InnovationRx: Teens And Mental Health; Plus, ‘All-In-One’ Vaccine

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The mental health of America’s teenagers is on the decline, as Generation Z faces a global pandemic and epidemic of gun violence in the United States. While overall rates of anxiety and depression stayed relatively stable in the first year of the pandemic – from 15% in 2019 to 16% in 2020 – drug overdose deaths and self-harm incidents increased, according to a new briefing from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Drug overdose deaths among youth aged 12 to 17 years old nearly doubled from 282 in 2019 to 546 in 2020. The report found death by suicide has increased by 62% from 2010 to 2020, with American Indian and Alaska Natives teens three times as likely to die by suicide than their white peers. Female teenagers were four times as likely to self-harm in 2020, while male teens were twice as likely to die by suicide.

Prior to the pandemic, KFF estimates only around one in five kids and teens were getting access to mental health services from a specialized provider. At last month’s Forbes Health In Action event, we heard from Naomi Allen, cofounder and CEO of Brightline, which provides virtual specialty mental health services for kids and teens about how the company is tackling the youth mental health crisis. “One of the biggest things in terms of scaling access from a mental health perspective is that you’ve got these pockets where there are resources and then you’ve got these deserts where they’re not. So we invest a lot of time in multistate licensing and credentialing across health plans,” said Allen.

Another key piece is ensuring availability when kids, teens and parents want services, which tends to be after school in the 3pm to 8pm range, she added. Then there’s also the need to hire a diverse range of clinicians who are trained to serve underrepresented groups, including LGBTQ and BIPOC youth. “Virtual care has been one of the most critical ways to ensure that we can provide coverage across the country in this time of need,” said Allen.

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741.

New Healthcare Price Transparency Rule Took Effect July 1, But It May Not Help Much Yet

In theory, this level of transparency could force healthcare prices down (though some economists warn it could also encourage some providers to raise their rates if they feel they’ve been underpaid). When the rates health insurers negotiate with healthcare providers are on full display, the companies paying for employer-sponsored health benefits may find reason to question insurers’ negotiating effectiveness. But all of these benefits will only materialize if health plans first comply with the new rules. Read more here.

Deals Of The Week

Home Health: Tomorrow Health, a New York-based startup that has developed a home-based medical equipment and supplies marketplace, has raised a $60 million Series B round led by BOND. The company, which enters into value-based contracts with insurers to coordinate home-based care, has raised $92.5 million to date.

Bye, Watson: Francisco Partners has rebranded the IBM Watson Health assets it acquired as a new Ann Arbor, Michigan-based healthcare data and analytics company called Merative. Gerry McCarthy, who most recently served as CEO of FranciscoFransico portfolio company eSolutions, was named Merative CEO. True Wind Capital and Sixth Street are also investing in Merative.

Alcohol Treatment: Ria Health, a telehealth company specializing in alcohol use disorder treatment, has raised an $18 million Series A round led by SV Health Investors. The company, which launched in 2016, will use the funds to scale its program for health plans and employers. It has partnerships with insurers including Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, UnitedHealth Group’s Optum and Highmark Health, among others.

Noteworthy

Monkeypox infections could be flying under the radar as symptoms differ from what doctors have seen in the past, new study warns.

Walgreens Boots Alliance reported quarterly profits well below the same time last year mainly due to a $683 million opioid epidemic-related settlement with the state of Florida.

With a wholesale acquisition cost of $475, Scynexis’ new yeast infection treatment Brexafemme faces pricing and reimbursement challenges.

Health insurers are already making moves to expand Medicare Advantage markets for 2023 despite uncertain financial markets and federal scrutiny of certain business practices.

Here’s where state lawsuits related to abortion bans stand.

Coronavirus Updates

Wisconsin-based pharmaceutical company Veru published phase 3 clinical trial results for its Covid drug Sabizabulin in the New England Journal of Medicine today. The randomized, controlled study examined the results of the drug in patients who were hospitalized, required supplemental oxygen and were at high risk for acute respiratory distress syndrome and death. Veru’s drug was provided as treatment on top of the current standard of care regimen of remdesivir, dexamethasone, antibodies and JAK inhibitors. Sabizabulin is administered orally and has both anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties. The study found that Sabizabulin treatment resulted in 55% relative reduction in deaths compared to patients who’d received a placebo. Treatment with the drug also cut the number of days in ICU by 43% compared to placebo and days on a ventilator by nearly half.

“The overall conclusion of this Phase 3 study is that sabizabulin treatment has a clear mortality benefit compared to placebo in hospitalized Covid-19 patients at high risk for ARDS receiving standard of care treatment with no significant safety signals,” Gary Barnette, Veru’s chief science officer, said in a statement. The company submitted an emergency use authorization application to the FDA on June 7, and its stock price was up 13% at time of market close.

With thanks to Forbes fellow Ariyana Griffin for her contributions to this newsletter!

‘All-In-One’ Vaccine Could Protect Against Future Covid-19 Variants, Researchers Say

An “all-in-one” vaccine currently in development could protect people from future Covid-19 variants, as well as SARS, MERS and new strains of other coronaviruses from other animals, a study by researchers at the California Institute of Technology found. Read more here.

Other Coronavirus News

New research finds that Covid vaccines prevented almost 27 million Covid-19 infections, 1.6 million hospitalizations and 235,000 deaths among American adults in the first nine months they were available.

Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, warns that the omicron sub-variant BA.5 may be “the worst version of the virus that we’ve seen.”

Covid is still more than a bad cold, as one infectious disease doctor learned first-hand.

Research is starting to show that Long Covid is much more common than previously thought, afflicting 10-30% of people who’ve been infected..

Pfizer is seeking full FDA approval for its Covid antiviral pill Paxlovid, which the FDA today authorized pharmacists to prescribe directly.

The latest Covid-19 outbreak in Shanghai has led to calls for mass testing and fears of more lockdowns in China.

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What Else We are Reading

Did COVID vaccine mandates work? What the data say (Nature)

Widely Used Hospital Gowns Show Signs of Exposing Workers to Infection (Kaiser Health News)

World’s Covid vaccine, drugs equity program set to wind down this fall (POLITICO)