Trending News Today: Protections for Preexisting Health Conditions a Top Issue, Poll Says

On Tuesday, officials with the FDA granted priority review to a potential new flu treatment, STAT reported. According to the article, baloxavir marboxil has been shown to reduce the duration of flu symptoms by a little more than a day and reduce the duration of a fever by nearly a day. Baloxavir marboxil is an endonuclease inhibitor, the first new class of influenza drugs to hit the market in more than 2 decades, the article reported. According to the FDA, the agency will issue a decision on the drug within 6 months.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s latest tracking poll, the majority of individuals surveyed cite that it’s “very important” to them that Obamacare’s provisions protecting those with preexisting conditions remain law, The Hill reported. According to the article, 65% of those polled indicated that a candidate’s support for continued protections for those with preexisting conditions is either the “single most important factor” or “very important” in their vote. Additionally, a candidate’s support for preexisting condition protections was the top issue among Democratic and independent voters, and the second-highest issue among Republicans, the article reported.

A recent study found that an experimental treatment may benefit patients fighting a deadly form of brain cancer, NPR reported. According to the study, the treatment, a genetically modified poliovirus, has extended survival in a small group of patients with glioblastoma. Despite these promising results, the study authors cautioned that the research is still at an early stage and only 21% of patients in the study experienced prolonged survival, the article reported.