The controversial approval of a new $56,000-a-year #Alzheimers drug against the recommendation of an advisory committee of experts “highlights the importance of having an independent and well-resourced FDA," says @amitabhchandra2.

Millennials have ruined everything, everywhere. https://t.co/TMFEj9ctQE

While FDA review is often described as increasing costs and perhaps slowing flow of new products, by certifying quality, this review can grow market size and innovation incentives, from Benjamin Berger, @amitabhchandra2, and @c_garthwaite https://t.co/P38MvsWYAT

I thought health economics deserved its own... let me know what I missed! No shade meant for any of these papers, of course. #healthecon Original source of comic: https://t.co/zR64XKrkUU

A quick thread on our new @tradeoffspod episode out today about the HIV prevention pill PrEP. It’s a story of the best and worst of the US drug system in one drug. 1/ https://t.co/FPOpLac6g9

FDA should have led J&J #covid19 vaccine decision-making, former commissioner @ScottGottliebMD writes in @WSJ. “Putting the is­sue be­fore the CDC con­fused the process and slowed the de­ci­sion.”

"Imagine if AstraZeneca and Merck were the only ones who had taken up the vaccine challenge...We’d be screwed.” @DhruvKhullar dazzles in @NewYorker https://t.co/wO7R3Q9F8v

“When it comes to something like vaccines, you don’t want the best deal,” he said. “You don’t want to pay the minimum price. You want to overpay and attract the attention of many companies simultaneously.” @amitabhchandra2 speaking truth:

A+

3. In @JAMA_current, @jgrischkan @AriBFriedman and @amitabhchandra2 suggest the best way to fix medical education is to change how it's financed:

The strong Novavax results in UK - 90% overall effectiveness; 96% w original COVID; 86% w #B117 - indicate we will soon get a 4th vaccine. Amazing. And it adds extra insurance to Biden’s promise to have enough vaccine for all US adults by end of May. https://t.co/BQqGbZ2rlV

Hero work from @sangerkatz, who combed through the stimulus bill to explain all the new options for health insurance different people will become eligible for. https://t.co/Qqx5xEA0uQ

I don't really know what this means but it sounds cool

These behind-the-scenes vetoes happen without patient consent: current and future cancer patients (ie, many of us) would not agree this is in our best interest

@UM_VBID told me that my earlier tweet about the 2021 vbid summit https://t.co/gpL8tM7TFk would not get as many likes as the tweet by @PatrickConwayMD. He was right. So I try again by tagging @amitabhchandra2, whose twitter reach dwarfs mine

@mattkahn1966 To reprise a relevant comment from Don Rubin on this topic: It's easy to signal mathematical aptitude but hard to convey wisdom; we conflate the two, which are not at all the same, even though we care mostly about the latter.

Who leaked video from our last Bioworks party?

Let's also be very cautious though: I would've expected news of this type to be on the front page of @ScienceMagazine or a leading medical journal but it is not.

We also have excellent evidence that disease stymies development (from the brilliant economist-physician @MarcellaAlsan), so eliminating malaria should unlock massive growth Marcy's paper:

And while we applaud the effort to get bed-nets to people, it is fundamentally a 2000 year old technology (Cleopatra used bed-nets), that we would never be satisfied with if rich countries had malaria.