The Handoff: Your Week in Cardiology News – 11/18/16

The Handoff is a weekly roundup of cardiology news covering various developments in subspecialties, as well as pharmaceutical industry, association, and society news.

• Wrap up your 2016 AHA Scientific Sessions experience with the latest from Cardiology Advisor’s complete meeting coverage.
• A recent New York Times report highlighted a data analysis from Massachusetts General Hospital that suggests that while genetics play a role in heart disease development, positive lifestyle changes can limit a person’s overall risk. Full results are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
• Another New England Journal of Medicine study has found that celecoxib (Celebrex®, Pfizer) is no more likely to cause myocardial infarctions than ibuprofen or naproxen. Cardiology Advisor reported on the conclusion of the decade-long study.
• Climate change experts from institutions around the globe have partnered with the Lancet to explore the impact of widespread climate change on healthcare practices, health, and wellbeing.
• Researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute (ISCI) are looking to cut down on the number of patients waiting for heart transplants by identifying alternative treatments to chronic non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.
• The California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine has awarded researchers at Cedars-Sinai a $1.2 million grant to develop a system that can use remote monitoring to predict cardiovascular events. The research is one part of a broader effort to combine technology and medicine for the benefit of patients.
• An editorial responding to a JAMA review of payment reforms in cardiology care points out that new payment models are a work in progress—and that specialty clinicians are in a unique position to “inform payment model innovation.”
• For the fifth time, GlaxoSmithKline has been ranked first on the Access to Medicine Index, a who’s who of pharmaceutical company efforts to bring drugs, vaccines, and scientific expertise to low- and middle-income countries around the globe.
• Even generic heart failure drugs remain financially out of reach for some patients. An assessment of 175 pharmacies in the St. Louis area found no link between drug price, type of pharmacy, and the average income of any particular neighborhood.