Stroke survivors get a first-of-its-kind anticoagulant; Queens day care director admits $127M Medicare, Medicaid fraud; ovarian cancer may leave an early mark in the blood — Morning Medical Update

Stroke survivors get a first-of-its-kind anticoagulant

The factor XIa inhibitor cut ischemic strokes by 26% in its phase 3 trial.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Nov. 9 approved Sunharbo (asundexian), a 50 mg tablet from Bayer, for use with antiplatelet therapy to reduce stroke risk in adults after a recent mild-to-moderate non-cardioembolic ischemic stroke or a high-risk transient ischemic attack. It is the first factor XIa inhibitor approved in the U.S. and is not approved for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation.

In the OCEANIC-STROKE trial of 12,327 adults, the drug reduced the risk of ischemic stroke by 26% compared with placebo over a median of 14.2 months. Overall major bleeding was similar to placebo but increased in patients older than 75 and during the first 90 days of treatment, according to the FDA. Gastrointestinal bleeding was more common with the drug.

Queens day care director admits $127M Medicare, Medicaid fraud

Daniel Lee is scheduled to be sentenced in March.

Daniel Lee, 57, of Flushing, New York, pleaded guilty Nov. 9 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in a scheme that defrauded Medicare and New York State Medicaid of about $127 million. The U.S. Department of Justice said the scheme billed for medically unnecessary prescription drugs and for social adult day care services that were not provided.

Lee was program director at Happy Life Inc., one of two social adult day care centers in Queens owned by Inwoo Kim, who also owned a pharmacy. The two men were charged in February, when prosecutors said they paid Medicare beneficiaries and Medicaid recipients cash and supermarket gift certificates to fill prescriptions at the pharmacy and enroll in the day care centers. Lee is scheduled to be sentenced March 2, 2027.

Ovarian cancer may leave an early mark in the blood

An RNA molecule pointed to precancerous lesions in a study of stored blood samples.

Ovarian cancer often begins as microscopic lesions in the lining of the fallopian tubes, known as serous tubal intraepithelial carcinoma (STIC). Researchers at Hoag Family Cancer Institute in Newport Beach, California, found that women with STIC have elevated blood levels of an RNA molecule called Tu-Stroma, according to a study published Nov. 10 in Nature Medicine. Measuring it detected the lesions in 92.3% of women who had them and correctly identified 98.2% of healthy women.

Modeled in women with genetic risk factors, about 72% of positive results would be accurate, and negative results would be correct nearly 100% of the time. “Today, decisions about preventive surgery are largely guided by inherited risk, without knowing whether precancerous lesions are actually present,” said co-author Esha Madan of Hoag. The study used previously collected blood samples, and the test is not available for clinical use while prospective studies are planned. Reuters has more.