Medicine

The New York Times reports: The drugmaker Eli Lilly will begin selling a cheaper version of its most popular insulin, Humalog, in an effort to head off criticism about the rising costs of prescription drugs, the company said Monday. Lilly will begin selling an “authorized generic” of Humalog 100 for $137.35 per vial, a 50 percent discount off the list …

Science Daily reports: In a study with significant implications for human organ transplantation, researchers have successfully grown functional mouse kidneys inside rats from just a few donor stem cells. The results of the study, led by researchers from the National Institute for Physiological Sciences in Japan, will be published in an upcoming issue of Nature Communications. For patients with end-stage …

The Asheville Citizen Times reports: A chickenpox outbreak at a private school now ranks as North Carolina’s largest since a vaccine for the virus became available more than 20 years ago, health officials say. As of Friday, 36 students at Asheville Waldorf School had contracted the varicella virus, known to most as chickenpox. The school has one of the highest …

STAT News reports: For years, so-called influencers — celebrities, former reality television contestants and sometimes, former lawyers or other professionals — have hawked diet teas and hair products everywhere from Facebook to Snapchat. And now, pharma is catching on. An entire industry has cropped up to link drug makers with the industry’s own version of an influencer — people, usually …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Amid a flurry of national proposals to bring exorbitant U.S. drug prices in line with other countries’ charges, one Utah insurer has a different option for patients: Pay them to go to Mexico. PEHP, which covers 160,000 public employees and family members, is offering plane tickets to San Diego, transportation to Tijuana, and a $500 …

Gay Star News reports: Britain’s High Court today ruled to overturn pharmaceutical company Gilead Science’s patent extension on Truvada. The HIV medication is also used for PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis). When taken as advised, this stops HIV negative people acquiring HIV. PrEP is not yet available on the NHS in England and Wales. The NHS is currently conducting a trial to …

Via press release from the Williams Institute: A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official disclosed that the agency will roll back support for the collection of data on the health and well-being of LGBT people through the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). “The BRFSS is one of the few federally-supported data collection activities that make the needs …

The Associated Press reports: For the first time, researchers have used the cloning method that produced Dolly the sheep to create two healthy monkeys, bringing science an important step closer to being able to do the same with humans. Since Dolly’s birth in 1996, scientists have cloned nearly two dozen kinds of mammals, including dogs, cats, pigs, cows and polo …

CNN reports: Gonorrhea is becoming harder and in some cases impossible to treat with antibiotics, the World Health Organization said. “The bacteria that cause gonorrhea are particularly smart. Every time we use a new class of antibiotics to treat the infection, the bacteria evolve to resist them,” said Teodora Wi, a human reproduction specialist at the WHO, in a news …

This will be a lifesaver for many people: The Food and Drug Administration on Friday announced its approval of Teva’s abbreviated new drug application the first generic of Gilead’s Truvada (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil). The drug is indicated both as a treatment for HIV-1 in combination with other antiretroviral drugs and for pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent sexually acquired HIV infection …

Via press release: To kick-off Pride Month, the de Blasio Administration today published and distributed New York City’s first-ever LGBTQ Health Care Bill of Rights, which details health care protections on local, state and federal levels to empower LGBTQ New Yorkers to get the health care they deserve. It also reiterates that medical providers and their support staff are legally …

Remember when “greatly trusted” Trump source Alex Jones diagnosed Hillary Clinton with Parkinson’s Disease? And how every teabagger site in the nation launched their own “Sick Hillary” medical claims? Keep that in mind when you read this admittedly far-fetched speculation from New Republic. An excerpt: The symptoms of neurosyphilis are protean, varying widely from one individual to another. Commonly recognized …

The New York Times reports: A federal appeals court cleared the way on Thursday for Florida doctors to talk to their patients about gun safety, overturning a 2011 law that pitted medical providers against the state’s powerful gun lobby. In its 10-to-1 ruling, the full panel of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit concluded that …

Matt Baume writes in the Huffington Post: If the ACA is repealed, as Republicans are trying to do, not only would 32 million people lose health care, according to the Congressional Budget Office, but LGBTs would be disproportionately affected. And “disproportionately affected” is a phrase which here means “get sick and die.” For example, HIV treatment can cost thousands of …

Charlotte’s ABC affiliate reports: An Indian Trail mother was shocked by a discovery she made on her medical history. Kristina Rodriguez said that after she had blood work done by her medical service provider, Lake Park Family Practice of Carolinas Healthcare System, she saw “lesbianism” listed under medical problems on her medical history record. “This listed as a medical problem …