Noom last week announced the launch of a new telemedicine company that will offer clinical services to help patients lose weight, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from New York, South Carolina, and Virginia.

• New York: Noom last week announced the launch of a new telemedicine company that will offer clinical services to help patients lose weight. The telehealth platform, called Noom Med, will offer lab tests to evaluate metabolic health, video consultations with physicians specializing in obesity care, and — for some patients — medication. According to Linda Anegawa, a board-certified obesity medicine physician and Noom's chief of medicine, the company is following criteria set by FDA for the prescribing of weight loss drugs. The service is only available for individuals who have a body mass index (BMI) above 30, or those with a BMI over 27 who also have a diagnosed weight-related condition, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, dyslipidemia, or high cholesterol. Anegawa noted that the decision to offer weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy is part of the company's strategy to treat obesity. "We've always been interested in chronic disease," Anegawa said. "We saw weight really as a gateway to entry," she added, as obesity can lead to other long-term illnesses. (D'Ambrosio, Crain's New York Business/Modern Healthcare, 5/26)
• South Carolina: Circuit Judge Clifton Newman on Friday temporarily blocked a six-week abortion ban that was signed into law by Gov. Henry McMaster (R) on Thursday. After the new law was enacted, abortion providers filed a lawsuit challenging the measure. In his ruling, Newman said that "[t]he status quo should be maintained until the Supreme Court reviews its decision," noting that the case is "going to end up there." Previously, the state supreme court struck down a similar six-week abortion ban, claiming that the measure violated the state's constitution. For now, abortion will remain legal in the state until 22 weeks of pregnancy, making South Carolina one of the only Southern states where abortion is legal at that stage of pregnancy. (González, Axios, 5/26)
• Virginia: A new study that will be presented at this week's American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting found a significant difference in the kind of bacteria, fungi, and viruses in colorectal tumors of younger and older patients — a finding that may help experts understand why cases are spiking among individuals under 45. In the United States, cases of colorectal cancer have declined overall since the mid-1990s. However, cases have climbed significantly higher among patients under 45. "A lot of people blame obesity and diabetes," said Benjamin Weinberg, a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at Georgetown University Medical Center and the lead author of the study. "But we have these patients who run marathons and they eat [healthy diets] and they've got very advanced colorectal cancer." According to Weinberg, the new study suggests bacterial factors may have contributed to the increase. "There was some sort of exposure we think in the 1970s or 1980s — maybe everybody started taking antibiotics for ear infections or they stopped breastfeeding — something happened where this cohort is seeing this rise and we don't know why." (Reed, Axios, 5/26)