Data Stream
A Drop in the Bucket
Not every drop of a person’s blood is the same, according
to a study that looked at the variability between different
drops of blood from a single finger-prick and blood obtained
via phlebotomy. The findings suggest that up to nine drops
of blood may be needed to get accurate results on point-ofcare tests.
Researchers analyzed six to nine succ essive 20-mL drops
of blood collected from one finger-prick in 11 blood donors.
Compared with the fluctuation in blood parameters seen in
venous blood analysis, the variation between the fingerprick blood drops was:
The Designer Baby Boom?
A new poll from STAT News and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that Americans have mixed
views on the ethical, social, and legal implications of new gene-editing technologies like CRISPR.
“They’re not against scientists trying to improve genome-editing technologies,” Robert Blendon, ScD, professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard T.H. Chan said, likely because an unexpected event,
such as “the ability to eliminate a terrible disease could change people’s views in the years ahead.”
In the poll of 1,000 people:
100
80
3.4
times higher for hemoglobin
60
40
20
5.7
times higher for white blood
cell count
0
26%
think altering DNA
prenatally to reduce
the risk of certain
serious diseases
should be legal
83% 59% 44%
said that altering
the genes of unborn
babies to improve intelligence or physical
characteristics should
be illegal
think federal health
regulators should
approve gene
therapy
favor funding
studies of diseaserelated germline
editing
However, 69% said they had heard “little or nothing” about germline editing, so there is some headway to
make before gene-editing hits the mainstream.
3
times higher for lymphocyte
count
Source: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, “The public and genetic editing, testing, and therapy,” January 2016.
Size Matters
7.7
times higher for granulocyte
count
Super-sized single-dose vials are costing the U.S. health-care system
$1.7 billion in wasted leftover drugs, according to an analysis of
spending on 20 top-selling cancer drugs.
Dosage of these infusional drugs is based on a patient’s weight
or body size, and drugs must be either administered or discarded
once open. “Because patients’ body sizes are unlikely to match the
amount of drug included in the vial, there is nearly always some
leftover drug – which still needs to be paid for,” the authors wrote.
With rituximab, for example:
4
times higher for platelets
• Recommended dose: 375 mg/m2
• Vial sizes available: 100 mg and 500 mg
• Typical patient dose: 637.5 mg
• Amount wasted: 62.5 mg
“If you’re going to take a finger-prick stick to get your measures, you need to be aware that you’re sacrificing some
accuracy,” the lead author said in a press release.
This amounts to an estimated cost of leftover rituximab of
$253.9 million.
Source: Bond MM, Richards-Kortum RR. Drop-to-drop variation in the cellular
components of fingerprick blood: implications for point-of-care diagnostic
development. Am J Clin Pathol. 2016;144:885-94.
Source: Bach PB, Conti RM, Muller RJ, et al. Overspending driven by oversized single
dose vials of cancer drugs. BMJ. 2016 February 29. [Epub ahead of print]
26
ASH Clinical News
May 2016