‘Not a Little Higher. It’s Much Higher. It’s Incredible’: What We Heard This Week

“It’s not a little higher. It’s much higher. It’s incredible.” — Andrew Blauvelt, MD, of Blauvelt Consulting in Annapolis, Maryland, reacting to unprecedented response rates of atopic dermatitis treatments used in recent Chinese clinical trials compared with FDA approved drugs.

“The food is bland, it’s poorly prepared, and it’s lacking nutrients of the nature that you actually need for a full recovery.” — CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, MBA, as the agency announced moves to limit ultraprocessed foods and sugary beverages in hospitals serving Medicare and Medicaid patients.

“While the time savings are modest … they were likely reallocating that to other patient care tasks.” — Lisa Rotenstein, MD, of the University of California San Francisco, on findings that artificial intelligence (AI) scribes slightly reduced time clinicians spent on electronic health records.

“We want to challenge the assumption that it takes 10 to 12 years for a drug to come to market.” — FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, regarding the agency’s initiative to streamline the drug approval process.

“The stronger the old boys’ network, the stronger the tradition of an academic medical center, the stronger the hierarchy.” — Mark Speicher, PhD, of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, on the systemic bias osteopathic graduates face during residency matching.

“Clinicians should avoid overinterpreting early signals.” — Yongze Li, MD, PhD, of the First Hospital of China Medical University in Shenyang, after an umbrella review found weak evidence for some benefits of GLP-1 medications.

“Metabolic alterations appear long before cognitive decline is clinically apparent.” — David Vauzour, PhD, of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, on research identifying gut-linked blood metabolites as early biomarkers for cognitive impairment.

“The evidence base has remained conflicting.” — Xiaoyan Zheng, PhD, of Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China, noting that despite its popularity, kinesiology taping lacks robust data for treating joint and muscle pain.

“I don’t want anyone saying this is a cure for long COVID.” — Jamie Forrest, PhD, MPH, of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, discussing a trial where the antidepressant fluvoxamine reduced long COVID fatigue.