Impact of CVS Pharmacy's Discontinuance of Tobacco Sales on Cigarette Purchasing (2012-2014).

OBJECTIVES: To assess the impact of CVS Health's discontinuation of tobacco sales on cigarette purchasing. METHODS: We used households' purchasing data to assess rates at which households stopped cigarette purchasing for at least 6 months during September 2014 to August 2015 among 3 baseline groups: CVS-exclusive cigarette purchasers, CVS+ (CVS and other retailers), and other-exclusive (only non-CVS retailers). In state-level analyses using retailers' point-of-sale purchase data, an interrupted time series compared cigarette purchasing before (January 2012 to August 2014) and after (September 2014 to April 2015) tobacco removal in 13 intervention states with CVS market share of at least 15% versus 3 control states with no CVS stores. RESULTS: Compared with other-exclusive purchasers, CVS-exclusive purchasers were 38% likelier (95% confidence interval = 1.06, 1.81) to stop cigarette purchasing after tobacco removal. Compared with control states, intervention states had a significant mean decrease of 0.14 (95% confidence interval = 0.06, 0.22) in packs per smoker per month. CONCLUSIONS: After CVS's tobacco removal, household- and population-level cigarette purchasing declined significantly. Private retailers can play a meaningful role in restricting access to tobacco. This highlights one approach to reducing tobacco use and improving public health.

Patients' Satisfaction with and Preference for Telehealth Visits.

BACKGROUND: One-quarter of U.S. patients do not have a primary care provider or do not have complete access to one. Work and personal responsibilities also compete with finding convenient, accessible care. Telehealth services facilitate patients' access to care, but whether patients are satisfied with telehealth is unclear. OBJECTIVE: We assessed patients' satisfaction with and preference for telehealth visits in a telehealth program at CVS MinuteClinics. DESIGN: Cross-sectional patient satisfaction survey. PARTICIPANTS: Patients were aged ≥18 years, presented at a MinuteClinic offering telehealth in January-September 2014, had symptoms suitable for telehealth consultation, and agreed to a telehealth visit when the on-site practitioner was busy. MAIN MEASURES: Patients reported their age, gender, and whether they had health insurance and/or a primary care provider. Patients rated their satisfaction with seeing diagnostic images, hearing and seeing the remote practitioner, the assisting on-site nurse's capability, quality of care, convenience, and overall understanding. Patients ranked telehealth visits compared to traditional ones: better (defined as preferring telehealth), just as good (defined as liking telehealth), or worse. Predictors of preferring or liking telehealth were assessed via multivariate logistic regression. KEY RESULTS: In total, 1734 (54 %) of 3303 patients completed the survey: 70 % were women, and 41 % had no usual place of care. Between 94 and 99 % reported being "very satisfied" with all telehealth attributes. One-third preferred a telehealth visit to a traditional in-person visit. An additional 57 % liked telehealth. Lack of medical insurance increased the odds of preferring telehealth (OR = 0.83, 95 % CI, 0.72-0.97). Predictors of liking telehealth were female gender (OR = 1.68, 1.04-2.72) and being very satisfied with their overall understanding of telehealth (OR = 2.76, 1.84-4.15), quality of care received (OR = 2.34, 1.42-3.87), and telehealth's convenience (OR = 2.87, 1.09-7.94) CONCLUSIONS: Patients reported high satisfaction with their telehealth experience. Convenience and perceived quality of care were important to patients, suggesting that telehealth may facilitate access to care.

Switch-backs associated with generic drugs approved using product-specific determinations of therapeutic equivalence.

PURPOSE: US Food and Drug Administration approval for generic drugs relies on demonstrating pharmaceutical equivalence and bioequivalence; however, some drug products have unique attributes that necessitate product-specific approval pathways. We evaluated rates of patients' switching back to brand-name versions from generic versions of four drugs approved via such approaches. METHODS: We used data from Optum LifeSciences Research Database to identify patients using a brand-name version of a study drug (acarbose tablets, salmon calcitonin nasal spray, enoxaparin sodium injection, and venlafaxine extended release tablets) or a control drug. We followed patients to identify switching to generic versions and then followed those who switched to identify whether they switched back to brand-name versions. We calculated switch and switch-back rates and used Kaplan-Meier and log-rank tests to compare rates between study and control drugs. RESULTS: Our cohort included 201 959 eligible patients. Brand-to-generic switch rates ranged from 66 to 106 switches per 100 person-years for study drugs and 80 to 110 for control drugs. Rates of switch-back to brand-name versions ranged from 5 to 37 among study drugs and 3 to 53 among control drugs. Switch-back rates were higher for venlafaxine vs. sertraline (p < 0.01) and calcitonin vs. alendronate (p = 0.01). Switch-back rates were lower for venlafaxine vs. paroxetine (p < 0.01) and acarbose vs. nateglinide (p < 0.01). Rates were similar for acarbose vs. glimepiride (p = 0.97) and for enoxaparin vs. fondiparinux (p = 0.11). CONCLUSION: As compared to control drugs, patients were not more likely to systematically switch back from generic to brand-name versions of the four study drugs. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Medicaid prescription limits: policy trends and comparative impact on utilization.

BACKGROUND: Medicaid programs face growing pressure to control spending. Despite evidence of clinical harms, states continue to impose policies limiting the number of reimbursable prescriptions (caps). We examined the recent use of prescription caps by Medicaid programs and the impact of policy implementation on prescription utilization. METHODS: We identified Medicaid cap policies from 2001-2010. We classified caps as applying to all prescriptions (overall caps) or only branded prescriptions (brand caps). Using state-level, aggregate prescription data, we developed interrupted time-series analyses to evaluate the impact of implementing overall caps and brand caps in a subset of states with data available before and after cap initiation. For overall caps, we examined the use of essential medications, which were classified as preventive or as providing symptomatic benefit. For brand caps, we examined the use of all branded drugs as well as branded and generic medications among classes with available generic replacements. RESULTS: The number of states with caps increased from 12 in 2001 to 20 in 2010. Overall cap implementation (n = 3) led to a 0.52% (p < 0.001) annual decrease in the proportion of essential prescriptions but no change in cost. For preventive essential medications, overall caps led to a 1.12% (p = 0.001) annual decrease in prescriptions (246,000 prescriptions annually) and a 1.20% (p < 0.001) decrease in spending (-$12.2 million annually), but no decrease in symptomatic essential medication use. Brand cap implementation (n = 6) led to an immediate 2.29% (p = 0.16) decrease in branded prescriptions and 1.26% (p = 0.025) decrease in spending. For medication classes with generic replacements, the decrease in branded prescriptions (0.74%, p = 0.003) approximately equaled the increase in generics (0.79%, p = 0.009), with estimated savings of $17.4 million. CONCLUSIONS: An increasing number of states are using prescription caps, with mixed results. Overall caps decreased the use of preventive but not symptomatic essential medications, suggesting that patients assign higher priority to agents providing symptomatic benefit when faced with reimbursement limits. Among medications with generic replacements, brand caps shifted usage from branded drugs to generics, with considerable savings. Future research should analyze the patient-level impact of these policies to measure clinical outcomes associated with these changes.

Comparative effectiveness of generic versus brand-name antiepileptic medications.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to compare treatment persistence and rates of seizure-related events in patients who initiate antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy with a generic versus a brand-name product. METHODS: We used linked electronic medical and pharmacy claims data to identify Medicare beneficiaries who initiated one of five AEDs (clonazepam, gabapentin, oxcarbazepine, phenytoin, zonisamide). We matched initiators of generic versus brand-name versions of these drugs using a propensity score that accounted for demographic, clinical, and health service utilization variables. We used a Cox proportional hazards model to compare rates of seizure-related emergency room (ER) visit or hospitalization (primary outcome) and ER visit for bone fracture or head injury (secondary outcome) between the matched generic and brand-name initiators. We also compared treatment persistence, measured as time to first 14-day treatment gap, between generic and brand-name initiators. RESULTS: We identified 19,760 AED initiators who met study eligibility criteria; 18,306 (93%) initiated a generic AED. In the matched cohort, we observed 47 seizure-related hospitalizations and ER visits among brand-name initiators and 31 events among generic initiators, corresponding to a hazard ratio of 0.53 (95% confidence interval, 0.30 to 0.96). Similar results were observed for the secondary clinical endpoint and across sensitivity analyses. Mean time to first treatment gap was 124.2 days (standard deviation [sd], 125.8) for brand-name initiators and 137.9 (sd, 148.6) for generic initiators. SIGNIFICANCE: Patients who initiated generic AEDs had fewer adverse seizure-related clinical outcomes and longer continuous treatment periods before experiencing a gap than those who initiated brand-name versions.

Geographic patterns in patient demographics and insulin use in 18 countries, a global perspective from the multinational observational study assessing insulin use: understanding the challenges associated with progression of therapy (MOSAIc).

BACKGROUND: Among patients with type 2 diabetes, insulin intensification to achieve glycemic targets occurs less often than clinically indicated. Barriers to intensification are not well understood. We present patients' baseline characteristics from MOSAIc, a study investigating patient-, physician-, and healthcare environment-based factors affecting insulin intensification and subsequent health outcomes. METHODS: MOSAIc is a longitudinal, observational study following patients' diabetes care in 18 countries: United Arab Emirates (UAE), Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States. Eligible patients are age ≥ 18, have type 2 diabetes, and have used insulin for ≥ 3 months with/without other antidiabetic medications. Extensive baseline demographic, clinical, and psychosocial data are collected at baseline and regular intervals during the 24-month follow-up. We conducted descriptive analyses of baseline data. RESULTS: Four thousand three hundred forty one patients met eligibility criteria. Patients received their type 2 diabetes diagnosis 12 ± 8 years prior to baseline visit, yet patients in developing countries were younger than in developed countries (e.g., UAE, 55 ± 10; Germany = 70 ± 10). Saudi Arabians had the highest HbA1c values (9.0 ± 2.2) and Germany (7.5 ± 1.4) among the lowest. Most patients in 5 (28%) of the 18 countries did not use an oral antidiabetic drug. Over half of patients in fourteen (78 %) countries exclusively used basal insulin; most Indian and Chinese patients exclusively used mixed insulin. CONCLUSIONS: MOSAIc's baseline data highlight differences in patient characteristics across countries. These patterns, along with physician and healthcare environment differences, may contribute to the likelihood of insulin intensification and subsequent clinical outcomes.

A cross-national comparison of 17 countries' insulin glargine drug labels.

PURPOSE: Type 2 diabetes mellitus has reached epidemic proportions worldwide. Many patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus will require insulin, and the evidence-based use of insulin is described in the prescription drug label. Product labels in different countries may provide inconsistent information. We evaluated the variability in drug label content for one brand of basal insulin across diverse settings. METHODS: We examined the drug label content pertinent to effective and safe use of insulin glargine across 17 countries: Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, UK, and the USA. We compared label characteristics in settings where drug labels were governed by a local regulatory authority versus countries where labels were administered by a regional body or adopted from another locale. RESULTS: All 17 labels cautioned that providers should consider age, illness, diet, and exercise when prescribing. Only two (12%) described care of the fasting patient. Caution was urged for patients with renal or hepatic impairment in 16 (94%) labels. Four (24%) did not describe responses to missed doses, and five (29%) failed to recommend patient counseling about the risk of hypoglycemia. Labels emerging from regional or adopted regulatory bodies reported fewer patients in efficacy studies than did labels from settings with their own drug regulatory agencies (365 ± 0 patients vs. 3560 ± 2938, p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: There is substantial variation in the content of drug labels for glargine, which may lead to international inconsistency in quality of care for diabetic patients.

Comparative effectiveness of generic and brand-name statins on patient outcomes: a cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Statins are effective in preventing cardiovascular events, but patients do not fully adhere to them. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether patients are more adherent to generic statins versus brand-name statins (lovastatin, pravastatin, or simvastatin) and whether greater adherence improves health outcomes. DESIGN: Observational, propensity score-matched, new-user cohort study. SETTING: Linked electronic data from medical and pharmacy claims. PARTICIPANTS: Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years or older with prescription drug coverage between 2006 and 2008. INTERVENTION: Initiation of a generic or brand-name statin. MEASUREMENTS: Adherence to statin therapy (measured as the proportion of days covered [PDC] up to 1 year) and a composite outcome comprising hospitalization for an acute coronary syndrome or stroke and all-cause mortality. Hazard ratios (HRs) and absolute rate differences were estimated. RESULTS: A total of 90,111 patients who initiated a statin during the study was identified; 83,731 (93%) initiated a generic drug, and 6380 (7%) initiated a brand-name drug. The mean age of patients was 75.6 years, and most (61%) were female. The average PDC was 77% for patients in the generic group and 71% for those in the brand-name group (P<0.001). An 8% reduction in the rate of the clinical outcome was observed among patients in the generic group versus those in the brand-name group (HR, 0.92 [95% CI, 0.86 to 0.99]). The absolute difference was -1.53 events per 100 person-years (CI, -2.69 to -0.19 events per 100 person-years). LIMITATION: Results may not be generalizable to other populations with different incomes or drug benefit structures. CONCLUSION: Compared with those initiating brand-name statins, patients initiating generic statins were more likely to adhere and had a lower rate of a composite clinical outcome. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: Teva Pharmaceuticals.

Unintended consequences of a Medicaid prescription copayment policy.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Medication copayments can influence patient choices. We evaluated 2 copayment policies implemented by Massachusetts Medicaid incentivizing the use of selected generic medications. RESEARCH DESIGN AND MEASURES: In 2009, Massachusetts Medicaid copayments were $1 for generics and $3 for brands. On February 1, 2009, copayments for generic antihypertensives, antihyperlipidemics, and hypoglycemics (target medications) remained at $1, whereas copayments for all nontarget generics increased to $2 (policy #1) and $3 on July 1, 2010 (policy #2). Using state-level, aggregate prescription data, we developed interrupted time-series models with controls to evaluate the impact of these policies on use of target generics, target brands, and nontarget essential medications (defined as medications required for ongoing treatment of serious medical conditions). RESULTS: After policy #1, target generic use increased by 0.93% (P<0.001) with a subsequent quarterly slope decrease of -0.16% (P<0.01); policy #2 led to a slope increase of 0.20% (P<0.01) for target generics; increase in target generics attributable to policy changes was 28,000 prescriptions per year. Neither policy affected target brand use. For nontarget essential generics, there was a -0.27% (P<0.001) quarterly slope decrease after policy #1 and a 0.32% (P<0.01) slope increase after policy #2 with total decrease attributable to policy changes of 127,300 prescriptions per year. For nontarget essential brands, there was a level increase of 0.91% (P<0.001) after policy #1 with increased use attributable to policy changes of 98,300 prescriptions per year. CONCLUSIONS: Two copayment policies designed to encourage use of selected generic medications modestly increased their use; however, there was a shift in other essential medications from generics to brands, which could increase Medicaid costs. When adjusting copayments, careful consideration must be given to unintended consequences of specific policy structures.

Trends in insulin initiation and treatment intensification among patients with type 2 diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Many patients with type 2 diabetes eventually require insulin, yet little is known about the patterns and quality of pharmacologic care received following insulin initiation. Guidelines from the American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes recommend that insulin secretagogues such as sulfonylureas be discontinued at the time of insulin initiation to reduce the risk of hypoglycemia, and that treatment be intensified if HbA1c levels remain above-target 3 months after insulin initiation. OBJECTIVE: To describe pharmacologic treatment patterns over time among adults initiating insulin and/or intensifying insulin treatment. DESIGN: Observational study. SUBJECTS: A large commercially insured population of adult patients without recorded type 1 diabetes who initiated insulin. MAIN MEASURES: We evaluated changes in non-insulin antidiabetic medication use during the 120 days immediately following insulin initiation, rates of increase in insulin dose and/or dosing frequency during the 270 days following an insulin initiation treatment period of 90 days, and rates of insulin discontinuation. KEY RESULTS: Seven thousand, nine hundred and thirty-two patients initiated insulin during 2003-2008, with the majority (61 %) initiating basal insulin only. Metformin (55 %), sulfonylureas (39 %), and thiazolidinediones (30 %) were commonly used prior to insulin initiation. Metformin was continued by 64 % of patients following mixed or mealtime insulin initiation; the continuation rate was nearly as high for sulfonylureas (58 %). Insulin dose and/or dosing frequency increased among 22.9 % of patients. Insulin was discontinued by 27 % of patients. CONCLUSIONS: We found evidence of substantial departures from guideline-recommended pharmacotherapy. Insulin secretagogues were frequently co-prescribed with insulin. The majority of patients had no evidence of treatment intensification following insulin initiation, although this finding is difficult to interpret without HbA1c levels. While each patient's care should be individualized, our data suggest that the quality of care following insulin initiation can be improved.

Plasmode simulation for the evaluation of pharmacoepidemiologic methods in complex healthcare databases.

Longitudinal healthcare claims databases are frequently used for studying the comparative safety and effectiveness of medications, but results from these studies may be biased due to residual confounding. It is unclear whether methods for confounding adjustment that have been shown to perform well in small, simple nonrandomized studies are applicable to the large, complex pharmacoepidemiologic studies created from secondary healthcare data. Ordinary simulation approaches for evaluating the performance of statistical methods do not capture important features of healthcare claims. A statistical framework for creating replicated simulation datasets from an empirical cohort study in electronic healthcare claims data is developed and validated. The approach relies on resampling from the observed covariate and exposure data without modification in all simulated datasets to preserve the associations among these variables. Repeated outcomes are simulated using a true treatment effect of the investigator's choice and the baseline hazard function estimated from the empirical data. As an example, this framework is applied to a study of high versus low-intensity statin use and cardiovascular outcomes. Simulated data is based on real data drawn from Medicare Parts A and B linked with a prescription drug insurance claims database maintained by Caremark. Properties of the data simulated using this framework are compared with the empirical data on which the simulations were based. In addition, the simulated datasets are used to compare variable selection strategies for confounder adjustmentvia the propensity score, including high-dimensional approaches that could not be evaluated with ordinary simulation methods. The simulated datasets are found to closely resemble the observed complex data structure but have the advantage of an investigator-specified exposure effect.

Genomic signatures of exceptional longevity and negligible aging in the long-lived red sea urchin.

The red sea urchin (Mesocentrotus franciscanus) is one of the Earth's longest-living animals, reported to live more than 100 years with indeterminate growth, life-long reproduction, and no increase in mortality rate with age. To understand the genetic underpinnings of longevity and negligible aging, we constructed a chromosome-level assembly of the red sea urchin genome and compared it to that of short-lived sea urchin species. Genome-wide syntenic alignments identified chromosome rearrangements that distinguish short- and long-lived species. Expanded gene families in long-lived species play a role in innate immunity, sensory nervous system, and genome stability. An integrated network of genes under positive selection in the red sea urchin was involved in genomic regulation, mRNA fidelity, protein homeostasis, and mitochondrial function. Our results implicated known longevity genes in sea urchin longevity but also revealed distinct molecular signatures that may promote long-term maintenance of tissue homeostasis, disease resistance, and negligible aging.

Impact of Season and Other Factors on Initiation, Discontinuation, and Switching of Systemic Drug Therapy in Patients with Psoriasis: A Retrospective Study.

This study investigated whether systemic drug prescribing for psoriasis varies by season and other exacerbating factors. Eligible patients with psoriasis were assessed for each season for initiation, discontinuation, and switching of systemic drugs. A total of 360,787 patients were at risk of initiating any systemic drugs in 2016‒2019; 39,572 patients and 35,388 patients were at risk of drug discontinuation or switching to a biologic and a nonbiologic systemic drug, respectively. The initiation of biologic therapy in 2016‒2019 peaked in spring (1.28%), followed by summer (1.11%), fall (1.08%), and winter (1.01%). Nonbiologic systemic drugs followed a similar pattern. Those aged 30‒39 years, male, those with psoriatic arthritis, those who live in the South region, those who live in areas with lower altitudes, and those who live in areas with lower humidity had higher initiation with the same seasonality pattern. Discontinuation of biologic drugs peaked in summer, and switching of biologics was highest in spring. Season is associated with initiation, discontinuation, and switching, although seasonality pattern is less clear for nonbiologic systemic drugs. Approximately 14,280 more patients with psoriasis in the United States are estimated to initiate a biologic in spring than in other seasons, and over 840 more biologic users switched in spring than in winter. The findings may provide evidence for healthcare resource planning in psoriasis management.

Medicare part D's impact on antipsychotic drug use and costs among elderly patients without prior drug insurance.

Medicare part D's implementation improved access to and affordability of prescription drugs for the elderly without prior drug insurance. Effects for specific drugs and drug classes are less well understood. We assessed part D's impact on antipsychotic medication (APM) utilization and out-of-pocket costs among elderly without prior drug insurance. Retail pharmacy claims from 3 nationwide pharmacy chains were used to analyze 2 time-series designs: (1) a policy model, to obtain a policymaker's perspective: what was the overall impact of part D on APM use and costs among elderly without drug insurance in 2005 with the opportunity to enroll? And (2) a clinical model, to obtain a clinician's perspective: what would happen to elderly without drug insurance in 2005 who did enroll in part D--would they be able to get APMs? At what cost? Subgroup analyses among part D enrollees evaluated potentially different effects for patients who received a subsidy and patients who used antidementia drugs. In the policy model, part D implementation was associated with a 5% increase in APM use and a 37% reduction in out-of-pocket costs, suggesting a modest need for APMs among all previously uninsured elderly. Patients who did enroll in part D (clinical model) had a 97% increase in APM use and a 62% decrease in out-of-pocket costs, suggesting that patients who needed APMs were able to access them at low cost through the part D program. Part D implementation was associated with increased use and affordability of APMs for the elderly without prior drug insurance.

Rationale and design of the multinational observational study assessing insulin use: the MOSAIc study.

BACKGROUND: Although consensus guidelines recommend insulin progression among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) who fail to meet glycemic targets over time, many fewer patients are progressed than may benefit. We describe the rationale and design of the MOSAIc (Multinational Observational Study Assessing Insulin use) study, a multinational observational cohort study to identify patient-, physician, and health care environment-based factors associated with insulin progression for patients with T2DM in real-world practice. METHODS/DESIGN: We will enroll 4,500 patients with T2DM taking initial insulin therapy for ≥3 months across 175 physician practice sites in 18 countries. Extensive demographic, clinical, and psychosocial data at the patient and physician level and practice site characteristics will be collected at baseline and regular intervals during a 24-month follow-up period. We will use a multivariable logistic regression model to identify predictors of insulin progression and highlight potential opportunities for health behavior intervention to improve insulin progression rates. Secondary outcomes include evaluating factors associated with glycemic control, hypoglycemia, and treatment adherence among patients who do and do not progress beyond their initial insulin therapy and exploring geographic heterogeneity in treatment. DISCUSSION: Practice site and patient recruitment began in 2011 and baseline data will be available in late 2012. The MOSAIC study's longitudinal observational design as well as the breadth and depth of data will be used to explore and quantify predictors of insulin progression and to identify potential opportunities for health behavior intervention in order to improve T2DM treatment and clinical outcomes.

Confronting "confounding by health system use" in Medicare Part D: comparative effectiveness of propensity score approaches to confounding adjustment.

PURPOSE: Under Medicare Part D, patient characteristics influence plan choice, which in turn influences Part D coverage gap entry. We compared predefined propensity score (PS) and high-dimensional propensity score (hdPS) approaches to address such "confounding by health system use" in assessing whether coverage gap entry is associated with cardiovascular events or death. METHODS: We followed 243,079 Medicare patients aged 65+ years with linked prescription, medical, and plan-specific data in 2005-2007. Patients reached the coverage gap and were followed until an event or year's end. Exposed patients were responsible for drug costs in the gap; unexposed patients (patients with non-Part D drug insurance and Part D patients receiving a low-income subsidy) received financial assistance. Exposed patients were 1:1 PS-matched or hdPS-matched to unexposed patients. The PS model included 52 predefined covariates; the hdPS model added 400 empirically identified covariates. Hazard ratios for death and any of five cardiovascular outcomes were compared. In sensitivity analyses, we explored residual confounding using only low-income subsidy patients in the unexposed group. RESULTS: In unadjusted analyses, exposed patients had no greater hazard of death (HR = 1.00; 95%CI, 0.84-1.20) or other outcomes. PS-matched (HR = 1.29; 0.99-1.66) and hdPS-matched (HR = 1.11; 0.86-1.42) analyses showed elevated but non-significant hazards of death. In sensitivity analyses, the PS analysis showed a protective effect (HR = 0.78; 0.61-0.98), whereas the hdPS analysis (HR = 1.06; 0.82-1.37) confirmed the main hdPS findings. CONCLUSION: Although the PS-matched analysis suggested elevated but non-significant hazards of death among patients with no financial assistance during the gap, the hdPS analysis produced lower estimates that were stable across sensitivity analyses.

Durability of the Single-Dose Ad26.COV2.S Vaccine in the Prevention of COVID-19 Infections and Hospitalizations in the US Before and During the Delta Variant Surge.

Importance: Vaccination against the SARS-CoV-2 virus is critical to control the pandemic. Randomized clinical trials demonstrated efficacy of the single-dose Ad26.COV2.S COVID-19 vaccine, but data on longer-term protection in clinical practice and effectiveness against variants are needed. Objective: To assess the association between receiving the Ad26.COV2.S vaccine and COVID-19-related infections and hospitalizations before and during the Delta variant surge. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study included adults aged 18 years and older who were newly Ad26.COV2.S-vaccinated matched to as many as 10 unvaccinated individuals by date, location, age, sex, and comorbidity index. This was followed by 1:4 propensity score matching on COVID-19 risk factors. Data were collected from US insurance claims data from March 1, 2020, through August 31, 2021. Exposures: Vaccination with Ad26.COV2.S vs no vaccination. Main Outcomes and Measures: Vaccine effectiveness (VE) was estimated for recorded COVID-19 infection and COVID-19-related hospitalization, nationwide and in subgroups by age, high-risk factors, calendar time, and states with high incidences of the Delta variant. VE estimates were corrected for underrecording of vaccinations in insurance data. Results: Among 422 034 vaccinated individuals (mean [SD] age, 54.7 [17.4] years; 236 437 [56.0%] women) and 1 645 397 matched unvaccinated individuals (mean [SD] age, 54.5 [17.5] years; 922 937 [56.1%] women), VE was 76% (95% CI, 75%-77%) for COVID-19 infections and 81% (95% CI, 78%-82%) for COVID-19-related hospitalizations. VE was stable for at least 180 days after vaccination and over calendar time. Among states with high Delta variant incidence, VE during June to August 2021 was 74% (95% CI, 71%-77%) for infections and 81% (95% CI, 75%-86%) for hospitalizations. VE for COVID-19 was higher in individuals younger than 65 years (78%; 95% CI, 77%-79%) and lower in immunocompromised patients (64%; 95% CI, 59%-68%). All estimates were corrected for vaccination underrecording; uncorrected VE, which served as a lower bound, was 66% (95% CI, 64%-67%) for any recorded COVID-19 infection and 72% (95% CI, 69%-74%) for COVID-19-related hospitalization. Conclusions and Relevance: This cohort study in US clinical practice showed stable VE of Ad26.COV2.S for at least 6 months before as well as during the time the Delta variant emerged and became dominant.

Changes in drug utilization during a gap in insurance coverage: an examination of the medicare Part D coverage gap.

BACKGROUND: Nations are struggling to expand access to essential medications while curbing rising health and drug spending. While the US government's Medicare Part D drug insurance benefit expanded elderly citizens' access to drugs, it also includes a controversial period called the "coverage gap" during which beneficiaries are fully responsible for drug costs. We examined the impact of entering the coverage gap on drug discontinuation, switching to another drug for the same indication, and drug adherence. While increased discontinuation of and adherence to essential medications is a regrettable response, increased switching to less expensive but therapeutically interchangeable medications is a positive response to minimize costs. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We followed 663,850 Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Part D or retiree drug plans with prescription and health claims in 2006 and/or 2007 to determine who reached the gap spending threshold, n = 217,131 (33%). In multivariate Cox proportional hazards models, we compared drug discontinuation and switching rates in selected drug classes after reaching the threshold between all 1,993 who had no financial assistance during the coverage gap (exposed) versus 9,965 multivariate propensity score-matched comparators with financial assistance (unexposed). Multivariate logistic regressions compared drug adherence (≤ 80% versus >80% of days covered). Beneficiaries reached the gap spending threshold on average 222 d ±79. At the drug level, exposed beneficiaries were twice as likely to discontinue (hazard ratio [HR]  = 2.00, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.64-2.43) but less likely to switch a drug (HR  = 0.60, 0.46-0.78) after reaching the threshold. Gap-exposed beneficiaries were slightly more likely to have reduced adherence (OR  = 1.07, 0.98-1.18). CONCLUSIONS: A lack of financial assistance after reaching the gap spending threshold was associated with a doubling in discontinuing essential medications but not switching drugs in 2006 and 2007. Blunt cost-containment features such as the coverage gap have an adverse impact on drug utilization that may conceivably affect health outcomes.

The American lobster genome reveals insights on longevity, neural, and immune adaptations.

The American lobster, Homarus americanus, is integral to marine ecosystems and supports an important commercial fishery. This iconic species also serves as a valuable model for deciphering neural networks controlling rhythmic motor patterns and olfaction. Here, we report a high-quality draft assembly of the H. americanus genome with 25,284 predicted gene models. Analysis of the neural gene complement revealed extraordinary development of the chemosensory machinery, including a profound diversification of ligand-gated ion channels and secretory molecules. The discovery of a novel class of chimeric receptors coupling pattern recognition and neurotransmitter binding suggests a deep integration between the neural and immune systems. A robust repertoire of genes involved in innate immunity, genome stability, cell survival, chemical defense, and cuticle formation represents a diversity of defense mechanisms essential to thrive in the benthic marine environment. Together, these unique evolutionary adaptations contribute to the longevity and ecological success of this long-lived benthic predator.