2016 was a bit of a cliffhanger year in health news. Like the first Lord of the Rings movie The Fellowship of the Ring, many major health stories left us with an unsatisfying, unsettled feeling, resulting in more questions than answers. In true Hollywood fashion, does this then set up 2017 and future years for sequels? Seems that way. Just take a look at ten of the biggest health news of the year 2016 if they were movies":
10. Marijuana: Harold and Kumar Reach White Castle
What happened? 2016 was a banner year for weed. Medical marijuana continued to be a growing industry with many start-ups lighting up. Get the pun? Growing. Marijuana. Lighting up. Moreover, election day saw 7 more states legalize marijuana in some form.
What's the cliffhanger? Will this trend continue? Is this trend a good or a bad thing? Will it provide a good alternative to prescription pain relievers and harder drugs? Or will it lead to more health problems? Well, it depends on your point of view and what you just smoked. Debbie Borchardt for FORBES has some predictions.
9. Wearables and Pokemon GO: Rise of The Machines
What happened? Did we get a glimpse of the future: mobile devices to get people moving more and live healthier lifestyles? Maybe. More and more Fitbits, Garmins, TomToms, Xiomi Mis, Misfits, Samsung Gears, and other wearables are on the market. Then this Summer, the smartphone game Pokemon GO got many people to move around town searching for characters with Terminator-like focus.
What's the cliffhanger? These machines aren't quite the gamechangers, yet. After an initial surge, after only six weeks, the Pokemon GO effect wore off and many people returned to being that character not in Pokemon GO: the couch potato. Also, studies suggested that wearables aren't necessarily getting everyone to move around more. FORBES Contributor Rita Rubin profiled some of the issues with wearables. But technology continues to evolve...
8. CRSPR: X-Men Or X-Women First Class
What happened? What if you could create mutations in people? CRISPR-Cas9 is not something to make fries, tortillas, cookies, or chicken more crispy but a tool that may allow scientists to edit genes in living organisms. Researchers in China are trying to use it to treat lung cancer and create HIV-resistant embryos.
What's the cliffhanger? This opens up whole new possible ways of altering the course of life as well as ethical dilemmas, because we just don't have enough ethical dilemmas. For example, Emily Mullin described the potential for sickle cell disease in her FORBES piece. Meanwhile, the Broad Institute at MIT (with Feng Zhang's laboratory) and the University of California, Berkeley (with Jennifer Douda's laboratory) are engaged in a battle for patent rights...because what would a major scientific breakthrough be without multiple people arguing for credit.
7. Theranos: The Matrix
What happened? For Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes, what you saw was not reality. While the Theranos Board had enough military leaders to invade Syria, there was a noticeable lack of scientists on the Board or in management. No scientific data supported the Holmes' claims about Theranos's tests. The FDA and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid clamped down on Theranos. Holmes net worth tumbled to zero, according to FORBES' Matt Herper. Investors are now suing, claiming that Holmes fooled them. Yes, investors finally decided to take the red pill instead of the blue pill. Or was it the blue pill?
What's the cliffhanger? How did this happen? How much money and time was wasted? Will investors pay more attention to science in the future? How will this affect other medical device start-ups in the future? Will investors shy away from investing in medical devices because they cannot understand the technology? Yes, Theranos may have changed the world, but not necessarily in a good way.
6. Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria: The Phantom Menace
What happened? The rebel alliance (us) lost more ground to the Dark Side (antibiotic-resistant bacteria). This included the continuing spread of something actually dubbed the phantom menace bacteria, carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE). And 2016 introduced the U.S. and other countries a new super-villain: a new superbug that's resistant to the antibiotic colistin, a last-line defense against bacterial infections. Wonderful. On a positive note, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is making efforts to "clean up" antibacterial soap.
What's the cliffhanger? The rebel alliance is in disarray. Few new antibiotics are under development. Funding for infection control research and practice are in short supply. Some hospitals are cutting back on infection control personnel as cost-cutting measures. Antibiotics are still being overused, leading to more resistant organisms. Other than that, everything's fine. Where is Princess Leia when you need her?
5. Prescription Opioids: The Nightmare on Main Street
What happened? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an average of 91 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. Many other lives are ruined. And these aren't just "stereotypical" drug addicts, but different people you know from all lines of work, rich and poor (and whatever in the middle still remaining), including the musician and entertainer Prince, who passed away from a fentanyl overdose. Companies are accused of aggressive and misleading marketing of opioids.
What's the cliffhanger? The nightmare continues with no clear end in sight. The 21st Century Cures Act brings more funding to the problem. But will recommended fixes be implemented? Also, opioid manufacturers are going more global, setting sites on new markets.
4. The Avengers: The Age of Rising Drug Prices
What happened? Rising drug prices came to fore with former Turing CEO Martin Shkreli and current Mylan CEO Heather Bresch becoming the Ultrons of the problem. Neither came a real science or healthcare background. Both were responsible for massive price hikes of products without showing much research and development activities in their companies. People have called for measures to curb rising drug prices with Senator Bernie Sanders serving as Captain America.
What's the cliffhanger? Nothing really happened. Shkreli and Bresch got scolded. Many people got angry. Proposition 61 in California (which probably wasn't the solution anyway) failed to pass. Shkreli got charged with a Ponzi-like scheme, unrelated to drug pricing. He offered people the opportunity to punch him in the face for money. *
3. The Sugar and Soda Wars Part I
What happened? Welcome to the Rocky movie series, as 2016 was the opening round of the fight between many public health advocates and the soda and sugar industry. The new Dietary Guidelines recommended limiting sugar to no more than 10 percent of daily calories. Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes passed in six U.S. locations (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; San Francisco, Oakland, and Albany, California; Boulder, Colorado, and Cook County, Illinois) and the United Kingdom. The new FDA Nutrition Facts label includes "Added Sugar", but Canada did not follow suit. Pepsi PepsiCo Inc. recently announced its goal by 2025 to increase from 40% to at least 66.666666666666% (or two-thirds) of the drinks in its portfolio that have 100 calories or fewer of added sugar per 12 oz serving.
What's the cliffhanger? The obesity epidemic continues to grow. How many other locations will pass SSB taxes? How many other countries will include "added sugar" on food labels? How will food and beverage manufacturers respond? What will James Quincey, successor to Coca-cola's current CEO Muhtar Kent, do? Also, soda and sugar are not the only causes of the obesity epidemic, what else will be done?
2. Zika, The Epidemic Rises
What happened? Thought previously to be relatively harmless, the Zika virus proved to be a lot more dangerous, being linked to devastating birth defects. Then the virus goes from being just a mosquito-borne disease to a sexually transmitted disease. Then studies show that the virus can hang out in the body for months. Meanwhile, the virus spreads from Brazil to many countries throughout the world. OK, Zika, sorry for underestimating you. You've got our attention...maybe. President Barack Obama asked for emergency funds to respond to the Zika epidemic. The Senate and Congress responded to this emergency by squabbling for half a year before finally approving a portion of the requested funds after the virus has already reached the United States (as described by Judy Stone for FORBES.) Yay, politics.
What's the cliffhanger? Everything. We still are learning about what's behind the Zika mask. How many people have been infected? Will Zika will continue to spread? What will be the effects of the funding delay? How many birth defects could have been prevented? How much suffering could have been avoided? What will happen when Summer comes again? Will a vaccine eventually be available? Who knows?
1. The Presidential Election: Any Zombie Apocalypse Movie
What happened? Where do we start? Easily the ugliest and most bitter Presidential election in recent memory, creating stress (as Robert Glatter described for FORBES) and conflict across the United States and beyond. Not good for the country's mental and emotional health as well as the physical (given continuing threats against minorities and immigrants). The election seemed to raise from "the dead" extreme groups such as the Klu Klux Klan. Also, major health issues largely took a backseat during the campaigns and debates, another disturbing trend, given that health is pretty darn important to...let's see...everything.
What's the cliffhanger? Lots of uncertainty. Does anyone have any idea of what kind of policies will be implemented under Donald Trump's administration? Much of the campaign was spent criticizing things rather than offering concrete solutions. So, after Election, the slate's essentially blank, which could be good or bad. Trump certainly has the opportunity to make a very positive difference...or destroy things, depending on what he does. What will happen to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), FDA, and CDC? Will funding for medical research go up or down? Will the U.S.'s global leadership in science and health continue or eventually collapse? What will happen to women's health? Will the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, really be repealed or simply renamed? If repealed, what will be its replacement? Moreover, the election also showed that our country is clearly not post-racial or post-gender, so unless anything is done soon to ease tensions, things could get even uglier. Yes, zombies are out there right now.
The Sequels?
There you have it, ten stories that were really prequels. Certainly, there were many other big stories such as Vice-President Joe Biden's Cancer Moonshot, concussions, the emergence of kratom (as described by Sarah Hedgecock for FORBES), performance enhancing drugs, links between physical activity and alcohol and cancer (as described by Alice Walton for FORBES) and a Texas teen crashing her vehicle into a police car while trying to take a topless photo of herself. Also, 2016 saw prominent continuing sequels in series that started many years ago such as the global obesity epidemic, declining investment in research and development, pollution, medical errors, the anti-vaccine movement (as described by Tara Haelle for FORBES) and increasing burdens on doctors and other healthcare workers. What will happen to all of these stories in 2017? Will the sequels be more like the Return of the Jedi or instead more like Dawn of the Dead? Grab some popcorn (without too much salt or butter and with enough fruits and vegetables, of course) and see.
*CORRECTION: A previous version of this story asserted that Mylan CEO Heather Bresch made many public appearances and got salary increases since the EpiPen controversy began. Neither assertion is true. Forbes regrets the error.
