Trending News Today: US Prisons Failing to Treat Inmates with Hepatitis C

State prisons in the United States are failing to treat at least 144,000 inmates who have hepatitis C, Kaiser Health News reported. According to the article, corrections departments in every state were asked how many inmates have hepatitis C, how many are treated, what drugs are used for treatment, and what policies exist that address inmates with the virus. According to the survey, approximately 97% of inmates with hepatitis C are not receiving treatment, with high drug prices cited as the primary reason for denying treatment.

Health insurers warn of rising premiums after the Trump administration temporarily suspended a program that was set to pay out $10.4 billion to payers for covering high-risk individuals last year, Reuters reported. According to the article, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said on Saturday that months-old conflicting court rulings related to the risk adjustment formula prevent them from making payments. America’s Health Insurance Plans said in a statement that the CMS suspension would create more market uncertainty and increase premiums for many health plans, the article reported.

CTI Biopharma Corp announced that its treatment for a type of blood cancer did not meet the main goal of a late-stage clinical trial, Reuters reported. According to the article, the drug, Pixuvri, was being evaluated in combination with Roche Holding’s Rituxan in patients with aggressive B-cell Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In the trial, Pixuvri did not show a statistically significant improvement in the length of time patients survived without any progression of the disease, the article reported.