Beam’s Base-Editing Sickle Cell Therapy Shows Early Promise, But a Fatality Overshadows Results

The death wasn’t due to Beam Therapeutics’ sickle cell disease therapy, BEAM-101, but was instead attributed to the preconditioning treatment needed before the genetic medicine is infused. A different Beam program in preclinical development could avoid the need for toxic preconditioning; data from both programs will be presented during the upcoming American Society of Hematology…

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340B is a Hidden Tax Expenditure

That is the argument made by Ike Brannon and Anthony Lo Sasso in a recent Health Affairs Forefront article. 340B allows hospitals serving low income communities to purchase pharmaceuticals at discounted rates, but then receive full price reimbursement from payers (e.g., commercial insurers, Medicare). It is not clear that the 340B program even benefits low-income…

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