The Rundown by inforMD | Week of 3.02.2020

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Drug Companies Spend About $1B on Research and Development for New Drugs, Study Finds

A new study, published by JAMA Network screened “63 of 355 new therapeutic drugs and biologic agents approved by the US Food and Drug Administration between 2009 and 2018” and discovered that the “estimated median capitalized research and development cost per product was $985 million, counting expenditures on failed trials.” The study also indicated that the JAMA Network primarily researched “orphan drugs, products in certain therapeutic areas, first-in-class drugs, therapeutic agents that received accelerated approval, and products approved between 2014 and 2018” to acquire this data.

>>Read more: Estimated Research and Development Investment Needed to Bring a New Medicine to Market, 2009-2018

23 Percent of Patients Lie to Their Doctors

TermLife2Go recently surveyed “500 people to find out if they’ve ever lied to their doctors, and 23 percent said they have.” The study shows that male patients mostly “lied to doctors about alcohol consumption,” while women were more likely to lie about sexual activity. Out of the 23 percent of those surveyed who admitted to lying, “31 percent said they lied to avoid discrimination” and “21 percent said they lie because they don’t think their doctor will take them seriously if they tell the truth.”

>>Read more: We Asked 500 People, “Do You Lie to Your Doctor?”

Uber Health Revamping Platform for Providers, Patients

Uber Health, which allows providers to request non-emergency medical transportation on behalf of their patients, announced it has worked with more than “1,000 partners to map out pain points in the non-emergency medical transportation patient experience” and has updated its platform with new features to reduce “stress and anxiety” associated with making a doctor’s appointment. The new features include designated pick up spots, direct driver messaging so “drivers don’t have to toggle between the app and SMS notifications,” multilingual notifications to support “the diverse communities of healthcare systems,” and scheduling features for landline users.

>>Read more: Unit Utilization of Internationally Educated Nurses and Collaboration in U.S. Hospitals

Public Insurance Spending Increased in 2016

A recently published story from JAMA Network reveals just how much healthcare spending has increased. The study indicates that “total health care spending increased from an estimated $1.4 trillion in 1996 (13.3% of gross domestic product [GDP]; $5259 per person) to an estimated $3.1 trillion in 2016 (17.9% of GDP; $9,655 per person)” with “the highest spending increases” attributed to “public insurance” which includes “Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs.”

>>Read more: Mobile Security Index 2020 Report

Alexa Can Now Answer Your Patients’ Drug Inquiries

Amazon is working closely with First Databank, which provides “drug databases that are used in a variety of applications across the healthcare industry,” on a project that will allow consumers to “have access to a wide variety of drug information … through simple queries via Alexa, Amazon’s cloud-based voice service.” The project will also provide consumers with “custom content that allows consumers to ask about a drug’s effects such as drug interactions, side effects, precautions, and the drug’s class.”

>>Read more: First Databank’s Authoritative Drug Information Helps Answer Customer Questions on Amazon Alexa

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