WHO’s got a plan for the next pandemic

The ideas and innovators shaping health care

Sep 06, 2024 View in browser   By Carmen Paun, Erin Schumaker, Ruth Reader and Daniel Payne WORLD VIEW Tedros wants more transparency from China about Covid's origins. | AFP via Getty Images The World Health Organization, much criticized for its initial investigation into Covid’s origins, has released a plan to guide investigation into the next big outbreak. The playbook from the WHO’s Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens — known as SAGO — proposes studying: — The earliest cases of an outbreak and their characteristics — Potential exposure of those infected to wild and domestic animals or other environmental pathogens — The pathogen’s characteristics and potential ancestors — Any possible connections to lab or field research Authorities should promptly report what they find, the document states. Why it matters: The debate over how the Covid-19 pandemic started, whether through a spillover of the virus from animals to humans or as a result of a lab accident, continues nearly five years after the first cases in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Internationally, it’s pitted China against the U.S. and other Western countries. Domestically, it has pitted Republicans, who lean toward the lab leak theory, against Democrats, who initially dismissed that view as a conspiracy theory but have since said they’re open-minded. The debate has also seen Republicans question whether top U.S. health officials, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president’s former chief medical adviser, and Dr. Francis Collins, the former director of the National Institutes of Health, knew about a potential lab leak and covered it up. Both former officials have denied such claims. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called on China to share more data on the earliest known and suspected cases of Covid: a seafood market linked to the outbreak and the work done in labs in Wuhan. Without this information, he said, no hypothesis on Covid’s origins could be ruled out. WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE Sharpsburg, Md. | Shawn Zeller/POLITICO This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Scientists have designed a new face mask that can tell if you have Covid-19 — or if you drank too much, Science 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, or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp. LIFESTYLE Pot is more popular than ever in the U.S. | Martin Meissner/AP Weed is up. Booze and smokes are down. That’s the takeaway from the latest findings from the Monitoring the Future study, an ongoing University of Michigan research project. Researchers found that cannabis use among young adults nationwide is at or near an all-time high, our Mona Zhang reports. Nearly 29 percent of young adults reported past-month cannabis use, and just over 10 percent reported daily or near-daily cannabis use. By contrast, tobacco use is at a historic low, while young adults ages 19 to 30 are also drinking less alcohol. Why it matters: Nearly half of states have legalized cannabis for recreational use and more than 3 in 4 for medical use, even though the Food and Drug Administration hasn’t approved the drug for any disease or condition. And despite marijuana’s long history of use, little is known about its long-term health effects because of restrictions on studying it. “These findings underscore the urgent need for rigorous research on the potential risks and benefits,” Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which funded the study, said in a statement. POLICY PUZZLE Access to methadone remains highly restricted. | Julia Nikhinson/AP The past year brought a glimmer of hope that fatal drug overdoses might have finally reached a peak, with provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing a 7.5 percent decrease in the year ending in March – albeit still well above the 70,000 or so dying when the pandemic began. Most of those who died took fentanyl and the Biden administration, a bipartisan group of senators and a big swath of the public health community believe expanded access to methadone could keep the progress going. And yet, it’s unlikely to happen because of opposition from the health care providers with the most intimate knowledge of methadone treatment: methadone clinic directors, Carmen reports. How’s that? Methadone helps fentanyl users quit, but because methadone is also an addictive opioid, access to it is strictly controlled. Most have to go in person every day to a clinic to receive their dose under supervision. A bill by an unlikely Senate duo, Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), to allow trained doctors to prescribe methadone and pharmacies to distribute it is languishing despite a bipartisan vote in a key committee. Clinic directors have convinced enough Republicans that the bill’s backers are naive. They tell POLITICO that allowing prescribing outside of clinics is risky without their strict protocols. “The idea that a physician in private practice without support staff … that they're going to be able to treat a complex medical problem like the use of fentanyl, is just not substantiated,” said Mark Parrino, the president of the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence, which represents methadone clinics. Skeptics of the Senate bill also point to the bleak history of the opioid epidemic – fueled as it was by corrupt doctors and pharmacies that handed out OxyContin like candy. Easing access to methadone, they say, risks a repeat. Kentucky’s Brett Guthrie, a Republican who chairs the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee through which any House bill would have to go, said he viewed methadone as one option for those fighting opioid addiction, alongside 12-step methods like that of Alcoholics Anonymous, faith-based support and willpower to stop using. “We have to make sure the right safeguards are in place,” he said.   Follow us on Twitter Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Daniel Payne @_daniel_payne Ruth Reader @RuthReader Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker   Follow us

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