliver infinitely more features than traditional hearing aids at a fraction of the cost. Smart-audio and wearable product manufacturers are already lining up to serve that population, expand their brand footprint, and get their slice of the Hearables pie.

Merging Audio and Wellness Expertise

In 1964, engineer and MIT professor Amar Bose founded his audio brand so he could dramatically improve the fidelity and transform the listener experience for recorded music. (He personally loved listening to classical music). Over 50 years later, the company in been making moves into both medical hearing aids and wellness-based consumer Hearables. They have already introduced their first FDA-cleared direct-to-consumer self-fitting hearing aid for less than 1/3 of the price of traditional hearing aids and are continuing development of their in-ear sleep aid technology, SleepBuds.

Bose Earbuds

The new FDA ruling gives Bose an opportunity to create more solid revenue streams for their new healthcare division as they seek to establish themselves as a credible and trusted wellness brand.

According to Steve Romine, VP of Bose Hear, Were thrilled the FDA has announced the issuing of its draft OTC hearing aid regulations. This marks a great moment for the millions of Americans experiencing hearing loss today...For now, theres renewed optimism for hearing loss sufferers who have put their hearing health on the back-burner due to the numerous barriers to getting the help they need to hearing better again.

In another marriage of consumer audio tech and hearing health, Sennheiser sold its consumer product division to Swiss hearing aid company Sonova last year for $240 million. In addition to giving Sennheiser immediate credibility and positioning in healthcare, the move will allow Sonova to bridge into non-medical consumer audio products.

Apples Slow But Steady Advances Into the Future of Health

The most valuable tech company in the world (currently valued at over $2 trillion) Apple is steadily building out its ecosystem and product lines for in-ear audio, fitness, and health. Apple recently announced their conversation boost feature for more precise listening through their AirPods, and the company is exploring other hearing enhancement features that will go beyond the benefits of noise reduction and their latest announcement spatial audio. There is also talk in the air about temperature and posture monitoring with their new AirPods Pro, as well as using iPhones to help diagnose depression and cognitive decline.

Apple has already staked a majority claimed for what will become the most coveted and connected real estate on the human body - the human ear. Last year, AirPods enabled Apple to capture over one-third of the high-end consumer earbud market. Various sources are saying that if Apple spun off their AirPods division into to a separate company, 2020 revenues for the spinoff would have surpassed those of Uber, Adobe, Nvidia, and Spotify.

Apple Airpods is a game changer

Apple continues to add value to their AppleFit programs with health and wellness monitoring features via their primary wearable, the Apple Watch, in sync with iCloud the the iPhone. In 2020, however, AirPods unit sales had more than doubled those of the Watch, giving another clear indicator of the continued migration from wearables to hearables. While I doubt Apple will move fully into the OTC hearing aid market, as suggested by the recent The Wall Street Journal article, the fashionable tech giant is well-positioned in both the consumer marketplace and the human ear to make a big play in the Amplified Future, focusing on the most scalable health, audio, and wellness features.

New Players In The Game

Companies like CES 2020 Honoree & Consumer Technology Association (CTA) Innovation Award winner Nuheara, started developing their Hearable devices - IQbuds - after a successful 2016 Indiegogo campaign and 2017 CES launch.

Nuheara

Earlier this month, Nuheara announced that it has commenced its clinical trial with the National Acoustics Laboratories (NAL), to support its planned expansion into clinically tested and regulatory-approved hearing aids.

Japanese manufacturer Olive Union has been targeting the younger populations and the 86% of the 48 million Americans who suffer from mild to moderate hearing loss and dont require medical-grade hearing aids. In the process of trying to de-stigmatize hearing aids, however, they are coming up with some very stylish hearable offerings, like their Olive Pros and SmartEar Plus that combine hi-end personalized audio features to provide style (they have a similar form to AirPods), hi-fidelity music listening (via the ability to choose between Music Mode and Hearing Mode), noise reduction, and customizable hearing enhancement features via their phone app.

Olive Pro hearing aids

Olive Union closed a $7 million B round in April 2021, bringing their total funding raised to date $20 million for their next-generation smart hearing technology.

Kokoon sleep phones have integrated EEG sensors and other sleep-specific features to capitalize on the burgeoning sleep market. Although they offer a more traditional headphone (over-the-ear) design, their software interface provides more content options than Bose in-ear SleepBuds including streaming third-party music sources via Bluetooth from your mobile device. Because the global epidemic of sleep problems and the consumer demand for better non-pharmaceutical solutions are not going away anytime soon, you can expect a new wave of innovations in hearables for sleep in the near future.

Why Consumer Audio Companies are Racing Into Health & Wellness

Why are investment funds, new ventures, and audio heavyweights jumping headfirst into the health tech pool?

The global market for earbuds and headphones is growing steadily as wireless becomes the norm and new features continue to improve performance and usefulness. A report from Grand View Research, set the value at $25 billion in 2019 (before witnessing the record-breaking 2020 AirPods sales), with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 20% from 2020 to 2027. The total wearables market was worth nearly $70B in 2019, with the hearables sector (including headphones), making up $28B of that.

Amazon, Apple Or Spotify: The Musical Race To Dominate Digital Wellness

Even digital music and content companies are looking at wellness as a way to differentiate, create new revenue streams, and attract customers away from their competitors. The evolution of higher fidelity and feature-rich hearables will only help their cause.

The audio products market, however, is crowded and highly competitive. That means market caps and lower profit margins for traditional and limited-use audio products. For consumer audio product manufacturers to compete and create exponential growth in the future, they may have to cut their slice from a bigger pie.

According to a report from Precedence Research, the broader Digital Health Market was $181 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to over $550 billion by 2027. It is predicted that the much broader and exponentially larger global healthcare market will reach $10 trillion by 2022. The largest US healthcare company, McKesson MCK , already has an annual revenue of over $208 billion. While these numbers are inclusive of a number of sectors that make up the massive global health and wellness markets, those are some pretty attractive figures for forward-thinking digital audio product manufacturers to consider.

Why Voice Will Lead Biometrics in Hearables

Even without including digital health and personalized medicine, 2020 wellness expenditures ($4.2 trillion, per the Global Wellness Institute) surpassed over half of total global health expenditures ($7.3 trillion, based on WHO data). That wellness industry represents 5.3 percent of global economic output.

When it comes to the ever-increasing number of startups entering the digital health and wellness space, there seems to be no sign of slowing, especially if you measure future growth by current investments. Global VC funding for Q1 of this year marked a record-setting quarter for investments into Digital Health companies, hitting $7.2 billion - twice that invested during the same quarter in 2020.

As of the close of Q3 2021 according to CB Insights State of Healthcare market report digital health startups have raised $39.6B in funding YTD, already 27% more than 2020 funding totals. Q3 also saw the birth of ten new healthcare unicorns, bringing the industrys total to 91 - the 3rd highest ever.

As audio becomes an increasingly more important health and wellness pipeline for data tracking and content delivery, and wearables continue their migration to high-feature multi-purpose hearables, the overlap of these markets will merge to create a bigger pie.

Apple Earpod Customer

Listen Up: Voice Bring More Value to the Future of Hearables

And lets not forget the exploding Voice Economy which has already established household names by the likes of Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant. The possibilities at the intersection of voice analytics and personalized health monitoring continue to expand. Anyone who uses their earbuds to make phone calls or voice commands, can likely envision how the human ear will become the #1 place to seamlessly capture biometric health and wellness data from your voice.

Beyond the FDA and Into the Future

There is no doubt that the FDA guidelines released last week will play an important role. One way to look at the FDA ruling is through the disruptive lens of the hearing aid market, but that only provides a narrow view of a complex matrix of forces that are creating, transforming, and connecting a number of much larger markets.

We are entering the Amplified Futureone that will feature ongoing real-time and multivariable predictive analysis by sensor-rich hearables and wearables. In addition to improving how we hear the world, these devices will monitor our vitals on the go and offer real-time recommendations for enhancing our physical and emotional well-being. These same technologies will provide early detection data to help us avoid life-threatening diseases, all as we go about our daily routines, all captured seamlessly through closed-loop systems between our ears, the cloud, our phones and other smart devices.

The companies that build the best UX and ecosystem to successfully bridge more traditional uses of this 2-way audio highway (voice and music), with highly effective, personalized, and convenient health and wellness features will have the best arsenal to win in the Hearables Revolution. Along with the competition, they will also help democratize and de-stigmatize hearing enhancement solutions for the new majority.

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How FDAs OTC Ruling Will Fuel The Hearables Revolution - Forbes

Johnson & Johnson and partner Legend Biotech are expecting an FDA decision for their first CAR-T product, cilta-cel, in November. To prepare for the upcoming launch of the personalized cell therapy, the Big Pharma company is planning a specialized patient support program, a dedicated sales team and more.

J&J intends to roll out a customized programto help cilta-cel-prescribed multiple myeloma patients navigate the treatment journey, Serge Messerlian, Janssens U.S. oncology president, said in a recent interview.

CAR-T therapies modify a patients own T cells to make them better weapons against cancer bearing a specific biomarker. For such a personalized medicine, one needs to be very thoughtful not just [about] the product, but theres a very important service component to that, Messerlian said.

RELATED:J&J, Legend Biotech's multiple myeloma CAR-T scores FDA priority review, setting up a clash with BMS' Abecma

Because of the complexity in production, CAR-T products can be pricey. Before cilta-cel, Bristol Myers Squibbrecently introduced a rival BCMA-targeted cell therapy, Abecma, at a list price of $419,500. Patients need to travel to designated treatment centers to have theirT cells drawn and later to receive the final product. They must also monitor for a potentially life-threatening side effect known as cytokine release syndrome after treatment.

For J&J'sprogram, each patient will get one-on-one assistancenavigating access challenges and help with the logistics associated withtreatment, Messerlian said. For the upcoming launch, J&J isworking on CAR-T site initiations and making sure the market is ready to receive the medicine. Although the company already has a popular multiple myeloma therapy, Darzalex, cilta-cel will have a separate sales team, he said.

J&J has a separate personalized patient assistance program for Darzalex, called Janssen Compass, which also covers prostate cancer med Erleada. The company is now rolling out Janssen Compass on a national scope after a limited run, Messerlian said.

Compass is a very patient-centric, patient-oriented platform; it almost serves like a shepherd, Messerlian explained. In Janssen Compass, a single point of contacta nurseis assigned to help bring the right resources to a patient to manage obstacles along the way, including access challenges and side effects.

RELATED:J&J cell therapy partner Legend carves out production foothold in Belgium as myeloma drug nears finish line

About half of the patients that get on any drug drop off within six months, Messerlian noted, and not all of them are related to costs.

Sometimes, patients dont understand what to expect on the treatment journey or fully acknowledge the benefits ofthe medicine, so they may not be committed to the therapy, Messerlian said. In Janssen Compass, a care navigator will help set expectations, educate each patient on how to manage potential obstacles and support them in developing a care plan to communicate with doctors.

In return, J&J is getting valuable insights. Janssen Compass allows the company to understand and analyze which patients will be most likely to drop off, and what are some interventions we can [use to] predict and prevent these types of patient drop-offs, Messerlian said.

Beyond patient support, J&J is also teaming up with healthcare facilities and specialty networks to help train doctors, especially in the community setting. The goal of such education is, as Messerlian put it, about bending the quality-of-life curve.

RELATED:Pharmas' return on $5B spent yearly on patient support programs? Only 3% are using them: survey

Working with its care partners, J&J is collecting and analyzing data to map out how various patients move through the treatment process, aiming to improve outcomes along the way.

It comes down to understanding, what are the inputs of this care process, what are the decisions along the process, and can you standardize to that, Messerlian said. [With] a standard set, you can then roll that out in partnership with other practices to ultimately elevate the standard of care.

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Johnson & Johnson preps for first CAR-T launch with a new patient support program, a dedicated sales team and more - FiercePharma

Getting routine breast exams is something Dag Pavic, M.D., a breast radiologist at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, stresses all the time. Thats why hes excited that Hollings is participating in a large National Cancer Institute-funded trial, aimed at improving breast cancer screenings and treatment options for women with, and without, health insurance.

Breast screening is our best weapon in the fight against breast cancer, Pavic said. When breast cancer is caught early, the patient has numerous treatment options and usually a very good outcome.

The trial, called the Tomosynthesis Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (TMIST), will provide insights into which type of screening is best and how to improve future breast cancer patient care. Nationwide, researchers hope to enroll 165,000 women in the trial.

This trial helps us offer more personalized medicine to each individual patient, Pavic said. We have to consider a patients risk of breast cancer and breast characteristics that may alter what may be the best type of screening for that person.

The trial is being supported by the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP). Nearly 50 million screening mammograms occur each year in the United States, yet it has been decades since a large-scale randomized trial of mammography has been done, said Worta McCaskill-Stevens, M.D., director of NCORP. The evolution of mammography technology provides us with an opportunity to fill in the gaps in our knowledge about two available breast cancer screening tests.

Hollings is currently enrolling women ages 45 to 74 in TMIST. As part of the randomized study, women will receive a mammogram using conventional two-dimensional mammography or the newer tomosynthesis three-dimensional mammography.

Through this trial, we hope to learn whether or not there are differences between 2D and 3D mammography in detecting cancers and advanced cancers and whether one type of mammography results in more false positives and callbacks for further evaluation, Pavic said.

Pavic, who serves as the primary investigator of the TMIST trial at Hollings, said researchers will also collect genetic samples from enrolled patients. These samples allow us to understand and study cancer on a molecular level, which will ultimately lead to better therapies. Once you understand the molecular aspects of breast cancer, you can investigate, produce and use medicine that will target those components.

Pavic said he hopes that the trial also answers two other questions: Is standard-of-care 3D mammography better than standard-of-care 2D mammography? And how frequently should patients be screened for breast cancer?

The trial is being offered at two MUSC locations Hollings Cancer Center in downtown Charleston and MUSC Womens Health at East Cooper Medical Pavilion. To date, 90 women who have enrolled in the trial at MUSC locations, and Pavic said that, eventually, he hopes to have several hundred enroll before trial enrollment ends in 2024.

Patients should be excited to participate in this trial because they can be part of something for the greater good, he said. We have an opportunity to gain a better understanding of breast cancer screenings and treatments. That will ultimately help to save lives in the years to come.

Patients interested in enrolling in TMIST should contact study coordinator, Kristin Thompson, at thompskn@musc.edu or 843-792-6463.

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Hollings participating in large national breast cancer study aimed at improving screenings and treatment - Medical University of South Carolina

-- Study uses Invitae Personalized Cancer Monitoring (PCM) liquid biopsy to accurately profile tumors and enhance cancer circulating tumor DNA-based minimal residual disease (MRD) lead times; highlights promise for personalized cancer care --

Published: Oct. 22, 2021 at 7:00 AM CDT

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Invitae (NYSE: NVTA), University College London (UCL), and the Francis Crick Institute today announced new data from their TRACERx lung cancer research collaboration funded by Cancer Research UK and sponsored by UCL. The data, presented by Professor Charles Swanton of UCL and the Francis Crick Institute at the International Society of Liquid Biopsy (ISLB) Congress,further validate the value of liquid biopsy as a less invasive and more comprehensive approach to guiding personalized cancer treatment in the absence of detectable disease by clinical imaging. Previously reported findings from the TRACERx cohort found that monitoring for cancer circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) based minimal residual disease (MRD) detected relapse of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) up to three years earlier than standard of care imaging surveillance in some instances.1

The study used a new blood-based informatic tool called ECLIPSE (Extraction of CLonality from LIquid bioPSiEs) with an earlier iteration of the Invitae Personalized Cancer Monitoring (PCM) liquid biopsy assay to analyze plasma samples of patients in the TRACERx study.With this approach, data demonstrated multiplex-anchored PCR sequencing of the plasma samples enhanced MRD lead times relative to standard of care surveillance scanning and allowed holistic sampling of clonal dynamics, or tumor heterogeneity, with prognostic implications for disease progression.

"Tumours are highly heterogeneous and standard biopsies can miss important tumor traits. Our findings from applying our novel ECLIPSE software with Invitae's multiplex-anchored PCR technology, which powers the Invitae PCM assay, are promising. They underscore the tremendous potential of PCM for providing representative tumor sampling throughout the disease course, and most importantly at an early stage or at early recurrence in the absence of disease on standard imaging, which may in the future inform clinical trial stratification and the best treatment plans for patients," said Professor Charles Swanton, Cancer Research UK's Chief Clinician and a 2021 ISLB award recipient for outstanding scientific contribution in liquid biopsy. "Better understanding the true pathology of a patient's tumor, including driver and passenger clonal mutations, and identifying MRD earlier, are key to unlocking personalized cancer care and changing the paradigm of cancer drug development towards earlier intervention in the adjuvant setting where cures are more readily achievable."

Invitae's PCM is a pan-cancer, tumor-informed liquid biopsy assay that uses next-generation sequencing powered by Anchored Multiplex PCR (AMP) to monitor MRD with high sensitivity at low variant allele fractions. The service employs a combination of a tumor profile, blood tests and personalized assays based on a patient's tumor with the goal of earlier detection of cancer recurrence through ctDNA before it is detectable by imaging or other conventional methods. ECLIPSE, developed by the Cancer Research UK TRACERx team at UCL and the Francis Crick Institute, uses a standardized algorithm that helps resolve tumor tissue-based sample bias. Coupling Invitae's PCM assay with ECLIPSE, the researchers analyzed 972 longitudinal plasma samples from 136 TNM I-III NSCLC patients in TRACERx who had undergone multiregion whole exome sequencing of primary tumor and relapse tissue and had 364 surveillance scans. Seventy-five of these patients experienced a recurrence of their surgically resected disease.

The researchers concluded that multiplex-anchored PCR with trinucleotide specific background modelsimproves NSCLC relapse detectioncompared to standard of care clinical follow up. Using ECLIPSE, plasma samples of less than 1% purity can be used to accurately profile the clonal structure of tumors at diagnosis, during treatment and at relapse, which impacts patient outcome and has the potential to guide personalized medicine.

"Determining the best treatment plan for a cancer patient depends on several factors, including the results of current disease monitoring. Unfortunately, traditional monitoring methods such as imaging and tissue biopsy are insensitive when it comes to adequately representing a tumor or detecting relapse early in a patient's treatment cycle," saidRobert Nussbaum, M.D., chief medical officer of Invitae. "These findings further validate the role of PCM in determining a therapy's effectiveness and identifying relapses more quickly, both of which are essential to optimizing personalized treatment plans."

PCM and other liquid biopsy approaches for monitoring MRD have the potential to become a mainstay in personalized oncology. PCM could be applied in a variety of ways to help improve patient care and prolong survival outcomes, including monitoring for recurrence, monitoring a patient's response to therapy to inform treatment decisions, and improving clinical trial designs to help get new therapies to market sooner.

About TRACERx Study

TRACERx (Tracking Cancer Evolution through therapy (Rx)) lung study is the single biggest investment in lung cancer research by Cancer Research UK. Taking place over nine years, we believe the translational research programme is the first study to look at the evolution of cancer in real time and immense detail. Researchers follow patients with lung cancer all the way from diagnosis through to either disease relapse or cure after surgery, tracking and analysing how their cancer develops. TRACERx is led by UCL (University College London) via the Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence and also supported by the National Institute for Health Research, University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre, Francis Crick Institute and the Rosetrees Trust.

About Cancer Research UK

For further information about Cancer Research UK's work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 0300 123 1022 or visitwww.cancerresearchuk.org. Follow us on TwitterandFacebook.

About UCL (University College London) London's Global University

UCL is a diverse community with the freedom to challenge and think differently. Our community of more than 41,500 students from 150 countries and over 12,500 staff pursues academic excellence, breaks boundaries and makes a positive impact on real world problems. We are consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the world and are one of only a handful of institutions rated as having the strongest academic reputation and the broadest research impact. We have a progressive and integrated approach to our teaching and research championing innovation, creativity and cross-disciplinary working. We teach our students how to think, not what to think, and see them as partners, collaborators and contributors. For almost 200 years, we are proud to have opened higher education to students from a wide range of backgrounds and to change the way we create and share knowledge. We were the first in England to welcome women to university education and that courageous attitude and disruptive spirit is still alive today. We are UCL.

About The Francis Crick Institute

The Francis Crick Institute is a biomedical discovery institute dedicated to understanding the fundamental biology underlying health and disease. Its work is helping to understand why disease develops and to translate discoveries into new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, infections, and neurodegenerative diseases.

An independent organisation, its founding partners are the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK, Wellcome, UCL (University College London), Imperial College London and King's College London.

The Crick was formed in 2015, and in 2016 it moved into a brand new state-of-the-art building in central London which brings together 1500 scientists and support staff working collaboratively across disciplines, making it the biggest biomedical research facility under a single roof in Europe. http://crick.ac.uk/

About Invitae

Invitae Corporation (NYSE: NVTA) is a leading medical genetics company, whose mission is to bring comprehensive genetic information into mainstream medicine to improve healthcare for billions of people. Invitae's goal is to aggregate the world's genetic tests into a single service with higher quality, faster turnaround time, and lower prices. For more information, visit the company's website at invitae.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to the study results and implications thereof; the company's beliefs regarding the study, including that it highlights the promise of personalized care and further validates the value of liquid biopsy and the potential benefits of the company's PCM assay; and statements relating to the potential applications of PCM. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the company's history of losses; the company's ability to compete; the company's failure to manage growth effectively; the company's need to scale its infrastructure in advance of demand for its tests and to increase demand for its tests; the company's ability to use rapidly changing genetic data to interpret test results accurately and consistently; security breaches, loss of data and other disruptions; laws and regulations applicable to the company's business; regulatory approval and market acceptance of PCM; and the other risks set forth in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risks set forth in the company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2021. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and Invitae Corporation disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Contact: pr@invitae.com (628) 213-3283

1Abbosh Chris et al, Abstract CT023: Phylogenetic tracking and minimal residual disease detection using ctDNA in early-stage NSCLC: A lung TRACERx study. Cancer Res August 15 2020 (80) (16 Supplement) CT023; DOI: 10.1158/1538-7445.AM2020-CT023

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Invitae, UCL and the Francis Crick Institute Announce New Data From TRACERx Research Collaboration at the 2021 International Society of Liquid Biopsy...

October 21, 2021

Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Chicago, USA Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced new innovations that will help improve cancer care across the patient journey at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting (Chicago, USA, 24-27 October). During the event, Philips will debut its Multimodality RT Simulation Workspace, a new precision medicine application that provides a vendor-agnostic single space for simulation, multimodality image fusion and contouring. New MR and CT imaging systems tailored for the needs of radiation therapy will also be showcased, delivering breakthroughs in imaging and treatment planning. Philips will also highlight its deepened strategic partnership with Elekta to support the ambition of providing clear care pathways and predictable outcomes for every cancer patient.

Today, cancer care is a long, complex journey through various stages, settings, and providers, putting a significant burden on both patients and clinicians. The number of new cancer cases is expected to rise by about 70% over the next two decades [1]. At the same time, oncology care is transforming, driven by an increasingly precise diagnosis of each tumor, and a continuously expanding range of therapy options. To fully capitalize on these challenges and opportunities, healthcare providers require integrated solutions throughout the entire cancer care pathway, from diagnosis to treatment and follow-up.

Enhanced through strategic partnerships, our end-to-end oncology solutions span the patient pathway and the multidisciplinary specialties, integrating data and enabling collaboration, all with the aim of improving patient and staff satisfaction and outcomes, said Ardie Ermers, General Manager Oncology Solutions at Philips. At this years ASTRO meeting were highlighting how were connecting clinical and operational teams with the information they need to optimize and personalize cancer care.

Bringing clarity in therapy planning closer to the point of care with Multimodality RT Simulation WorkspaceWith images and data often siloed in different systems, the complexity of image fusion and contouring can lengthen patient time to treatment. Integrating seamlessly into the simulation workflow, Multimodality RT Simulation Workspace, a new precision medicine application, is designed to help physicians define tumor volume and surrounding organs-at-risk through a versatile multimodality image platform which connects to both Philips and non-Philips imaging devices or a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) to access image datasets such as CT, MR, PET, Spectral CT and Cone Beam CT. These capabilities provide better access to a task-centered, vendor neutral solution that efficiently utilizes all available images and data in one central location.

Innovations in MR and CT simulation deliver advances in imaging and treatment planningWith the companys strong track record of bringing continuous innovations to expand the role of MRI in radiation therapy, the next-generation Philips MR Ingenia RT XD MR simulation platform has been designed around the needs of radiation oncology, combining ease-of-use, streamlined integration and versatility. The platform can be easily adapted for different procedures, including external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), proton therapy and brachytherapy planning. The new Couch Top RT XD with Unity indexing further extends the compatibility between the Philips MR Ingenia RT XD and Elekta Unity, supporting greater consistency in both image quality and imaging and positioning workflows that enhance reproducibility, help accelerate learning curves and drive continuity across the care path.

The recently-introduced Spectral CT 7500 system delivers high quality spectral images for every patient on every scan 100% of the time to help improve disease characterization, and reduce rescans and follow-ups, all at the same dose levels as conventional scans. Unlocking the clinical value of dual-energy CT for radiation oncology applications, Spectral CT allows for optimization of lesions that may represent cancer. By capturing additional information such as electron density and effective atomic number, Spectral CT enables physicians to quantify physiological processes such as perfusion and ventilation, enhancing treatment planning.

Philips is collaborating with MIM Software to integrate its Contour ProtgAI next-generation deep learning segmentation on its CT Big Bore RT platform, providing automatically segmented Organ at Risk segmentation immediately after the simulation exam [2].

Further expansion of precision medicine application portfolioAlso being introduced at ASTRO, Multidisciplinary Team Orchestrator virtually connects and securely integrates multi-disciplinary teams and data across the patient cancer journey. Together with Multimodality RT Simulation Workspace, applications already available from Philips that advance precision oncology through integrated care, pathway orchestration, and clinical decision support, include:

Partnering to benefit patients throughout the care pathwayIn June, Philips and Elekta announced that the two healthcare leaders would deepen their strategic partnership in precise and individualized oncology care. The strengthened strategic partnership intends to further deliver an excellent experience in diagnosis and adaptive, personalized treatments for clinicians, shorter treatment times and precise therapy for patients, and lowered costs of care for healthcare providers. As part of the partnership, Philips will develop seamless integration between its precision medicine applications and Elektas MOSAIQ Plaza integrated radiotherapy software suite, enhancing end-to-end decision making and treatment implementation.

For more information about Philips presence at ASTRO 2021 follow @PhilipsLiveFrom for updates throughout the event.

[1] WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer https://gco.iarc.fr/today/data/factsheets/cancers/39-All-cancers-fact-sheet.pdf%5B2%5D Big Bore RT with Contour ProtgAI is only available in the USAMultimodality RT Simulation Workspace is a new feature of the TumorLoc module, part of Pinnacle RTPS. Both TumorLoc and Pinnacle are FDA cleared

For further information, please contact:

Kathy OReillyPhilips Global Press OfficeTel.: +1 978 221 8919E-mail: kathy.oreilly@philips.com

Mark GrovesPhilips Global Press OfficeTel.: +31 631 639 916Email: mark.groves@philips.com

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and well-being, and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips generated 2020 sales of EUR 17.3 billion and employs approximately 78,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at http://www.philips.com/newscenter.

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Philips brings clarity to every moment of cancer care with new patient-centered innovations at ASTRO 2021 - GlobeNewswire

October 22, 2021

About 12 years ago in Russia, wildlife conservation biologist Adam Stein was involved with projects on the Oriental stork.

A Russian colleague had been working on how to save the species then numbering only about 3,000 throughout its entire habitat from Siberia down into Manchuria, Korea and Japan. Stein observed firsthand the experience of working across borders and languages, and dealing with capacity issues and proprietary data to save a species that now numbers about 7,000.

Now, during a time where many things have changed, Stein has taken the international conservation biology class offered at Arizona State Universitys College of Integrative Sciences and Arts from classroom lectures to weekly meetings with researchers from Siberia to the Solomon Islands, Nicaragua and Tanzania.

It's been a great opportunity for the students just to really see how these different cultures work, to get conversations with those people on the ground, Stein said.

The combination of being isolated with new meeting technology offered a fresh opportunity to recast the class.

We can't necessarily go to the Solomons for the week or to Tanzania for the week, Stein said. And we can't cram all that into the semester. And so what better way than to just take this technology and say, this is the best way to teach this class instead of having a Westerner sit up here and talk about, you know, this is how it goes.

The course has been offered at ASU for some time, but its the first time Stein has taught it. Students learn about wildlife around the world, including biogeography, biodiversity, conservation topics and the complexity of conserving wildlife in both developed and developing nations.

Stein has traveled around the world as a conservation biologist and met scores of people in the field.

I've met a lot of different individuals at different levels of conservation and have been able to see ecosystems and conservation issues firsthand, he said. And when I was offered to teach this course, I said, this is a great opportunity for me to touch base with all of these colleagues from around the world. And instead of me telling the story that I've witnessed, have them firsthand tell these stories and tie it into an overall picture of how conservation works on an international level.

Conservation biology is a rigorous science that looks at what is needed to maintain populations. What is the amount of species needed for enough genetic variability? How do we maintain that population? How do we keep that minimal viable population going? What's the dynamic area that's needed to support those organisms working within the matrix of human interactions? The international component talks about why its a global problem.

Stein kicked off the semester with locals who live on the edge of one of the last large wildernesses in Central America in Nicaragua, a 2,500-square-kilometer ecosystem home to the last big populations of jaguars and other large mammals. Its vastly important for the connectivity of wildlife species that make their way from Mexico through to South America. Without that linkage, two continents are broken apart.

It has ramifications beyond just its own borders about the connectivity of these ecosystems, and it's under threat, Stein said. We see that it's being undermined in the last five to 10 years. It's being degraded by deforestation, by intruders into this environment. And Nicaragua is a very poor country and doesn't invest a lot of resources into this conservation."

Initially people might assume these intruders are impoverished residents looking for opportunities, Stein said but in fact, there are reports that the government is the driver behind it, seizing land and giving concessions to companies such as large cattle operations.

"What I think it did for the students was it kind of opened their eyes to the government may be the problem here, and why can't the people do something about that?" he said.

"These are the questions that are generated by the students ... and the feedback I've heard has really, you know, shown the complicated issues that come with that."

Top photo of Nicaragua courtesy of Pixabay.com

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How mindfulness-based stress reduction can improve quality of life in people with autism - ASU News Now

The COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdowns and pandemic situation changed the way of handling clinical trials. This greatly affected the U. K. pharmacovigilance market. Furthermore, rising externalization as well as outsourcing of clinical trials by several biotechnological as well as pharmaceutical companies is boosting the demand in U. K. pharmacovigilance market. Some other factors driving the growth in the U. K. pharmacovigilance market include presence of regulatory mandates prescribing ideal trial conduct as well as pointing out strict post-marketing vigilance.

The study on the U. K. pharmacovigilance market offers a critical assessment of key growth dynamics, technology trends, regulatory frameworks prevailing in key regional markets, and recent investment trends among prominent stakeholders. The research provides a detailed insight into the share and size of various segments in the U. K. pharmacovigilance market. The report also estimates their projected valuation by the end of 2031, and regulations that may disrupt or hold game-changing potential in the near future.

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The U.K. Pharmacovigilance Market: Major Trends and Drivers

Increasing incidence of adverse drug reactions or ADRs caused by drug abuse as well as rising prevalence of severe diseases that require combination drug therapies are two of the major drivers for the products in the U. K. pharmacovigilance market. Furthermore, rising efforts in increasing the production of essential drugs as well as presence of strict government norms and regulatory frameworks may fuel the growth in the U. K. pharmacovigilance market in coming years. Similarly, advancements in creation of ADR databases as well as rising usage of medical information systems are also expected to bolster the upward trajectory of the U. K. pharmacovigilance market in near future.

The government of the United Kingdom has integrated several new and cutting edge technologies such as virtual trial technology, to supplement the processing of negative events pertaining to the COVID-19 vaccines. Integration of virtual trial technology is vaccine development as well as in securing full service COVID trials as well as studies is also bolstering the development in U. K. pharmacovigilance market. Furthermore, rising drug development efforts in the field such as personalized medicine, orphan drugs, adaptive trial designs, biosimilars, and companion diagnostics is also expected to foster the demand in the U. K. pharmacovigilance market in near future.

The U.K. Pharmacovigilance Market: Key Players and Manufacturers

The research report features a thorough evaluation of the competitive landscape in U. K. pharmacovigilance market. It includes information about the major players in the market. The business intelligence report highlights their product range, production volume, market share and size, profile, key competitors, and regions of operations. Through assessment of historic data about pricing and profit margins, readers can gauge potential opportunities in various segments in the U. K. pharmacovigilance market.

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Some of the key and leading players as well as manufacturers operating within the U. K. pharmacovigilance market may include Accenture, IBM Corporation, ICON PLC, IQVIA, PAREXEL International Corporation, Cognizant, ArisGlobal, Capgemini, TAKE Solutions Ltd., and BioClinica, among others. The U. K. pharmacovigilance market is considered to be somewhat fragmented owing to the presence of significant number of players operating within the industry. Some of the key strategies adopted by the players in the U. K. pharmacovigilance market for expansion include constant product development, partnerships, alliances, and collaborations, among others.

For example, Ashfield Pharmacovigilance Inc., a United States based subsidiary of UDG Healthcare PLC, was acquired by the Ergomed PLC for complete cash consideration of US$ 10 million. This acquisition is aimed at supplementing the development of Ergomed PLLCs combined PV as well as CRO business all over the world. This will also aid them in establishing presence and offering avenues for potential growth in the U. K. pharmacovigilance market in North America.

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UK Pharmacovigilance Market | Rising Usage of Medical Information Systems Drive the Industry Growth - BioSpace

Preventive medicine is a specialty that bridges clinical practice and public health. Specialists work in diverse settings and tap into a broad skill set to prevent disease and promote the health of individuals, communities and populations.

Physicians completing a preventive medicine residency gain a breadth of skills that opens many potential career paths in population health system management, public health and epidemiology, clinical care, health informatics, public health policy development and much more. Preventive medicine physicians work in a variety of settings including state and local health departments, Fortune 100 companies, health systems and all levels of government.

Click HERE to download a full list of Preventive Medicine Residency Programs.

Completion of residency training in preventive medicine is an essential step to become certified in one or more of the preventive medicine specialty areas: Public Health and General Preventive Medicine, Occupational Medicine, and Aerospace Medicine.

There are currently 72accredited preventive medicine residency training programs in the United States. Programs are administered by schools of medicine, schools of public health, state or local health departments, or in federal government agencies or branches of the uniformed services. They take an individualized approach to training, with approximately 350 residents in training every year.

Residency program accreditation and ongoing compliance reviews are performed by the Preventive Medicine Residency Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

Prospective residents must contact their desired residency programs directly for information and application instructions. Program directors may connect residents with program match specialists who can provide additional information and guidance. Many programs participate in the Preventive Medicine Electronic Residency Application Service.

ACPM administers a voluntary standardized acceptance process for General Preventive Medicine and Public Health residency programs. This centralized service provides the participating programs with a uniform method of selecting residents. ACPM opens registration in October and application review begins the following January.

Prior to an appointment in a preventive medicine residency program, applicants must have successfully completed at least 12 months of clinical education in a residency program accredited by the ACGME, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, or the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Experience must include at least 11 months of direct patient care, in both inpatient and outpatient settings, where residents developed competency in the following clinical skills:

In addition to the base skills related to clinical practice, preventive medicine residency programs feature competencies in the following areas:

Two-year training programs include didactics, clinical training, research, public health and other population-based experiences. The didactic training includes both residency-lead seminars, as well as the acquisition of a Master in Public Health or equivalent degree. Those residents entering with an appropriate degree can enhance their didactics with additional coursework. Whether through a Master in Public Health or other equivalent degree, all residents must complete graduate level courses in epidemiology, biostatistics, health services management and administration, environmental health and the behavioral aspects of health.

Practicum experiences can take place across the two years of the residency and include acquisition of skills in clinical and population prevention medicine. Examples of practicum experiences include appointments in: local, state and federal health departments; health maintenance organizations; peer review organizations; community and migrant health centers; occupational health clinics; industrial sites; regulatory agencies; NASA; OSHA; research settings and many more. Reference the Examples of Preventive Medicine Training Opportunities for a comprehensive listing.

Combined residency training is designed to lead to board certification in two medical specialties. Combined programs may reduce the overall length of required training by as much as one year. Residencies that offer combined training programs must maintain their accreditation status through each specialty Residency Review Committee.

The ABPM and the American Board of Internal Medicine have formal guidelines for a combined 4-year residency training program, which leads to board certification in both Preventive Medicine and Internal Medicine.

Several institutions also offer 4-year programs with combined training in preventive medicine and family medicine.

The preventive medicine Standardized Acceptance Process (SAP) is a service offered by ACPM to aid in matching prospective preventive medicine residents with available positions at residency programs across the country. The SAP helps to create homogeneity in residency program acceptance timetables, and ensures programs and candidates have adequate time to complete interviews and make and accept offers.Since 2018, nearly three quarters of all General Preventive Medicine and Public Health residency programs have participated in the SAP match.

SAP policy information, program guidelinesand resources for 2022 will be posted soon.

October - November - Programs Register for the SAP

October- January, 2022 - Applicants Register for the SAP

November 12 - Program InformationalSession

November 19 - Applicant Informational Session

January 24 - 28,2022- Applicants submit ranked lists

February 1- 4,2022- Programs submit ranked lists

February 7 - 11, 2022 - SAP pairing period

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Preventive Medicine Residency Programs | ACPM

Preventive medicine services, or well visits, are evaluation and management (E/M) services provided to a patient without a chief complaint. The reason for the visit is not an illness or injury (or signs or symptoms of an illness or injury), but rather to evaluate the patients overall health, and to identify potential health problems before they manifest.The CPT code book includes a dedicated set of codes to describe preventive medicine services:

99381 Initial comprehensive preventive medicine evaluation and management of an individual including an age and gender appropriate history, examination, counseling/anticipatory guidance/risk factor reduction interventions, and the ordering of laboratory/diagnostic procedures, new patient; infant (age younger than 1 year)99382 early childhood (age 1 through 4 years)99383 late childhood (age 5 through 11 years)99384 adolescent (age 12 through 17 years)99385 18-39 years99386 40-64 years99387 65 years and older99391 Periodic comprehensive preventive medicine reevaluation and management of an individual including an age and gender appropriate history, examination, counseling/anticipatory guidance/risk factor reduction interventions, and the ordering of laboratory/diagnostic procedures, established patient; infant (age younger than 1 year)99392 early childhood (age 1 through 4 years)99393 late childhood (age 5 through 11 years)99394 adolescent (age 12 through 17 years)99395 18-39 years99396 40-64 years99397 65 years and older

Code assignment is determined by the patients age (as detailed in the code descriptor), and whether the patient is new (99381-99387) or established (99391-99397). CPT applies the three year rule to determine new vs. established status. A patient is established if any physician in a group practice (or, more precisely, any physician of the same specialty billing under the same group number) has seen that patient for a face-to-face service within the past 36 months. The Decision Tree for New Vs Established Patients in the Evaluation and Management Services Guidelinesportion of the CPT code book can help you to select the appropriate patient status.Service Content Varies by Patient CircumstancePreventive medicine services must include a comprehensive history and examination, and age-appropriate anticipatory guidance. In the context of preventive medicine services 99381-99397, a comprehensive exam is not the comprehensive exam as defined by either the 1995 or 1997 Evaluation and Management Documentation Guidelines. Instead, the exam should reflect an appropriate assessment, given the specific patients age and sex. For example, the specifics of the exam will differ for a 4-yr-old male and a 22-year-old female.Services for a young child will assess physical growth (height, weight, head circumference) and developmental milestones such as speech, crawling, and sleeping habits. Anticipatory guidance may include use of car seats and other safety issues, introducing new foods, etc.An adolescent preventive service may include scoliosis screening, assessment of growth and development, and a review of immunizations. Anticipatory guidance may focus on developing positive health habits and self-care, including discussion of drug, alcohol, and tobacco use, and sexual activity.A comprehensive preventive visit for an adult female patient will include a gynecologic examination, Pap smear, and breast exam. An adult males exam would include an examination of the scrotum, testes, penis, and the prostate for older patients. Anticipatory guidance may focus on issues of health maintenance, such as alcohol and tobacco use, safe sex practices, nutrition, and exercise. The patients employment status and other family issues may be discussed. As patient age advances, cholesterol levels, blood sugar, and prostate-specific antigen(PSA) testing may become increasingly relevant.Diagnoses Must Support Preventive Nature of the VisitEvery billed service must be supported by an ICD-10-CM code(s) that describe the reason for that service. In the case of a well visitbecause there is no patient complaintyou should turn to so-called Z codes (Factors influencing health status and contact with health services). For example:

Z00.110 Health examination for newborn under 8 days oldZ00.111Health examination for newborn 8 to 28 days oldZ00.121 Encounter for routine child health examination with abnormal findingsZ00.129Encounter for routine child health examination without abnormal findingsZ00.00 Encounter for general adult medical examination without abnormal findingsZ00.01 Encounter for general adult medical examination with abnormal findingsZ01.411 Encounter for gynecological examination (general) (routine) with abnormal findingsZ01.419 Encounter for gynecological examination (general) (routine) without abnormal findings

You also should code for any abnormalities found, regardless of whether the finding requires an additionally reported service.Testing and Problem-Focused Testing Are SeparatePer CPT coding guidelines:If an abnormality is encountered or a preexisting problem is addressed in the process of performing this preventive medicine evaluation and management service, and if the problem or abnormality is significant enough to require additional work to perform the key components of a problem-oriented E/M service, then the appropriate Office/Outpatient code 99201-99215 should also be reported. Modifier 25 should be added to the office/outpatient code to indicate that a significant, separately identifiable evaluation and management service was provided on the same day as the preventive medicine service.To determine whether a problem requires significant work, consider whether the available documentation is sufficient to support each service (the preventive service and the problem-oriented service), separately.Additionally, per CPT coding guidelines, as supported by CPT Assistant(April 2005):

The codes in the preventive medicine services include the ordering of appropriate immunization(s) and laboratory or diagnostic procedures. The performance of immunization and ancillary studies involving laboratory, radiology, other procedures, or screening tests identified with a specific CPT code are reported separately.

Payer Coverage May VaryThe Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires insurers to cover recommended preventive services without any patient cost-sharing, but exact coverage and reporting requirements may vary from payer to payer. As CPT Assistant(April 2005) notes:

Codes 99381-99397 are used to report the preventive evaluation and management (E/M) of infants, children, adolescents, and adults. The extent and focus of the services will largely depend on the age of the patient. For example, E/M preventive services for a 28-year-old adult female may include a pelvic examination including obtaining a pap smear, breast examination, and blood pressure check. Counseling is provided regarding diet and exercise, substance use, and sexual activity.

Based upon this information, it is not be appropriate to separately report for a pelvic exam including obtaining of the pap smear, nor the breast exam as these services are considered part of a comprehensive preventive medicine E/M services.Although this reporting method reflects the intent of CPT coding guidelines, third-party payers may request that preventive medicine services be reported differently. Third-party payers should be contacted for their specific reporting guidelines.Authors Note:Although the CPT Assistantarticle cited pre-dates the ACA, the advice to contact your payers regarding their reporting requirements remains valid.Be aware, as well, that Medicare reporting requirements, as stipulated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) often differ from CPT guidelines. For more information about Medicare Preventive Medicine Services and Screenings, visit the CMS website.

John Verhovshek, MA, CPC, is a contributing editor at AAPC. He has been covering medical coding and billing, healthcare policy, and the business of medicine since 1999. He is an alumnus of York College of Pennsylvania and Clemson University.

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Preventive Medicine Services Reporting - AAPC Knowledge Center

Scope & Importance

Vision

We work hard to improve the lives of our patients and their families by collaborating with the healthcare community. We offer clinical experience to both allied health professionals and patients.

We focus on the right to comprehensive, high-quality primary care for individuals and populations.

To provide the most safest, ethical, and effective medical care possible. Practice the safest, most ethical and effective medical care possible. Breakthrough research can lead to the discovery of new treatments and therapies. Promoting healthy and reducing health disparities. Educate and inspire faculty, healthcare developers, policy makers and leaders of the next generation. Build a philanthropic culture for patient care and research.

Mission

Our objective is to disseminate healthcare information and innovations that will guide in a new era of medicine.

Healthcare Market Forecast

Healthcare is one of those industries that has never seen ups and downs, particularly since technology has taken over its progress.Even throughout the pandemic, technology was important in advancing healthcare to a higher level.

In 2019, the global home healthcare market was valued at USD 281.8 billion, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.9% predicted from 2020 to 2027. Market growth is expected to be increased by global population ageing and rising patient preference for value-based healthcare. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 703 million people aged 65 and up lived in the world. By 2050, the number of elderly people is expected to increase to 1.5 billion. The ageing population necessitates more patient-centric healthcare services, which in turn raises demand for healthcare personnel and agencies, drive market growth.

Medicare is the largest single payer of home healthcare services in the United States. Medicare accounts for more than 40% of all home health care expenses.

Healthcare Market Overview in USA

The home healthcare market is divided into two components: equipment and services, wherein the services segment dominated the market with a share of 80% in 2019. The demand for home healthcare agencies is increasing as the world's population ages, resulting in better patient outcomes. Furthermore, the rising frequency of chronic diseases among the elderly is a prominent factor contributing to market growth.

In 2019, therapeutic devices dominated the equipment market. The growing number of patients with chronic or severe respiratory infections, urinary infections, or end-stage renal disease (ESRD) necessitates the use of innovative devices for treatment. Another important element driving the therapeutic equipment market is lower service rates for in-home healthcare when compared to hospitals or nursing homes. End-stage renal diseases (ESRD) affects roughly 750,000 persons in the United States each year, and 2 million patients worldwide, according to the University of California, San Francisco

The diagnostics equipment market is expected to develop at a healthy rate over the projected period, owing to the rising prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular illnesses, both of which necessitate constant monitoring. Furthermore, increasing patient awareness of the screening process and technological advancements, such as the integration of microfluidics, sensors, the Internet of Things (IoT), smartphones, and wearables, provide point-of-care testing to patients and represent a significant opportunity for providing sensitive, low-cost, rapid, and connected diagnostics.

In 2019, North America dominated the home healthcare industry with a 42% share. In 2019, the United States had the greatest market share in North America, due to changing trends towards in-home healthcare from nursing homes, technology advancements, and the presence of modern medical infrastructure. In addition, the region's market is being driven by high patient awareness levels, rising healthcare expenses, and the deployment of a streamlined regulatory framework. Profits in the U.S. healthcare industry are expected to grow at a 5% annual rate through 2024, with medtech and healthcare IT experiencing the fastest growth. Profits in healthcare information technology are expected to rise from 14 billion US dollars in 2019 to 28 billion US dollars in 2024.

Healthcare Market Overview in Japan

Japan is the world's second-largest market for medical devices and healthcare. Japan is open to innovative and high-quality products and technologies, with nearly 45% of medical devices imported.

By nearly 180,000 medical facilities, including hospitals and clinics, Japan has the world's second largest healthcare market. In fiscal FY 2010, national medical expenditure was 37.4 trillion (approx 249 billion @150 = 1), a 3.9 percent increase over the previous year. This was a record-high in terms of both level and rate of growth, driven by the implementation of cutting-edge medical technologies as well as one of the world's fastest ageing populations. As a result of the ageing population, demand for assistive and care products has increased. However, the market is already crowded with a wide range of products, making it extremely difficult for new entrants lacking unique selling points.

The Japanese medical device market is also the world's second largest, valued at 2.4 trillion yen (approx. 16 billion) in 2011, with foreign manufacturers accounting for 44.4 percent of the products. Japan has long been known as a high-tech nation, but the market for medical devices is still heavily reliant on imports.

Healthcare Market Overview in Europe

Despite rising global trade tensions and a sluggish global economic outlook for 2020, the global healthcare market is expected to surpass $2 trillion in 2020. BREXIT is expected to have a significant impact on the United Kingdom, Europe's largest digital healthcare market.

In the forecast period of 2020 to 2027, the healthcare IT market is expected to grow. According to Data Bridge Market Research, the market will be worth USD 150.97 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 15.62 percent during the forecast period.

The European healthcare market is expected to grow from approximately $2080 billion in 2016 to approximately $2125 billion in 2020. The European healthcare market is expected to exceed US$ 224 billion by 2022.

The European home healthcare market was worth USD 70.28 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at an 8.37 percent CAGR to reach USD 105.04 billion by 2024.

In 2019, Germany had the highest market share in Europe, followed by France. This is mostly due to rising in-home healthcare spending in the country and rising demand for the skilled nursing workers to provide in-home care.

Healthcare Market Overview in Australia

The health care and social assistance industry is Australia's largest employer. This industry employed over 1.7 million people in 2020, with a projected increase to more than 1.9 million by 2024.

Occupations related to the HLT Health Training Package account for roughly one-third of the workforce in Health Care and Social Assistance. The occupations with the highest proportion of the workforce are Aged and Disabled Carers and Nursing Support and Personal Care Workers. Both are expected to grow significantly until 2024, with Aged and Disabled Carers growing by more than 25%. Other occupations in this sector are expected to grow to varying degrees as well. Welfare Support Workers, for example, are expected to grow by nearly 23%, Health and Welfare Services Managers by about 19%, and Complementary Health Therapists by about 15%.

Medical device industry overview: The medical device sector in Australia is mature, with a well-developed regulatory system. However, in the next years, it will be one of the slowest-growing economies in the South Pacific area. In 2016, the market was worth $4 billion, down from $5 billion in 2014. Due to Australia's sinking currency, market recovery will be delayed in 2019. Despite its low growth, Australia's ageing population, Federal Budget measures, and openness to adopt new technology should help to stabilise the market.

Australian market opportunities: Australia's healthcare business is sophisticated and open to innovative products. A wide range of medical gadgets, particularly those designed to treat and manage age-related disorders, are in high demand. Because the Australian market is pushed to cut prices, imported devices are frequently inventive and cost-effective. In addition, there is a growing demand for gadgets that help people with disabilities and chronic pain, as well as those that help them recover faster. The Australian market is highly accessible from a regulatory aspect for items that already have CE Marking.

Healthcare Market Overview in Middle East

Healthcare prospects are expanding across the Middle East. According to a recent analysis by the US-UAE Business Council, healthcare spending in the UAE is forecast to rise from $17 billion in 2017 to $21.3 billion by 2021, with a CAGR of 8.5 percent predicted between 2018 and 2023 in the UAE Healthcare Sector Outlook 2023 report.

Aging populations, longer life expectancies, and sedentary lifestyles, all of which contribute to an increase in obesity, cancer, and diabetes, are driving demand growth. New modes of care and out-of-hospital services are emerging as a result of an emphasis on prevention and well-being rather than simply treating patients. Saudi Arabia, for example, is developing a new healthcare system that includes primary, community, and secondary care.

Simultaneously, labour challenges, such as a lack of competent clinical staff and a strong reliance on expatriates, are pushing demand for technology such as digital health, artificial intelligence, and robots to fill the gap. By 2025, the region's medical technology market is estimated to be worth $31.6 billion.

The size of the Middle East and Africa Home Healthcare Market was worth USD 21.62 billion in 2020 and estimated to be growing at a CAGR of 9.30%, to reach USD 33.32 billion by 2025 during the forecast period.

These countries are expected to have a market size of USD 102 billion in 2024 with a CAGR value of 9.2% during the forecast period. Healthcare is the fastest-growing sector in the UAE, accounting for 79% of the market.

Healthcare Market Overview in APAC

The size of the home Healthcare Market in the Asia Pacific was worth USD 43.25 billion in 2020 and estimated to be growing at a CAGR of 12.56% to each USD 78.14 billion by 2025.

Home Healthcare Market Report Scope

Report Attribute

Details

Market size value in 2020

USD 303.6 billion in 2020

Revenue forecast in 2027

USD 515.6 billion

Growth Rate

CAGR of 7.9% from 2020 to 2027

Max Seats15 seats

Speaker Time20 mins

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Healthcare Conferences and Preventive Medicine Conferences ...

Low-dose aspirin or baby aspirin (81 to 100 milligrams) has been used as a safe and cheap way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots. Aspirin does this by thinning out the blood and preventing blood clots from forming, which may block arteries. Getty images

The United StatesPreventive Services Task Force (USPTF) released adraft guidelineon October 12 stating that a daily regimen of low-dose aspirin is no longer recommended as a preventative measure to reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems in older adults without heart disease, reports Lindsey Tanner for theAssociated Press.

Individuals over 60 should not take preventive aspirin because of the age-related risk for life-threatening bleeding. The guidelines are not yet final but may affect tens of millions of adults at high risk for cardiovascular disease, reports Roni Caryn Rabin for theNew York Times.

Ultimately, those currently on a low-dose aspirin regimen or who have cardiovascular risk factors should talk to their doctors about what is best for them.

We dont recommend anyone stop without talking to a clinician, and definitely not if they have already had a heart attack or stroke, says Chien-Wen Tseng, a USPTF memberand a University of Hawaii research director, to theNew York Times.

The report also states that those aged between 40 and 60 and worried about their heart health should decide to take aspirin on a case-by-case basis, reports Ed Cara forGizmodo.

The panel consists of 16 medicine and disease prevention experts who evaluate evidence-based preventative measures and screening tests. Panel members are appointed by theAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Low-dose aspirin or baby aspirin (81 to 100 milligrams) has previously been recommended as a safe and cheap way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots. Aspirin does this by thinning out the blood and preventing blood clots from forming, per theNew York Times. The drugseems to most help individuals who already have, or are at a high riskfor, cardiovascular disease.The panel found some evidence that baby aspirin may only benefit people between 40 and 60 years of age who have a 10 percent risk of having a heart attack or stroke, per the Associated Press.

However, aspirin can also cause life-threatening bleeding inthe digestive tractor brain, per the New York Times. One study published in 2018 in theNew England Journal of Medicinefound that the risk of bleeding from an aspirin regimen outweighs its potentialbenefits for those over 70 years of age,Gizmodoreports.

The USPTF made their assessments based on a literature review of data from recent trials and population studies.For older people who have no risks of heart disease, the potential for bleeding damageoutweighs any aspirin benefits.

When we looked at the literature, most of it suggested the net balance is not favorable for most people there was more bleeding than heart attacks prevented, says Amit Khera, an author of the guideline, to theNew York Times. And this isnt nose bleeds, this can be bleeding in the brain.

The draft recommendation statement is currently open for public comment until November 8, before a final version of the report Is published, theNew York Timesreports.

Theres no longer a blanket statement that everybody whos at increased risk for heart disease, even though they never had a heart attack, should be on aspirin, Tseng explains to theNew York Times. We need to be smarter at matching primary prevention to the people who will benefit the most and have the least risk of harm.

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Aspirin No Longer Recommended as a Preventative Measure Against Heart Attacks and Strokes in Older Individuals - Smithsonian

(Reuters) - Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:

Merck seeks first U.S. FDA authorization for COVID-19 tablet

Merck & Co said on Monday it has applied for U.S. emergency use authorization for its tablet to treat mild-to-moderate patients of COVID-19, putting it on course to become the first oral antiviral medication for the disease.

Its authorization could help change clinical management of COVID-19 as the pill can be taken at home. The treatment, molnupiravir, could halve the chances of death or being hospitalized for those most at risk of contracting severe COVID-19, according to the drugmaker.

The interim efficacy data on the drug, which has been developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, had heavily impacted the shares of COVID-19 vaccine makers when it was released last week.

AstraZeneca antibody cocktail succeeds in late-stage study

AstraZeneca's experimental COVID-19 drug has helped cut the risk of severe disease or death in a late-stage study, the British drugmaker said on Monday, a boost to its efforts to develop coronavirus medicines beyond vaccines.

The drug, a cocktail of two antibodies called AZD7442, reduced the risk of severe COVID-19 or death by 50% in non-hospitalised patients who have had symptoms for seven days or less, meeting the main goal of the study.

AstraZeneca's therapy, delivered via injection, is the first of its kind to show promise both as a preventative medicine and as a treatment for COVID-19 following multiple trials. It is designed to protect people who do not have a strong enough immune response to vaccines.

Sydney reopens as Australia looks to live with COVID-19

Sydney's cafes, gyms and restaurants welcomed back fully vaccinated customers on Monday after nearly four months of lockdown, as Australia aims to begin living with the coronavirus and gradually reopen with high rates of inoculation.

Some pubs in Sydney, Australia's largest city, opened at 12:01 a.m. (1301 GMT Sunday) and friends and families huddled together for a midnight beer.

Story continues

"I see it as a day of freedom, it's a freedom day," New South Wales state Premier Dominic Perrottet told reporters in Sydney, the state capital. "We are leading the nation out of this pandemic but this will be a challenge."

New Zealand makes vaccinations mandatory for health workers

New Zealand will require teachers and workers in the health and disability sectors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday, as she extended restrictions in Auckland, its largest city, for another week.

New Zealand is fighting the highly infectious Delta outbreak that forced it to abandon its long-standing strategy of eliminating the new coronavirus amid persistent infections.

"New Zealand is at one of the trickiest and most challenging moments in the COVID-19 pandemic so far," Ardern told reporters in Wellington. Ardern, however, said "there is a clear path forward" in the next few months to live with fewer curbs and more freedoms once the country reaches a higher level of vaccinations.

Russia's daily death toll hovers near all-time high

Russia reported 957 coronavirus-related deaths on Monday, close to the all-time high of 968 reported two days earlier.

The government coronavirus task force also said it had recorded 29,409 new cases in the last 24 hours, an increase from 28,647 cases on Sunday.

(Compiled by Linda Noakes; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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What you need to know about the coronavirus right now - Yahoo News

The fate of the Biden administrations agenda on climate remains uncertain, captive to todays toxic atmosphere in Washington, DC. But the headlines of 2021 leave little in the way of ambiguity the era of dangerous climate change is already upon us, in the form of wildfires, hurricanes, droughts and flooding that have upended lives across America. A recent UN report on climate is clear these impacts will worsen in the coming two decades if we fail to halt the continued accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

To avert disaster, we must chart a different climate course, beginning this year, to achieve steep emissions reductions this decade. Meeting this moment demands an all hands-on-deck approach. And no stone should be left unturned in our quest for meaningful options for decarbonizing our economy.

But while it is tempting to pin our hopes on future technology that might reduce the scope of future climate damages, we must pursue such strategies based on sound science, with a keen eye for potential false leads and dead ends. And we must not allow ourselves to be distracted from the task at hand reducing fossil fuel emissions by technofixes that at best, may not pan out, and at worst, may open the door to potentially disastrous unintended consequences.

So-called geoengineering, the intentional manipulation of our planetary environment in a dubious effort to offset the warming from carbon pollution, is the poster child for such potentially dangerous gambits. As the threat of climate change becomes more apparent, an increasingly desperate public and the policymakers that represent them seem to be willing to entertain geoengineering schemes. And some prominent individuals, such as former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, have been willing to use them to advocate for this risky path forward.

The New York Times recently injected momentum into the push for geoengineering strategies with a recent op-ed by Harvard scientist and geoengineering advocate David Keith. Keith argues that even in a world where emissions cuts are quick enough and large enough to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, we would face centuries of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations and global temperatures combined with rising sea levels.

The solution proposed by geoengineering proponents? A combination of slow but steady CO2 removal factories (including Keiths own for-profit company) and a quick-acting temperature fix likened to a band-aid delivered by a fleet of airplanes dumping vast quantities of chemicals into the upper atmosphere.

This latter scheme is sometimes called solar geoengineering or solar radiation management, but thats really a euphemism for efforts to inject potentially harmful chemicals into the stratosphere with potentially disastrous side effects, including more widespread drought, reduced agricultural productivity, and unpredictable shifts in regional climate patterns. Solar geoengineering does nothing to slow the pace of ocean acidification, which will increase with emissions.

On top of that is the risk of termination shock (a scenario in which we suffer the cumulative warming from decades of increasing emissions in a matter of several years, should we abruptly end solar geoengineering efforts). Herein lies the moral hazard of this scheme: It could well be used to justify delays in reducing carbon emissions, addicting human civilization writ large to these dangerous regular chemical injections into the atmosphere.

While this is the time to apply bold, creative thinking to accelerate progress toward climate stability, this is not the time to play fast and loose with the planet, in service of any agenda, be it political or scientific in nature. As the recent UN climate report makes clear, any emissions trajectory consistent with peak warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius by mid-century will pave the way for substantial drawdown of atmospheric CO2 thereafter. Such drawdown prevents further increases in surface temperatures once net emissions decline to zero, followed by global-scale cooling shortly after emissions go negative.

Natural carbon sinks over land as well as the ocean play a critical role in this scenario. They have sequestered half of our historic CO2 emissions, and are projected to continue to do so in coming decades. Their buffering capacity may be reduced with further warming, however, which is yet another reason to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius this century. But if we are to achieve negative emissions this century manifest as steady reductions of atmospheric CO2 concentrations it will be because we reduce emissions below the level of uptake by natural carbon sinks. So, carbon removal technology trumpeted as a scalable solution to our emissions challenge is unlikely to make a meaningful dent in atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

As to the issue of climate reversibility, its nave to think that we could reverse nearly two centuries of cumulative emissions and associated warming in a matter of decades. Nonetheless, the latest science tells us that surface warming responds immediately to reductions in carbon emissions. Land responds the fastest, so we can expect a rapid halt to the worsening of heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and floods once we reach net-zero emissions. Climate impacts tied to the ocean, such as marine heat waves and hurricanes, would respond somewhat more slowly. And the polar ice sheets may continue to lose mass and contribute to sea-level rise for centuries, but coastal communities can more easily adapt to sea-level rise if warming is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

While its appealing to think that a climate band-aid could protect us from the worst climate impacts, solar geoengineering is more like risky elective surgery than a preventative medicine. This supposed climate fix might very well be worse than the disease, drying the continents and reducing crop yields, and having potentially other unforeseen negative consequences. The notion that such an intervention might somehow aid the plight of the global poor seems misguided at best.

When considering how to advance climate justice in the world, it is critical to ask, Who wins and who loses? in a geoengineered future. If the winners are petrostates and large corporations who, if history is any guide, will likely be granted preferred access to the planetary thermostat, and the losers are the global poor who already suffer disproportionately from dirty fossil fuels and climate impacts then we might simply be adding insult to injury.

To be clear, the world should continue to invest in research and development of science and technology that might hasten societal decarbonization and climate stabilization, and eventually the return to a cooler climate. But those technologies must be measured, in both efficacy and safety, against the least risky and most surefire path to a net-zero world: the path from a fossil fuel-driven to a clean energy-driven society.

Kim Cobb is the director of the Global Change Program at the Georgia Institute of Technology and professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. She was a lead author on the recent UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report. Follow her on Twitter: @coralsncaves

Michael E. Mann is distinguished professor of atmospheric science and director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University. He is author of the recently released book,The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back our Planet. Follow him on Twitter:@MichaelEMann

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When it comes to our health, just about everyone is looking for an extra boostparticularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. That desire has helped vitamins and supplements grow into a $150 billion worldwide industry. If you're considering taking a daily vitaminor are taking one nowit's important to know there are clear things vitamins can and can't do, as indicated by decades of research. And if you take them the wrong way, they can be harmful. Read on to find out what taking a daily vitamin does to your bodyand to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You May Have Already Had COVID.

Woman taking her medication in her bedroom at home.

"If you're like everybody else in the world, and you don't eat a perfect diet every day, a multivitamin is going to fill in the little deficits you have on a daily basis," Kathryn Boling, MD, a family medicine doctor with Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, told ETNT Health. "And if you're OK paying money for something that you're mostly going to pee out, but it's going to fill in those tiny little deficits, then take a multivitamin. I do."

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vitamin d

If your daily multivitamin contains vitamins C and D (and most do), those nutrients may support your immune system. "If you're deficient in vitamin D, that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease specialist, in an interview last fall. "I would not mind recommendingand I do it myselftaking vitamin D supplements."

He added: "The other vitamin that people take is vitamin C because it's a good antioxidant, so if people want to take a gram or so of vitamin C, that would be fine."

RELATED: Everyday Habits That Add Years to Your Life, Say Experts

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Man sitting at the table and taking vitamin D

You might erase potential benefits from vitamins if you chase them with soda and sugary snacks, or use them as justification for too many cheat meals. "Supplements are never a substitute for a balanced, healthful diet," said Dr. JoAnn Manson, a preventative medicine specialist, in an interview with Harvard Health. "And they can be a distraction from healthy lifestyle practices that confer much greater benefits."

RELATED: Forgetting This One Thing Can Mean You Have Alzheimer's

young woman with stomach pain

If your vitamin contains high doses of certain nutrients, that can cause problems. Most vitamins are water-soluble, meaning they can't build up in the body because any excess is cleared by urine. But fat-soluble vitamins including A, D, E and K can build up in the body and may be dangerous at high levels, particularly A and E.

RELATED: Common Habits That Age You Faster, According to Science

Shot of woman nutritionist doctor writes the medical prescription for a correct diet on a desk with fruits, pills and supplements.

If you're taking multivitamins for protection against serious disease, you should know that the science isn't quite there yet. In 2018, researchers from Johns Hopkins analyzed studies involving almost half a million people; they determined that taking multivitamins doesn't lower your risk of heart disease, cancer, cognitive decline, or early death. Their advice: Don't waste your money on multivitaminsget the vitamins and minerals you need from food. And to get through this pandemic at your healthiest, don't miss these 35 Places You're Most Likely to Catch COVID.

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What Taking a Vitamin Every Day Does to Your Body - Yahoo Lifestyle