Recent News

How the Government Can Lower Drug Prices (The New York Times)

Jun 20th, 2018

In Baltimore, the health commissioner, Dr. Leana Wen, uses a need-based algorithm to decide which emergency rooms, needle-exchange vans, E.M.T.s and opioid outreach workers receive the city’s limited supply of naloxone — and which don’t. The drug, which reverses overdoses, has saved some 14,000 Baltimore residents since 2015. But its price has increased in recent years, by between 95 and 500 percent, depending on which version of the medication is being considered. Even with donations and discounts from drug makers, Dr. Wen says the city can’t afford all the naloxone it needs.

Read the entire story.

Leana Wenopioidsnaloxone

Local Health Departments Pay High Price For Opioid Overdose Drug (National Journal)

Jun 17th, 2018

During an opioid epidemic that has lowered the country’s life expectancy and cost the economy $95.3 billion in 2016, Baltimore City’s health commissioner has found herself having to ration the supply of the drug used to reverse opioid-related overdoses, naloxone.

Read the entire story. 

Leana Wenopioidsnaloxone

Note From The Commissioner: An Ecosystem of Optimism and Hope

Jun 15th, 2018

On Wednesday, I joined Open Society Institute (OSI)-Baltimore to celebrate their 20th anniversary celebration.

Leana Wen

Bmore Healthy Newsletter: June 15, 2018

Jun 15th, 2018

Click here to read the 6/15/18 newsletter. Subscribe to the Bmore Healthy newsletter.

In this issue:

  • Note from the Commissioner
  • Washington Post: Dr. Wen and Public Citizen President Author Op-Ed on Naloxone Pricing
  • Dr. Wen Honored with “Bold Thinker” Award by OSI-Baltimore
  • and more.

House approves opioid bills, but not the one Baltimore health commissioner says 'we desperately need' (Baltimore Sun)

Jun 13th, 2018

The House of Representatives, considering a legislative package to combat the opiod epidemic, won’t vote on the bill that Baltimore’s health commissioner says is “what we on the frontlines desperately need.”

Read the entire story.

Leana Wenopioids

Major opioids legislation is taking shape. Can it make a dent in a national epidemic? (STAT)

Jun 13th, 2018

By the end of next week, the House will have considered more than 50 bills aimed at staunching the opioid crisis. The volume “may well be a record for legislating on a single issue,” Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Tuesday on the House floor.

Leana Wen, Baltimore’s public health commissioner and a staunch advocate for expanding access to the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, released a statement encouraging Congress to consider a bill introduced by two Democrats, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.).

Read the entire story.

Leana Wenopioids

Baltimore health chief Wen wants to close the life expectancy gap between poor and wealthy areas (Baltimore Business Journal)

Jun 13th, 2018

Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen uses an example to highlight some of the challenges causing a wide health disparities gap between the city's richer, white neighborhoods and poorer, black neighborhoods.

Read the entire story.

Leana Wen

Judges rule against HHS for unlawfully ending teen pregnancy prevention grants, but shift to abstinence still underway (Pump Handle)

Jun 12th, 2018

Earlier this month, another judge rebuked the Trump administration’s attempts to terminate teen pregnancy prevention grants, ruling the decision unlawful and

Leana Wen

Amazon expands Whole Foods delivery to Baltimore (Technically Baltimore)

Jun 12th, 2018

Amazon is entering the grocery delivery space in Baltimore. Through its Prime Now service, the ecommerce giant is offering delivery of groceries within two hours from Whole Foods, which it purchased last year. While Baltimore’s health department introduced online ordering and delivery to areas that lack fresh food options through its Virtual Supermarket program in 2014, the area’s grocery delivery offerings are getting some big players this year. Target introduced same-day delivery in March.

Read the entire story.

Baltimore City Health Commissioner Urges Congress to Support CARE Act and Adopt “Ryan White for the Opioid Epidemic”

Jun 11th, 2018

Congress is slated to vote on various bills aimed at fighting the opioid epidemic this week. Dr. Leana Wen issued the following statement about what is needed on the frontlines:

“As Congress reviews dozens of bills focused on combatting the opioid epidemic, I ask them to remember this: We know what works. We don’t have a shortage of ideas. We have a shortage of resources."

Leana Wenopioids

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