| | | | |  | | By Ruth Reader, Daniel Payne and Carmen Paun | | | | |  AI's arrived in medicine and that could be a mixed bag, researchers found. | AP | AI evangelists say the technology will be a boon for civilization. Some who study it aren’t so sure. In a new paper, researchers from the University of Milano-Bicocca, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Herbert Simon Society, an economic research nonprofit, outline the costs and benefits of artificial intelligence in health care, education and the workforce. They say policymakers should study the real-world implications of the technology and consider using AI to inform policy. Why it matters: AI could improve diagnoses, predict patients’ future health prospects and even make health care more accessible. But there will be trade-offs, they warn. For example, intelligent chatbots, which mimic empathy, could answer low-level health care questions for patients when a doctor isn’t readily available. But, if the bots don’t provide adequate answers, it could sour the relationship between patients and the health care system, the researchers say. Giving doctors an AI assistant doesn’t always improve their diagnoses, the researchers add. Radiologists with access to AI didn’t, on average, make more accurate diagnoses than those who didn’t have access, according to a 2023 working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research. And doctors equipped with AI took longer to make a final decision. Lawmakers should create a dedicated office to gather data on AI-based chatbots to track their evolution and possibly predict it — using AI, of course, the researchers say. What’s next? Federal lawmakers are entertaining whether to put guardrails around AI. Conservative lawmakers are keen to keep industry innovators free of too much red tape, while liberal legislators want to get ahead of known harms. This divide is likely to stall legislative momentum.
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Brooklyn, N.Y. | Erin Schumaker/POLITICO | This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. The World Economic Forum’s top country for tourism this year is the USA! The country outperformed the global competition due to its “robust infrastructure, ease of travel between cities, [and] diverse natural and cultural destinations,” the BBC reports. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com, Daniel Payne at dpayne@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com, Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com, or Toni Odejimi at aodejimi@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp.
| | |  A new antibiotic could counter rising rates of gonorrhea. | AFP via Getty Images | A promising experimental antibiotic that could treat gonorrhea is headed to the Food and Drug Administration for approval by early next year, its developer told Future Pulse. Zoliflodacin was found to be as effective as the current combination of antibiotics used to treat gonorrhea in a Phase III clinical trial that enrolled more than 900 people in Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa, Thailand and the United States. The Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership, a Geneva-based nonprofit, ran it. Additionally, the bacteria that causes gonorrhea hasn’t shown any resistance to zoliflodacin, unlike the current therapy — potentially making the new antibiotic a last-line treatment if others fail. It’s also administered as an oral single dose and not as an injection, making it easier for people to take. Why it matters: Sexually transmitted infections are on the rise in many parts of the world, including the U.S. More than 1 million people a day across the world contract gonorrhea, according to the World Health Organization. The disease can affect the genitals, rectum and throat. Untreated gonorrhea can lead to permanent health problems, such as infertility and pain, and even death. The infection is growing resistant to existing antibiotics. Last year, nine countries reported high levels of resistance to ceftriaxone, an antibiotic currently used to treat the disease. “We have to now think about how this drug will need to be deployed,” said Dr. Manica Balasegaram, the executive director of the Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership. When the project started seven years ago, zoliflodacin was considered a backup to existing treatments because drug resistance hadn’t yet emerged as a big issue, Balasegaram said. But now that cases of gonorrhea are rising, the drug might be needed faster than expected, he said. What’s next? The Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership has partnered with U.S.-based Innoviva Specialty Therapeutics, which will file for FDA licensing. The partnership also plans to seek approval from South African and Thai regulators, among others, Balasegaram said. “You’re not going to control drug-resistant infections if you just file and make it available in the United States of America because that may not be where these infections are actually initially emerging,” he said.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, our newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | | | | |  AMA members are concerned about AI's role in medical decisions. | Getty Images | Members of the country’s leading doctors’ group, the American Medical Association, signaled concern about the rush of new artificial intelligence tools coming to medicine, with some pushing to fast-track a new body within the organization to tackle AI. “We’re already late in the game,” one doctor told the AMA’s House of Delegates at the organization’s annual meeting in Chicago last week. The AMA’s new president, Dr. Bruce Scott, joined in the concern, telling Daniel that his term could be, in some ways, defined by the tech — or at least “making sure that AI is patient-centered and that it becomes something that works within a physician’s office.” Doctors are excited about AI’s potential, he said, but they need to be in on its development from the beginning to ensure it’s as useful as possible. Why it matters: The worries — about the technology encroaching on doctors’ decision-making, offering false information to clinicians or adding more paperwork for doctors — are urgent as health systems increasingly adopt AI tools. Who should be in the new group was also debated, with some members believing that only doctors and AMA members should serve. Others argued that outside experts would advance the organization’s work on the emerging technology. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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