A little money to get you started

Presented by UnitedHealth Group: The ideas and innovators shaping health care

Sep 23, 2024 View in browser   By Erin Schumaker, Daniel Payne, Carmen Paun and Ruth Reader Presented by  WASHINGTON WATCH Becerra wants to spread the wealth to boost research. | Getty Images Early-career researchers are getting a funding boost from a new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health program. ARPA-H’s Emerging Health Innovators initiative plans to fund research that addresses gaps in the nation’s health care system. “ARPA-H was built to drive breakthroughs in health, including finding a cure for cancer and addressing other health care gaps,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “To succeed, we need the best ideas from every corner of the country, including from those traditionally not given opportunities in research.” The initiative will offer two funding tracks: — The technology track will support early-career researchers who’ve earned their final degree within the last decade to develop innovative health technology. — The community center track will support people engaged in community work, such as health care workers, doctors, nurses, social workers and nonprofit and faith-based organization members, to develop technology to address community needs. What’s next? ARPA-H is surveying early-career researchers, community organizations and academic administrators to learn more about prospective applicants’ needs, challenges and concerns. The deadline to complete the survey is Oct. 25. Following the survey, a funding solicitation is expected to be announced in late 2024.   A message from UnitedHealth Group: Learn how UnitedHealth Group is using artificial intelligence to make health care work smarter, for everyone. Learn More.   WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE New York, N.Y. | Erin Schumaker/POLITICO This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. San Francisco police officers have crossed the street dressed as a chicken, a unicorn and Big Bird as part of a traffic enforcement initiative around crosswalks. 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, or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp.    A message from UnitedHealth Group:   THE LAB A new study has reassuring news for medical marijuana users. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Patients who used medical cannabis for a year didn’t see any negative effect on their memory, reward processing and impulse control, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open. The researchers, from Harvard, MIT, the University of Pennsylvania and other institutions, had expected to see some of those effects because they have shown up in studies of recreational weed users, our Mona Zhang reports. But much of that earlier research focused on young people who use cannabis heavily. Why it matters: The FDA hasn’t approved the drug for any medical use, but medical marijuana is legal in 38 states. One estimate put the number of patients at more than 8 million. They use weed for a wide variety of conditions, from anxiety to Parkinson’s disease. The details: The researchers gathered data from 57 medical cannabis patients from the greater Boston area who sought medical cannabis cards so they could legally purchase the drug to help relieve their anxiety, depression, pain or insomnia. Thirty-two control participants were also recruited. Brain imaging after one year of medical cannabis use didn’t find any association between brain response while participants completed working memory, reward processing or inhibitory control tasks. The researchers didn’t see any changes in behavioral performance either. The study’s participants were generally older, white, female and well-educated, which could limit how applicable the findings are to other demographic groups. Adults who start using cannabis for medical purposes are likely to have different neural implications than young people who use the drug recreationally. And certain conditions like depression could influence the effects of cannabis on the brain. The study’s sample size was too small to break out subgroups of medical cannabis patients. Also, patients were free to choose whatever cannabis they wanted from the dispensary, so the study didn’t take into consideration product type or dosage. What’s next? The researchers call for further study with more diverse subjects and a more careful examination of whether certain product types or dosages impact cognitive processes.   A message from UnitedHealth Group: UnitedHealth Group has been deploying artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications at-scale for years. Now, improvements in data and processing power are enabling more impactful uses of AI/ML, ushering in new possibilities for patients, providers, and the overall health care system. Learn More.   WORLD VIEW Wealthier nations are reluctant to commit to sharing vaccines for free as part of any pandemic agreement. | Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images Disputes over the sharing of intellectual property among nations have thus far thwarted a United Nations-sponsored pandemic-response agreement. Diplomats couldn’t break the impasse during two weeks of negotiations at the World Health Organization in Geneva that ended Friday, our team in Europe reports. State of play: African countries aren’t happy with the latest draft of the WHO pandemic agreement, which would require them to share data on novel pathogens circulating in their populations. Pharma companies in wealthier countries would use the data to develop drugs and vaccines. In return, just 5 percent of those drugs and vaccines would be provided to the African countries at no cost. Instead, the African nations want a guarantee that at least 20 percent of new drugs or vaccines stemming from the collaboration be made available to them, with at least 10 percent shared for free. Those terms would be part of a new system that would grant drug manufacturers rapid access to pathogen data. Wealthy countries with big pharmaceutical industries, like the U.S., want to ensure manufacturers get speedy access to the pathogen data they need to develop life-saving — and potentially lucrative — new products.   Follow us on Twitter Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Daniel Payne @_daniel_payne Ruth Reader @RuthReader Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker   Follow us

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