Advances

A study estimates that the United States could reduce its annual spending on outpatient prescription drugs by $184 billion, which equates to a 51% decrease, if domestic prices matched those in other high-income nations. This comes as Congress considers cost-lowering strategies for prescription drugs, including the Prescription Drug Price Relief Act of 2025, which would cap U.S. drug prices at the median price of Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.K.

The study, conducted by the Yale Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis (CIDMA) and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reviewed prices and usage of over 8,000 prescription medications. Dr. Alison Galvani, PhD, Burnett and Stender Families Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and CIDMA director, said Americans overpay significantly for medicines compared to other high-income countries. The research found that more than 70% of popular branded medications cost at least four times more in the U.S., with some chronic disease treatments priced five times higher.

Projected savings include $82.2 billion for private insurers, $70.5 billion for Medicare, and $12.9 billion for Medicaid annually. Patients’ out-of-pocket expenses would decrease by nearly 40%. Lower drug costs would improve public health by increasing treatment access, care continuity, and reducing medical debt.

Yale study: U.S. could save $184 billion by aligning drug prices with peer nations

A recent study by Yale University showcases a groundbreaking AI system named spEMO (spatial multi-modal embeddings) that integrates various kinds of biological data to provide clearer insights into cellular activities within diseased tissues. This study aims to revolutionize our understanding of how diseases develop.

Microscopes have historically been the primary tool for studying tissues and diagnosing diseases. However, modern scientific research now produces vast amounts of data that are beyond the human eye's ability to process simultaneously, including intricate maps of genes and proteins within cells. The Yale study addresses this by employing AI to merge images of tissue slides with gene and protein activity data, offering a more complete and meaningful analysis of biological information.

While still under refinement, spEMO has promising implications, including accelerating research, aiding doctors in diagnosis, and enhancing personalized medicine. The system is intended to support, not replace, scientists and physicians by helping them recognize complex patterns and connections that might be otherwise overlooked. The study is published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

New AI tool helps scientists see how cells work together inside diseased tissue

Public health decisions increasingly rely on large-scale data and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and mobile health. A new framework published in JAMA Health Forum calls for stronger data equity to ensure that technological and digital advances improve health outcomes for all.

Led by Dr. Bhramar Mukherjee, PhD, Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Biostatistics and professor of epidemiology (chronic diseases) at YSPH and of statistics and data science at Yale University, the article highlights how populations — including those in rural areas, people with disabilities, the unhoused, or those who live in low- and middle-income countries — are underrepresented in health datasets, leading to biased findings and poor health outcomes.

The authors propose 10 core concepts to improve data equity throughout the operational arc of data science research and practice in public health. They write, “The framework integrates computer science principles such as fairness, transparency, and privacy protection with best practices in public health data science that focus on mitigating information and selection biases and more. These concepts are applied together throughout the data life cycle, from study design to data collection, analysis, and interpretation to policy translation, offering a structured approach for evaluating whether data practices adequately represent and serve all populations.”

Ten core concepts for ensuring data equity in public health

The Yale School of Public Health’s PopHIVE health data platform is boosting its ability to protect and modernize community health data thanks to a $1.2 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The new funding is helping PopHIVE build new dashboards and data sets for topics such as maternal health, injuries and overdoses, and youth wellbeing. It also supports new collaborations, including with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, helping to advance PopHIVE’s efforts to integrate public and private health data sources for a variety of health conditions.

The injuries and overdoses dashboard brings together information from multiple sources including emergency department visits, death records, and internet search trends to track overdoses, firearm injuries, heat-related illness, and other injury causes such as motor vehicle crashes, falls, drowning, and more.

Bringing these data together helps identify emerging risks, understand who is most affected, and see differences by age and place. This provides a more complete picture of injury and overdose and helps highlight opportunities for timely prevention and response.

Democratizing the data': PopHIVE bridges gap in public health information

Clean air laws have led to a significant reduction in long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution across much of the United States over the past two decades, yet tens of thousands of Americans still die each year from cardiovascular disease linked to polluted air.

A new study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) shows that air pollution-related cardiovascular deaths are increasingly concentrated among traditionally underserved communities and driven by specific chemical components rather than overall pollution levels.

The authors say their work offers insights for more precise and equitable air pollution control strategies that target not only how much pollution is in the air, but what it’s made of and who is most affected.

Cardiovascular deaths from air pollution declining in the U.S., but racial disparities persist